In the Olympics, Hernanes scored the winner for Brazil against Belgium.
The pitch was rubbish, Ronaldinho was dire, and the referee was worse than the pitch and Ronaldinho put together .
He sent off centreback Vincent Kompany 20 minutes from time, and after the Hernanes goal he sent off the other centreback Marouane Fellaini , who didn’t even touch Rafinha. Quite ridiculous. Each of the Belgians got two yellow cards. Diego dived, out came a second yellow , Belgium’s captain, Kompany, was sent off. An absolute farce. I didn’t see the whole match and didn’t catch the name or nationality of the referee.
Brazil started Lucas, Anderson and Pato. Fullbacks Rafinha (Schalke) and Marcelo (Real Madrid) caught the eye in a tedious game. Big stopper Breno (Bayern Munich) looked useful.
Then Hernanes exploded with a sweet shuffle and slammed in a decisive shot wth his left foot. Bang ! 1-0 in 79 minutes.
That kind of improvisation, that end product, would be ideal alongside Clichy & Nasri
He was unknown in Europe until today. Hernanes Anderson is 23 and plays for Sao Paulo. He is 5’11” and a strong boy with tons of skill. He plays with power, confidence and authority. His style doesn’t remind me of anybody who played in the Champions League last season. He’s more two-footed than Yaya Toure. If his style reminds me of anybody, it’s the young Beckenbauer.
Our man in Rio, Alex Abreu Gontijo, reckons Hernanes is being tracked by Barcelona.
In the past few days I’ve been talking to pals, some of whom are writing previews of the upcoming season for foreign newspapers and magazines. We’ve been swapping opinions and chewing over the prospects for Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea and Man United.
Like everybody else, I’m wondering how 2008-2009 might pan out in terms of who will win trophies. However, I’m not a big reader of previews or predictions. Most previews will not tell me anything I don’t already know. And I don’t take anybody’s predictions that seriously. For me, football is a week-to-week thing, a topical pleasure, which gives us something to talk about twice aweek. Or it gives us, in an eventful period, something to talk about seven times a week. All our predictions are soon overtaken by events, and nobody remembers what was said before the season starts.
This season will be written by footballers, not journalists.