Here was something I was thinking about just after the WC, but never got around to writing.
In the last couple of WC games, van Bommel seemed like this strange master villain. All he was missing was a funny mustache, a top hat and a cape, and a damsel to tie to the train tracks. It was amazing how he stayed on the field. And rewatching how Timmy Cahill got red – carded, after seeing some of the stuff that vB did was quite flabbergasting. Watching vB, it was like, it was like … watching a younger version of Kevin Muscat. And a lot of the media I read was along the same lines.
I don’t trust my own judgement of van Bommel.
Now here is the strange thing. vB isn’t a youngster. I watched him play for Munich in the Champions league, for Barca a few years back too. And never thought that he was particularly villainous. Do mature players “change their spots” so drastically? Overnight? Leopards don’t.
So I figure either I misjudged vB at the WC, or I didn’t notice his villainous nature/playing style when playing for other teams, because I don’t think that a mature player will change. Either way, at some point, I was wrong about him.
PS. It’s like when Henry handballed, or Zidane got the red mist … the headlines of “Henry cheats”, and “Violent Billy Goat Zizou” really made me wonder “do people really watch these players?”, Henry was cheating for years, and Zidane had a history of reds for violent play. They hadn’t changed their spots.
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