{"id":2293,"date":"2022-12-19T13:38:05","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T13:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=2293"},"modified":"2022-12-19T13:38:05","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T13:38:05","slug":"the-proper-football-is-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/the-proper-football-is-back\/","title":{"rendered":"The Proper Football Is Back!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The good news is that the World Cup is over. There will forever be a debate about whether the country\u2019s sports washing exercise was a successful one, with many believing that a spotlight has been shone on Qatar\u2019s human rights record that wasn\u2019t there before the tournament. Others, myself included, believe that, years from now, people won\u2019t talk about the workers that died building the stadiums or the members of the LGBTQ+ community who spent the past month living in fear whilst attending football matches. Instead, the \u2018greatest World Cup final ever\u2019 will be what people discuss around Qatar. I\u2019ve put that in quotes because it\u2019s what I\u2019ve seen people referring to last night as; I wouldn\u2019t know as I didn\u2019t watch a second of it. If you think that FIFA won\u2019t use the excuse of that as a reason to host future World Cups in oppressive regimes with appalling human rights records then I\u2019m afraid you haven\u2019t been paying attention. They\u2019ll go where the money is.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Fifa managed to make all the conversation on one the greatest world cup finals ever, all about themselves and their sports washing. Pretty amazing achievement.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 reddish&#x1f926;&#x200d;&#x2642;&#xfe0f;&#x1f926;&#x1f3fb;&#x200d;&#x2642;&#xfe0f;&#x1f926;&#x1f3fc;&#x200d;&#x2642;&#xfe0f;&#x1f926;&#x1f3fd;&#x200d;&#x2642;&#xfe0f;&#x1f926;&#x1f3fe;&#x200d;&#x2642;&#xfe0f;&#x1f926;&#x1f3ff;&#x200d;&#x2642;&#xfe0f; (@nanimator) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nanimator\/status\/1604586129164050432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 18, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/what-boycotting-the-world-cup-has-taught-me-about-myself\/\">written before<\/a> about my reasons for boycotting this World Cup, so I won\u2019t go over the same ground again. What I will do, though, is repeat my refrain that sports washing only works when people say they want to \u2018concentrate on the football\u2019 and ignore bad things happening off the pitch in order to do so. We know that countless migrant workers died building the stadiums, that workers were grossly underpaid and that members of the LGBTQ+ community aren\u2019t allowed to live freely and sagely there, but it\u2019s all ok because Lionel Messi finally proved he\u2019s the G.O.A.T. There will be many people reading this that think I\u2019m wrong, but I\u2019d love to know what, exactly, you think happened during this World Cup to dissuade a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/06\/sports\/soccer\/qatar-and-russia-bribery-world-cup-fifa.html\">corrupt organisation<\/a> like FIFA to hold another World Cup in a human rights abusing nation at some point in the future. Gianni Infantino\u2019s speech on the eve of the tournament suggests that the organisation has learnt nothing. Neither, it seems, have we.<\/p>\n<h2>The Reds Are Back On Thursday<\/h2>\n<p>The really good news as far as I\u2019m concerned is that Liverpool are back in action on Thursday night. Whilst I\u2019d very much rather that we weren\u2019t playing away at Manchester City, the League Cup match at least presents us with an opportunity to knock out one of the favourites in an attempt to defend our title. It will also allow J\u00fcrgen Klopp and his team to figure out where some players are in their fitness, given the madness of this mid-season break. Obviously Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 won\u2019t be playing, but many of the other players that flew off to Qatar should be back and won\u2019t be too physically drained from the experience. Whether they were mentally drained by seeing their country knocked out of the biggest international tournament on the planet is a different matter. If so, the manager will be reluctant to see them knocked out of another competition so hot on the heels of that, but then the possibility of making it past Man City might be too tempting for him to ignore.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Upcoming Liverpool fixtures:<\/p>\n<p>22\/12 &#8211; Man City (a) Carabao Cup<br \/>\n26\/12 &#8211; Aston Villa (a)<br \/>\n30\/12 &#8211; Leicester (h)<br \/>\n2\/1 &#8211; Brentford (a)<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s go Reds <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LFC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JDoYBgHwq9\">pic.twitter.com\/JDoYBgHwq9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LFC Mumble (@lfcmumble) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lfcmumble\/status\/1604563420455518212?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 18, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As I wrote last week, the League Cup will open up nicely for either Liverpool or Man City, thanks to the teams that have already been knocked out as well as the draw for the next round. Given the poor start to the season, it would be entirely fair for the manager to want to focus on the Premier League. The problem is, the poor start also means that we\u2019re not in a position to be sniffy about possible silverware. The Champions League draw means that we\u2019re faced with arguably the toughest opponent we could get in Europe\u2019s premier competition. As with City in the League Cup, if we can make it past Real Madrid then we\u2019ll be well fancied to make it all the way. Get knocked out by City on Thursday, however, and our chances of winning the Champions League will diminish by way of the pressure that will be put on that tournament as a result. The FA Cup is also a way we can win silverware, but the League Cup is in front of us now with a relatively clear path.<\/p>\n<h2>Which Liverpool Will We See For The Second Part Of The Season?<\/h2>\n<p>Having not watching any football for the best part of a month, I\u2019m looking forward to seeing my team play again. I have to admit to being slightly concerned about what we\u2019re going to watch, though. The Reds haven\u2019t been at their best this season, but the manager has now had a couple of weeks to work with the players and get them primed for a top four chase. Those that know me know that I\u2019m a big fan of the TV show <em>The West Wing<\/em>. In the episode \u2018Game On\u2019, C.J. Cregg has a line about which President is going to turn up to take part in the debate. She says, \u201cit depends who shows up. If it&#8217;s Uncle Fluffy, we&#8217;ve got problems.\u201d That is how I feel about Liverpool at the moment. When the Reds turn up playing the way we know they can, there is very little I\u2019m worried about in terms of the team that we\u2019re facing or what we\u2019re going to see. If it\u2019s the \u2018Uncle Fluffy\u2019 version of the team, however, then we end up losing to the likes of Nottingham Forest and Leeds United.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">You may never know which Liverpool turns up in the next game. The roller coaster continues<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Count of Monte Cristo&#x1f54a;&#xfe0f; (@iburniton96) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iburniton96\/status\/1587565850973945859?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 1, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Manchester City are a more difficult team to play than Aston Villa, but let\u2019s not forget that Steven Gerrard isn\u2019t Villa manager anymore and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/managers\/7247\/Unai-Emery\/overview\">Unai Emery<\/a> is someone who knows how to get the best out of a talented bunch of players. The Premier League re-starts on Boxing Day and that fixture means that we\u2019ve got two tough games on the bounce. Win them both and we\u2019ll be well placed to head into the new year feeling confident that our early season form was just a blip. If Uncle Fluffy turns up, however, then there\u2019s no question that we\u2019ll all be concerned about how the second half of the season is likely to pan out. My hope is that the manager has been working well with the team and with his backroom staff to ensure that we\u2019re at our fighting best, coming out swinging against two strong teams to prove that silverware could yet be on our plates for the season. As C.J. says, it could be a \u2018sight to see\u2019 if that\u2019s the case. Most importantly, though, the Reds are back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The good news is that the World Cup is over. There will forever be a debate about whether the country\u2019s sports washing exercise was a successful one, with many believing that a spotlight has been shone on Qatar\u2019s human rights record that wasn\u2019t there before the tournament. Others, myself included, believe that, years from now, people won\u2019t talk about the workers that died building the stadiums or the members of the LGBTQ+ community who spent the past month living in fear whilst attending football matches. Instead, the \u2018greatest World Cup final ever\u2019 will be what people discuss around Qatar. I\u2019ve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2294,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293\/revisions\/2294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}