Preseason Football Bet

Not this year dude

Where’s the football? Come on, just bring it on! I can’t wait any longer. I’m fired up! I personally declare this summer the best transfer season ever. It’s worth re-mentioning, ever! Can you name any summer with such huge amount of money flowing into the player market? You can’t! You just can’t!

Well, with so many things that have happened in the last couple of months, as always, what’s more interesting than predicting the outcome of next season? I’m deadly curious. I’ve been a die-hard football fan since elementary school, but I don’t have any favorite team. So to spice up my football season a little, making it more intense to follow, I love to make a football bet. I mean, my own version of a football bet.  So here is the deal: I will make several predictions of next season outcome and with it I’ll write the consequences that I will do if my preseason predictions don’t turn out right. Fair enough? It should be.

So, let’s get it started. I’ll have 3 predictions of the the 3 highest-ranked leagues in Europe. For each I’ll give you a brief explanation why I come out with the conclusion along with the consequence (call it punishment if you want to).

So the first one, and this is my favorite, Real Madrid won’t win either the La Liga or the Champions League. Yes I know Kaka is there. Cristiano Ronaldo is there. Benzema, Albiol, and Arbeloa are also there. And maybe Xabi Alonso will be heading there too. So what? To win things, you don’t always have to have the world’s most expensive and talented guys (look at what Alex Ferguson has done all these years in MU). I’m not saying talent won’t win things, I’m just saying talent alone is not enough. You might have heard this thousands of times, but football is (and will always be) a team sport where the talents in it have to work together. They need to complement each other like pieces of a puzzle. I don’t think it will be easy for Manuel Pellegrini to do this given the ego of his star players. Perhaps, Madrid will have a fine season (who knows?), but to win a title not named Copa del Rey, well I think they have to wait (call me biased, but I hate Madrid since what they’ve done this summer). Guardiola’s Barca is still the better side. Especially if Ibra can adjust to the system. Bet: I’m pretty confident about this one, so the stake is high. If it’s wrong, I’ll watch 2 Persikad Depok games live in Merpati stadium. Do you know how awful Merpati is? (Waiting…) What? That’s not enough? I’ll also watch a full season of an SCTV sinetron! What about that? Deal?

Second, Manchester City (yes that team) won’t be in the big four and Mark Hughes will be sacked at the end of the season. I agree with what the guys in Eurosports’ The Early Doors wrote. City bought good-but-not-great footballers. A team should have a strong foundation of several star-quality players complemented by others who know how to fit the puzzle. Like MU last season with Vidic-Ferdinand on defense and Rooney-Ronaldo on offense. City only has Robinho. That’s it. And can you imagine how a 25-man squad with 7 strikers will play? With Elano leaving to Turkey, City will only have Stephen Ireland, Martin Petrov, and Shaun Wright Phillips on attacking midfielder. Good but not good enough to compete with the big boys. They won’t make it to the big four. Bet: this one is riskier than the first, so what about a trip to Merpati and 2 full months of a SCTV sinetron? Sorry I can’t bet more. And as I make two predictions, if one is right and the other is wrong, I’ll skip Merpati and happily will watch the sinetron.

Merpati, the ultimate experience for a football fan

Third and this is my biggest bet. Juventus will win the Serie A. You don’t misread it. It’s indeed my riskiest bet. Last season Inter won the league not because they were good. Not also because Mourinho was good. They won because they were lucky, Juventus was rebuilding and Milan was (and is still) too old. Ibra was overworked for having to create plays and score goals. Now he’s gone and Inter hasn’t bought any stellar midfielder. While Juve to me is the winner of Italian Calciomercato. The addition of Cannavaro is good despite the fact that he is past his prime. But he’s still definitely better than Mellberg. And another signings, especially Diego is just brilliant. Even without Moggi, Juve knows how to play in the transfer. Juve can’t be worse than being second behind Inter, but I’m waiting for an upset. Bet: considering the risk and the likeliness of this one, I’ll skip the trip to Merpati and will watch a full month episode of the undecided SCTV sinetron.

3 bets for a football season can’t be bad, huh? And just in case you worry that I will cheat, I’ve asked a friend of mine Fajar to make sure that I will do all these obligations (he himself has pledged that he will watch a full season of Cinta Fitri if Madrid wins either La Liga or Champions League). Just ask him if you have a doubt about my commitment. I’ve indeed taken a big risk of sacrificing my own happiness for this, but that’s how a football fan does it.

Don’t forget to remind me next year!