His anger however spilled over to REFUSING to shake the hand of the opposing manager, and even not allowing HIS players to swap jerseys with the opposition. That in my book is what I call unsportsmanship. Plain and simple.
But we are all professional here, let's look at the other side of the tangerine. This was not a competitive league or cup match, therefore why are there hard tackles flying? So one would be angry if it was agreed, as is in an unspoken way, for there not to be wild tackles.
I watched the match, and none of the tackles that I saw warranted the kind of reaction that Pep showed. Hard tackles, yes; but malicious? Nah, not gonna buy that for a candystick. There were no tackles there that would suggest the All Stars were out of line.
Now, let's talk about this so-called "exhibition match." These are the MLS All Stars and they would have wanted to show they can compete with the best of Europe. The coach as well, who I read is a Pep fan, had the opportunity to show he can put out a strategy to beat a team as mighty as Bayern. In my view, I don't see how this can be seen as merely a friendly.
It didn't look good. The American fans booed Pep at the final whistle, and it is understandable. The way in which he dismissed the All Stars coaching staff just was so disrespectful. I ask Pep, and I'm being impartial here, can a coach tell his players to go "soft"? To not go so hard?
I've never been a fan of friendlies. Liking to lose or not caring about winning is not in my DNA. Nobody should like to lose. The All Star team wanted to win and Bayern should have realized that and amped their game up.
Perhaps, it needed to be clear whether the match was a friendly or a competitive game, because that looked to be a PROPER match to me...and a real good one.
http://www.havehopefootballhut.com/the-hut-forum.html
HH
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
