Winning Is Beautiful

Winning is Beautiful for Angel Cabrera

2009-04-15T04:08:00.000-07:00

After he lost the Masters in a three player play-off, Kenny Perry talked about how well he played:

"I played beautifully today," he said, "all the way to 17. But I'm not going to hang my head. I just didn't get it done today. I hung in there. I was proud of that." (Source)

But the beautiful feeling of winning belonged to Angel Cabrera who described the feeling of putting on the legendary green jacket:

"I had goosebumps," Cabrera said. "I was shaking. I can't even explain it."

(Source)

Spain win Euro with beautiful football

2008-07-01T06:34:00.000-07:00

Spain's players toss manager Luis Aragones into the air after winning Euro 2008.

Image Source

Almost is Nothing

2008-05-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

Jose Mourinho on Chelsea's season and the firing of Avram Grant:

"In my philosophy it was a very bad one because in football 'almost' means defeat and Chelsea almost won the Carling Cup, almost won the Champions League and almost won the Premier League. Almost is nothing...After two titles per season for the last three years there were zero titles this season, which in my philosophy means a really bad season. Maybe in the philosophy of a loser this was a great season, which I respect."

Info Source / Image Source

Winning is beautiful for Sir Alex

2008-05-23T04:35:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows how much Sir Alex Ferguson loves winning.

For him winning has always been beautiful but this season he did it with a beautiful team.

And now, so soon after his Champions League win, he has announced he wants more beauty in his life, ie: more wins.

He wants United to defend their titles:

"Defending the European Cup is not an easy thing to do but I think the team is good enough. They will improve next year."

Info Source / Image Source

Beautiful Scudetto

2008-05-19T09:51:00.000-07:00

Inter midfielder Patrick Viera yesterday revelled in his side's league championship:

"This Scudetto is more beautiful than last year...Compliments to Roma, who gave it all, but I think the strongest team won it...We went through a rough patch, but we came through it and showed that we are a big club."

And winning is beautiful isn't it Patrick?

Info Source / Image Source

Good football not enough for Carrick

2008-05-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

Michael Carrick is definitely in the winning is beautiful camp. He doesn't believe that the current United squad can yet be compared to the treble winning outfit of 1999 unless they win the Champions League:

"Until we win the Champions League, how can you compare the two sides?...It's OK saying we play good football and have good players, but until we win more honours, it's hard to compare."

Info Source / Image Source

Survival more important than winning for Redknapp

2008-05-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp said rescuing Pompey from the brink of relegation two seasons ago was more satisfying than winning the FA Cup:

"It's a great day in terms of there is glory in winning but, in football terms, keeping Portsmouth up was a bigger achievement. "

Info Source / Image Source

Fergie Hugs Wenger (After Winning)

2008-04-14T03:13:00.000-07:00

United 2 Arsenal 1: The climax of the season of beautiful football.

Source > 14.04.2008

Trophies are not everything for Wenger

2008-03-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

What a man is Arsene Wenger. His world does not depend on trophies:

"I know people who have won trophies and I don’t rate them at all. I can give you examples of people who have won 100-metre medals in the Olympic Games and they have cheated. I know people in football who have done exactly the same, you look at the history of football...What is important for me is to do things in a fair way and in a way that people will enjoy. Of course, a trophy is what you can show but what remains is not only the trophy but the way you play, the way you behave...Winning can never be everything...And to destroy people can never be everything. I do not understand those who come out to destroy people. That is not what life is about. Why should you always have to kill other people to exist? If you do that then, somewhere, you feel you are not good enough...It's like you say to me you kick everybody off the park and at the end of the season you win a trophy. To win trophies is important but it is not the only thing in sport.”

Source > 08.03.2008

Beautiful Win For Wenger

2008-03-06T03:49:00.000-08:00

Arsenal 2 - Milan 0

It was a rare father and son moment when Cesc Fabregas sought out Arsene Wenger to share the joy of the goal that knocked Milan out of the Champions League:

"I went straight to the boss after I scored because without him I would never have had the chance to play in games like this...Everyone was a bit in shock to see the manager so excited. There was just a huge relief after that first goal because we knew then they had to score two."

Source > 06.03.2008

Cross-Reference: The Joy of Football

Winning Is Beautiful For Spurs

2008-02-24T13:53:00.001-08:00

Spurs have won the Carling Cup over London rivals Chelsea and this is how they feel:

> Manager Juande Ramos:

"Obviously it is tremendously satisfiying to get a trophy...Especially for the fans and the club, it has been a long time and for a club as big as Tottenham it seems longer...This one maybe has a special flavour to it because it was against a team that is supposedly superior to us in Chelsea...It was similar to Sevilla beating Real Madrid and Barcelona - it makes the whole thing taste better."

> Newly acquired centreback and scorer of the winning goal, Johnathan Woodgate:

"He's a brilliant manager - he has won trophies in Spain and now he has won a trophy for Tottenham...It's a great feeling to win our first trophy as a team - we've got a great team spirit and work ethic...Scoring that goal gave me one of the best feelings ever."

> Goalkeeper Paul Robinson:

"It means everything...I've not won anything in the game so to land this trophy after beating such tough opponents is great."

Source > 24.02.2008

Money

2008-02-08T14:56:00.000-08:00

"Fabio Capello regards victory as football's only worthwhile currency - so England's win against Switzerland made it a satisfactory first week with his new charges."

Source > Phil McNulty, BBC

Winning Capello Style

2008-02-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

Manager Fabio Capello reacts to post-match questions regarding the exclusion of Michael Owen from England's 2-1 win over Switzerland:

"I think about substitutions according to what I see on the pitch. If people perform the way I want I keep them on the pitch."

Source > 08.02.2008

Drive and Winning Mentality

2008-01-29T16:05:00.000-08:00

Beckham on Capello's arrival:

"It's an exciting time for English football and it's special to have someone of his pedigree in charge of the team...It has been tough recently but Capello is someone who has lots of drive and winning mentality...I was lucky enough to play under him and I know him as a person and as a manager and there are not many people as driven as him."

Hmm...drive...winning mentality...what do those things mean if Capello brings that to the table? That they are absent in the English, in English football players, managers, people? So what do I think? What are the cliches? That the English are noble and brave. That, yes, perhaps they don't have the drive, the winning mentality of the great Italian manager, Capello. And what does that mean further. Well...and I have said this in the past...that the English have failed because they are too "good" and too romantic. They have for too long believed that their pedigree and nobility would carry the day. And yet today Capello has a football "pedigree" that has won championships. And pedigree today might mean that Grosso goes down rather easily against Australia and Materazzi goads a God into a red...and Italia wins a fourth, FOURTH!, World Cup. To England's one.

Winning is beautiful? I just don't know. I just don't know.

Fair England...

Brave England...

Good England...

Source > 29.01.2008

Messi Doesn't Like Losing, Even At PlayStation

2008-01-26T05:17:00.000-08:00

"I don't know if I laugh, but every time I go out on the pitch I try to have fun. Of course, if I lose I feel bad and I don't want anyone to talk to me. I don't like losing. I never have, not even at PlayStation."

Source > 26.01.2008

On Becoming Great (A Great Manager)

2008-01-22T04:21:00.000-08:00

James Lawton reflects on the coaching circus being conducted at Newcastle United by the whims of Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer and explains what it takes to become a great manager.

But his piece is also simply a treatise on how you need to operate if you are to be great at anything:

"You do not dip into football management whenever you choose. You learn it, you suffer it. You do as Brian Clough did in Hartlepool and Bill Shankly in places like Carlisle and Workington, Grimsby and Huddersfield. You want it so much the taste of it is always in your mouth. You cannot wait to get involved. Sir Alex Ferguson did it for East Stirlingshire and St Mirren before launching himself to Manchester United with a body of work at Aberdeen which would have stood comfortably and impressively on its own."

Lawton applauds Gary Lineker for knowing himself and knowing who he wasn't:

"Who could argue with the wisdom of a Lineker or a Hansen in eschewing the agonies of management? Lineker was candid about his lack of ambition in this area. He saw the likes of Ferguson railing against the heavens on some tumultuous touchline and decided it was not for him."

And Lawton questions how "heroes" should behave:

"Shearer can say that it is a free country which bestows the right to retain your options. But sometimes a situation can come along which requires you to make a stance and decide who and what you are. For some time Shearer has been the lion of Newcastle, the man who sooner or later would rally to the cause. Like so much of the aura of the club, it may be so much romantic claptrap, but this is perhaps the time for him to declare it as such and get on with his life precisely as he chooses...For the moment one thing is certain. Sitting on the fence may be good for career calculations, but it is no place for a hero."

And people question the usefulness of writers and writing.

Lawton here demonstrates what he really is: an eloquent and passionate advisor and consultant. And he is worth his weight in gold.

Source > 22.01.2008

Winning Over Beauty in Scotland

2007-12-17T03:21:00.000-08:00

Writing for Scotland's Daily Mail, Gordon Waddell says:

"I love watching a team who play like they love football as much as I do. Seeing Barcelona beat Rangers in the Nou Camp was a privilege and an education. But I love winning more. And I don't give a monkey's how my team does it."

Source >

Capello and the Media

2007-12-14T03:45:00.000-08:00

"His wife, Laura, casts her eye over the newspapers, and occasionally puts journalists right in her eyes, but Capello is more interested in reading books...Capello will simply be himself. In his press conferences there are occasionally smiles but, in general, the mood has been strictly professional. He has an intimidating mien, much like Sir Alex Ferguson, and does not suffer foolish questions. In Madrid he banned the press from training, creating enemies and resentment, and one wonders if he will submit to the FA's elaborate press briefing structure with separate conferences for print, radio and television media. Whether he does or not, his relations with an English press pack that is not short of big egos itself are unlikely to run smoothly. Capello will not care. He is not coming to make friends, he is coming to win."

Source >

The Beautiful Challenge is About to Begin

2007-12-13T20:22:00.000-08:00

“For Capello, football is all about winning. He does not see beauty in the game.”

- Arrigo Sacchi

No better way to express it. He's not interested in the beauty of football, they say. But he is interested in the beautiful or in other interpretations of the word.

Winning is beautiful.

A beautiful challenge.

Yes, yes. So many see it that way. Even Mourinho who apparently fantasized about winning a World Cup for England and becoming a hero.

But there is something there in England, perhaps beyond the romance of England having invented the game and beyond the power that is behind TheBestLeagueInTheWorld.com, the Premiership.

Perhaps what is there is talent and potential and passion that has been wasted for generations in England...

If there's anyone that can coax out that latent talent and produce a championship with England, then that will be beautiful indeed.

Mourinho for Milan ?

2007-12-12T04:16:00.000-08:00

"Mourinho is perfect for the Italian game tactically. He has the Italian, win-at-all-costs mentality – the Machiavellian concept that the end justifies the means...However for all his genius – is Mourinho the right kind of character for AC Milan?...The Rossoneri are renowned as a club who pride themselves on their class, prestige, history, diplomacy and political correctness."

"Milan on the other hand are famed for their unique brand of beautiful and technical football. It is this that has led them to two Champions League victories, one final, one semi-final and one quarter-final in the past five years."

More >

Controlling The Rules Of Football

2007-11-26T16:20:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back, against Arsenal, he was raging against the referee for being too harsh on his players. This past weekend he thought the referee was too lenient on an aggressive Bolton team that surprised his United 1 nil. And today he has been charged by the FA for abuse of an official. Here is what Alex Ferguson has to say for himself: "You can expect a team in Bolton's position to play that way. You expect a team near the bottom to battle, scrap and fight...Obviously they do not have the quality of opponents like ourselves. That is why they we are in different positions in the league...But the key thing is how the referee controls it. He is the arbiter in terms of the application of the rules of football. That is where we feel a bit aggrieved."

But we think the key really is how Ferguson "controls it". Even after getting himself charged he is trying to use the media to influence Premiership referees to in the future see the game in a way that is ideal for his team to win.

And winning is beautiful isn't it? More >

Tevez's Appetite For The Game

2007-11-25T13:02:00.000-08:00

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson is relishing the completion of Carlos Tevez's sale to the club:

"I want to make this happen. He has impressed everyone with his appetite for the game...He'll get me 15 goals this season and what's more, they'll be important goals." More >

The Inspiration

2007-11-07T04:29:00.000-08:00

This blog was inspired by the Great Beauty Debate in the footballing world that emerged with the clash between the vaunted beautiful teams of Arsenal FC and Manchester United during the 2007-08 Premiership season.

The debate has been chronicled by The Beautiful Game Search Engine and its sources can be found throughout the global media.