It is just a mind game

‘Tiger against rabbit'. ‘We may be weak but will not surrender our weapons', Victory coach’s response when asked about his team’s clash with New Radiant and VB Addu Sports respectively. Goffa seems to be relishing being the underdogs that they are. He always has something interesting to say at pre-match conferences. An understatement in the context of the fluctuating fortune of his team or something to the effect of pure comic relief. Good humour nonetheless.

Having to manage the weakest Victory in living memory and trying to survive against the might of Valencia, Maizya or New Radiant there is nothing else he could have said given the abject condition of his team. So why not resort to some fancy understatements given, it helps you to connect with football fans. It is better than throw up your arm in defeat before a ball has been kicked.

In the event, it is New Radiant coach's point-blank rebuke that ‘he is not my level' that reverberated across footballing circles that was bit more disproportionate to BG Sports coach’s blatant criticism of New Radiant ahead of their encounter. As Popov’s opposite number you cannot say ‘he has no right to comment on New Radiant Sports Club or the way they play.’ Ask Sir Alex Ferguson.

True, Lopez's comments were aggressive, to provoke maximum reaction from New Radiant camp, to take their coach off guard. But Popov should have made light of his remarks for what it is. '...they do not play beautiful football…they are not the best attacking team…they just have two good players in the league' constitutes nothing more than a mind game. There was no malice intended. Incidentally it hit a raw nerve. It was not well received by New Radiant supporters and Popov.

Badly in need of teaching him a lesson, of their no-nonsense stance, New Radiant went on the pitch not only to win a match but also to cut down Lopaz to the size. Only that BG Sports was not in so forgiving mood. They frustrated New Radiant all day. Only a set-piece rescued them in the dying minutes.

Football lovers won’t mind it as long as those exchanges help the cause of the game. Football is the winner if it draws more people into the stadium as it happened with huge crowd laughing their way to the stadium. This is what we need, fans from both sides congregating in numbers licking their mouth at the prospect of what is about to unfurl in front of their eyes.

Lopez's criticism though should be taken in all good sportsmanship. He did not declare war. In fact we need more and more Lopazs and Nazeehs. There is no harm in stooping to those kinds of provocative jibes. It spurs on a debate normally one would not think about, dramatically raising the level of excitement of the game. Their statements have a huge bearing on the tempo of the game. Either they can spice up the very match or make it outright boring. Why make it any boring by being over-modest and giving politically correct interviews.

Our journalists and reporters have a part to play. They need to ask hard and outrageous questions from coaches. Literary pluck the word from their mouth. Not the typical diplomatic statements Imma usually prefer to engage in. It is time politically correct speeches are consigned to the dustbin of history, at least in pre-match press meet.

Suzain was the last credible local force to give life to the empty stadium with his mind games. With his departure the fear was it was the final nail on the coffin of mind games. Our local coaches don’t seem to be too fond of it; perhaps fearing what you say might explode on your face in the end. The point is, there is nothing fascinating about football if it were to live as cold statistics and results alone. A coach must use the platform to engage in the tit for tat, the lash out in equal measure with his counterpart. So why wait, dip into the pool of mind games and spice up the league.