IAN COLE did not have to look very hard to find this week’s sporting quotes. Away from World Cup football, there’s also a BBC glossary of management speak, Michael Schumacher, Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova
“It was my mistake, I’m responsible. I’ve made errors before and been big enough to get over them. I know there are 50-odd million people at home disappointed in me, but I know I have the character to bounce back” Robert Green, the England goalkeeper, puts his hand up (pun intended) after his howler gives the United States an equaliser in the World Cup Group C opener in Rustenburg.
“When I decided Green would be goalkeeper he had played the last game very well and the performance was good. He made one mistake tonight but in the second half he made also a good save. This is the problem with being a goalkeeper” Fabio Capello.
“I am not afraid of anyone or anything ” unless thay are wearing a mask. Fear doesn’t exist in football. Whoever is afraid should stay at home” Diego Maradona, the Argentina coach, who is scary enough on the touchline with his black-and-grey beard and crushing bear hugs.
“The player who scores our winning goal in the final is free to enter me from behind” Carlos Bilardo, Maradona’s assistant, may not have motivated Messi & Co in quite the way intended.
“I am a normal man. But, yes, my job is important at this moment because the World Cup is important for the country, the fans. I feel a great responsibility. I feel a nation, the whole people, but I always like difficult things” Capello
“I have not been back to Senegal since the age of 10, when I went to be circumcised ” which was not a pleasant experience” Patrice Evra, captain of france, despised in his African birthplace for abandoning his roots.
“We waited 27 years for Mandela’s release. For the vote we waited from 1948. But FIFA formed in 1904, so it has been the longest wait for Africa’s World Cup. And we did not wait alone. Africa waited with us. The World Cup has broken down the barriers of where people live, where they play, where they eat and drink, where they celebrate” Danny Jordaan, head of the South African organising committee. on what it means to see his World Cup dream reach fruition.
“There are as many questions as there are answers” Peter Drury, ITV’s football commentator.
“We apologise unreservedly to viewers for the unacceptable interruption to high definition coverage of the match” Richard Cross, ITV’s group technology director, after the channel had broadcast an ad four minutes into England v USA match, thus missing Steven Gerrard’s goal.
“This was my World Cup dream and someone has taken it away from me with one decision. I can’t describe how low I feel” Tim Cahill, the Australian midfielder, sent off against Germany.
“If you don’t understand the line-up then maybe you should change trade and give up being journalists” Marcello Lippi, coach of world champions Italy, feels the heat of a grilling from his country’s media.
“I am sick and tired of being on the wrong end of results and watching it again in the review meeting. We are as frustrated as we’ve ever been. We keep talking about learning lessons, but we’ve got to start executing properly and winning. We practise and practise, but we have to deliver on the pitch” Nick Easter, the England rugby No8, left, conveys the dressing room’s mood after a 27-17 defeat by Australia in Perth.
“There was a time when I didn’t know if I’d play tennis again, let alone serve harder than before. But I wouldn’t want to be 17 again” Maria Sharapova, who won Wimbledon as a teenager six years ago, prepares for this year’s tournament with a 121mph serve at the AEGON Classic.
“Ten minutes ago he was very happy to play on. The only reason he wants to stop now is that it’s 3-3. It’s not dark, it’s not slippy. How can you stop play without consulting one of the players?” Andy Murray is left on court with nobody to play as Mardi Fish convinces umpire Cedric Mourier the light is too poor to continue at Queen’s Club. Fish won when the match restarted next day.
“User-generated content: things sent in by the enthusiastic, the naïve and the unhinged”
“Multimedia proposition: the output, ie what we do for a living”
“To ‘own’ the story ” do rather better than the opposition, particularly when enjoying vastly superior resources”
“Focused conversation ” a bollocking, delivered with a thin smile over a cappuccino” Definitions in glossary of BBC management speak , provided by the BBC’s College of Journalism blog
“I’m looking forward to some Majorcan weather, to see family and friends, watch the World Cup, have some dinner, play some golf. I won’t be picking up a tennis racket” Rafael Nadal finds some positives after an early exit from the AEGON Championships.
“F Ducts? You gain five kilometres an hour, or is it six?” HM The Queen, supposedly, to F1 world champion Jenson Button as she invested him with an MBE.
“When I saw a letter from HM Government drop through the letterbox I thought I must have driven in a bus lane” Tony Carr, director of the West Ham Youth Academy, learns he has been made an MBE in the Birthday Honours.
“You have to treat the back of Schumacher’s car like the back of a donkey” Martin Brundle, now a TV commentator, is concerned that the seven-time world champion’s comeback season seems to be going backwards.
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