Why Xavi was Banned from the U.S. 🇺🇸 ❌
Plus Haaland injury scare and Ronaldo crowns himself the G.O.A.T
Welcome to Athletic Interest.
The theme of this week has been confusion:
The Washington Post sent Man City fans into a frenzy with an unfortunate tweet.
A Moroccan player didn’t realise she scored the winning penalty and,
Xavi was forced to prove he isn’t a threat to U.S. national security
More on those first two stories later, but let’s start with everyone’s favourite topic this transfer window…Barcelona.
Xavi - fresh from trying to convince every available footballer to sign for Barcelona - was due to fly out to America with his players for a two-week pre-season tour. Unfortunately, whoever handles the visas at Barcelona failed to realise that Xavi was technically banned from the United States.
This oversight forced Xavi to miss the flight, while his team continued on to Miami with Xavi’s brother/assistant taking over as temporary head coach.
So, why was Xavi refused entry?
Perhaps the U.S. government feared that the presence of Barcelona officials within their borders would trigger another financial crisis?
Well, it turns out that Xavi was refused entry because of his previous employment with the Qatari football club Al Sadd.
Unfortunately, Xavi had represented Al Sadd several times in matches played in Iran for the AFC Champions League.
His presence in Iran caused his ESTA (Visa to travel to the US) application to be instantly rejected.
Xavi had to meet with U.S. officials at the embassy in Madrid and was required to convince them that he did not constitute a threat to the national security of the United States. While Barcelona’s 6-0 demolition of Inter Miami probably didn’t help Xavi’s case, he was finally granted a special visa earlier this week and permitted to join up with his players.
CR7 is the G.O.A.T…of Self-Promotion 🐐
While the debate rages in the U.S. over whether the country should maintain its ban on Spanish football managers, everyone else is busy trying to settle the biggest debate of all time…
Ronaldo or Messi?
Well, a leading maths professor at Oxford University claims to have the definitive answer…it’s Ronaldo.
Dr. Tom Crawford was tasked by the football website LiveScore to come up with an algorithm to settle the debate.
Dr. Crawford landed on the following seven categories of footballing excellence:
Club goals
Club titles
International goals
International titles
Ballon d'Or titles
Individual honours and records
‘Z-factor' seasons (also known as times that the player has proven to be the defining factor in their team’s success.)
Ronaldo topped the list in almost every category and received an impressive 100% score, with rival Messi coming in second with a measly 94%.
Many of you may have noticed something odd about this algorithm. The categories chosen do appear to favour stats for which Ronaldo has a natural dominance. Goals at both international and club levels have been included while assists have been left out entirely. Interestingly, Messi has over 100 more assists than Ronaldo at club level.
It’s almost as if the algorithm was designed to make Ronaldo look better than Messi.
Well, it turns out that LiveScore, the company that sponsored the study, has a vested interest in Ronaldo being named the GOAT. CR7 is the company’s current global ambassador and any positive press for Ronaldo is good news for the company.
While it is a shame that the algorithm hasn’t been able to produce a definitive answer, we are sure that many of you are secretly happy that football’s biggest debate will continue for at least a few more years.
Haaland Injury Sends Man City Fans into a Panic. 🤕
The Washington Post is not known for breaking the latest football news. It was therefore a surprise for Man City fans when the newspaper’s Twitter account announced that Haaland had picked up a severe injury.
Within minutes of the tweet going live City fans went into panic mode, dreading the idea of their recent signing missing the start of the new season.
The tweet quickly gained almost over a thousand re-tweets - far above the average for a Washington Post tweet - with many users expressing concern over Haaland’s injury.
Luckily a few fans noticed that the Washington Post tweet, while slightly misleading, was not actually talking about Norweigan striker Erling Haaland but rather about U.S. interior secretary Deb Haaland.
It turns out the American government official had picked up an injury while hiking, Haaland the footballer was safe and well.
While the Washington Post Twitter admins were probably unaware of the existence of a footballer called Haaland, this whole situation is the perfect example of how one missing word can make a big difference on social media.
Is this the Coldest Penalty of all Time? ⚽️
Talking of confusion, spare a thought for Rosella Ayane.
The Moroccan international scored her penalty in Monday’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nationals semi-final but didn’t realise that she had in fact won the game and sent her country to its first-ever WAFCON final.
Ayane assumed that there was still another kick to go and simply celebrated her strike with a reserved fist pump. The crowd and her teammates quickly informed her of the reality.
In many ways, not knowing that your penalty could win the game is a great way to reduce nerves. You could even argue that it is a fairer contest if each penalty taker is kept in the dark about the importance of their kick. Surely this would make the penalty shoot-out more about shooting skill than managing nerves - but also less exciting.
Morocco face South Africa in the WAFCON Final this Saturday.
Clip of the Week. 📹
We close this week’s newsletter with a wonderful clip from the World Athletics Championships in Oregon.
Parents of sports stars are known for getting a little bit too excited. They are often so invested in their child’s success that they end up shouting and screaming on the sidelines.
But for one father, shouting and screaming while his son competed was actually part of his job.
Geoff Wightman was working as the stadium announcer during the 1500m final at the World Athletics Championships, the same race that his son Jake Wightman was competing in.
Jake was able to upset the odds and take the gold, which lead to this heartwarming video of his father.
The cameras filming the event were aware of the connection between the commentator and the winner and panned over to film Geoff celebrating.
“I have got to tell you why the camera is on me.” explained Geoff to the crowd.” That’s my son. I coach him. And he’s the world champion.”
The clip has since gone viral on Twitter, earning almost 1 million views.
This is actually a perfect example of how athletics is the perfect sport for the modern age of short viral content. It is possible to show the entire event within a few seconds, making it easier for younger audiences to consume the content through Tik Tok or Instagram. To learn more about how athletics is beating football on Tik Tok watch our recent YouTube video.