L
linetty
Guest
It doesn't happen every other match and who's talking about a season long ban?
Juan Camilo Zuniga
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
DonAndres
Wild Man of Borneo
8 months is roughly a season. Tackles in the back don't happen every other match but this did not even have the same level of force as the kind of studs up tackles that you do see quite commonly to knees or ankles.
Semi-Neutral
Sir Alupp Heynrguson
How was he supposed to go more for the ball there than he did? Neymar was kind of in his way....
Alarcón
New member
Neymar was in his way so he decides to put a knee to his back. Flawless logic.
L
linetty
Guest
Exactly...
Kohe321
New member
Great! This has to get consequences, it's a straight up attack that could have resulted in a much more severe injury. Neymar was lucky, as you wrote in the Neymar thread, he was an inch away from possibly getting paralyzed.
Last edited:
Irish_Cules
New member
I wouldn't be too hard on Zuniga. The real culprit here is Scolari. He invited this to happen by making his team play dirty and going after James. The Colombian players watched their best player get hacked to pieces by Brazil and go unpunished so they were obviously going to go after Brazil's best player
Kohe321
New member
L
linetty
Guest
Everyone has his own opinion. Dirty game or not, a knee to the back? Please...
I understand a dangerous sliding tackle but that was really bad and deserves punishment.
I understand a dangerous sliding tackle but that was really bad and deserves punishment.
Semi-Neutral
Sir Alupp Heynrguson
That's not what I was saying. I meant that there was no way for him to attempt to get the ball. It was a clear foul, but saying it was deliberate because he wasn't trying to go for the ball doesn't make sense to me.
khorne
New member
Yeah I'm pretty sure he didn't go "oh look, there's Neymar. I'm losing and angry therefore I'm gonna go kick him in the spine". But sure, invent your own narrative why not?
He lunged at Neymar in an overly aggressive and tempered way with his knee raised, a dirty and cynical foul and an unacceptable use of physicality. He didn't, however, straight up drive his knee into Neymar's spine with the same deliberate violent intent as Song did to Mandzukic with his elbow.
Besides, Zuniga's challenge wasn't a naturally bone-breaking one. Every foul should be judged on two separate merits, action and reaction. Zuniga himself lunging at Neymar like that was a dirty foul worthy of a red, however it was not even 1/2 to the amount of force dealt by many of Mascherano's tackles, De Jong's ninja-kick, or even Ramos on Messi. It was the reaction part that entire sequence that was unfortunate and led to Neymar's injury: his spine was curved forward right in the moment of contact which caused the impact to be focused entirely on one spot. If it wasn't in that position and he was leaning up for a header or something, then it wouldn't have been much more than a bruise. That's why Zuniga's challenge, while a completely dirty foul, is not an attempt to straight up cause a spinal fracture. In 2/3 other spinal positions, he would've been alright. Unfortunately, he took the hit in the most damaging way possible. I'm half expecting someone to reply to this with "SO you think it's Neymar's fault?!?!!".
Now here's a hypothetical counter case: I've seen Mascherano go in for some REALLY vicious and brutal tackles (two footed, high speed, and very deliberate). Yet in match-chats it's always just responded to as "oh jeez, Masch could've gotten booked there". The fact that his tackles haven't injured anyone is purely a matter of circumstance as it's pretty obvious he's capable of doing so and goes in with the force required. Yet say hypothetically earlier this season, one of his brutal, late challenges happened to be on a guy who's ankle was in a bad position to take the hit. That guy suffers a fracture of some sort. And this is before the Suarez-Chiellini incident that suddenly led to ___ month bans being hip and handed out for anything. I'm pretty much 100% sure that none of you would be saying "Let's ban one of our only 3 CB's for 6-8 months because he clearly went in to break a guy's ankle with a horrible challenge". And that's where the hypocrisy lies.
The fact that these ridiculous 8 month suspensions are even being discussed is only due to Neymar's injury. Had the circumstances been different and Neymar been in a position where he could absorb the hit without getting badly hurt, I doubt the thread would even be looked at post-match. Zuniga's stupidly aggressive challenge should be penalized for what it is, a stupidly aggressive challenge. He didn't go in there fully premeditated on injuring Neymar's spine because that itself was more due to the curvature of the spine than the force of the challenge (which wasn't even particularly powerful).
you make some good points don, i agree with you mostly. you also have to consider that a lot of the people calling for zunigas head right now are still emotional from the incident and the reactions wouldn't look the same if it had been a mascerano on ronaldo tackle for instance.
I have to say though, i'd really hope if fifa used this incident to change the rules regarding attacks from the blind side, in the same way they did back then when van basten was injured by a tackle. I've done martial arts and playing football parallel since i was a kid, and while you have bruises all the time from fighting, the really bad injuries you get from playing football, when something hits you unprepared or in a bad position. the way your body can deal with impacts really depends on if you see it coming or not, the reaction is like day and night.
And that challenge yesterday was dangerous in a way that goes beyond the normal job risk of a football player, not from the malicious intention but from the action itself. and taking a harsh stance on tackles can really prevent this from happening in the future in the same way that scissor tackles from behind are basically gone from the modern game
XaviMessiGirl
New member
I think that much is clear that he intentionally tried to bring down Neymar, there's not really anything to say to argue against that. It's less clear whether or not he meant to injure, especially in that manner. He should definitely be punished though, but 8 months would be excessive IMO. Obviously there's a fair amount of bias here because one of our best players was the victim, so these reactions are understandable, but still.
He'll probably be banned for several international matches, but I don't see a global ban happening here. People forget Suarez ban was so severe because of how many times he's committed the offense. And no, I'm not defending Zuniga, I don't like him and I'd love every opportunity to hurt Napoli. Just saying that realistically, a ban more severe than Suarez's is unlikely to happen.
He'll probably be banned for several international matches, but I don't see a global ban happening here. People forget Suarez ban was so severe because of how many times he's committed the offense. And no, I'm not defending Zuniga, I don't like him and I'd love every opportunity to hurt Napoli. Just saying that realistically, a ban more severe than Suarez's is unlikely to happen.
darthvader7888
Banned
Unlikely? There's zero chance of it happening, but I think it would be deserved if it did.
Last edited:
Home of Barca Fans
