Deal With the Outstretched Leg
There are proper defensives tackles and then there is the outstretched leg phenomena which is career threatening. Football Commentator (FC) writes:
Over the last decade I’ve noticed a dangerous trend devolving in football. More and more you see defenders attacking the offensive player’s pass by getting closer and closer to the outstretched leg. This is career ending dangerous, and difficult to police…
Often these situations arise when it’s really too late to do anything really useful defensively. Sometimes pressured to defend, players are often bad or halfhearted defenders by nature. A well executed block of a pass or tackle starts with anticipation and poses very little risk to either player using good technique. When you are late it’s often an easy out to strike at the ball as its leaving the opponents foot. This is dangerous.
In the first leg of the Barca-Milan tie, Ronaldinho experienced what FC is describing. Ronaldinho was fouled by Allesandro Nesta when there was no real hope of defending Ronaldinho. I was deeply concerned when Ronaldinho fell on the floor. The face fool of grimace from the obvious pain was a sharp contrast to the smiling face we charecterise Ronaldinho with. It was only a small moment.
But imagine if Ronaldinho would have been injured for even 4 months if not his whole career as a result of this. Not only would the Champions League hopes of Barca get a severe jolt, the footballing world would have been devoid of seeing Ronaldinho at the World Cup. It would have been a loss we could not have afforded.
Why Ronaldinho. Any young player can have a serious career threatening injury because of such tackles. Should a player suffer because a defender has been out played because of the exemplary skills? All Nesta got was a yellow card. At most a player could get a red in a similar situation. The risk is too little. The reward - saving a possible goal in a match - is too great.
The key would be to impose severe penalties on players using the outstretched leg. A ban of 6 month at the least. The risks would thus increase tremendously and we would see a more cleaner football. FIFA should take this matter, not getting any where near the the spotlight the racism issue is getting, much more seriously before some one gets seriously injured.
