Aideninho is Brazilian Dreamin’

By: JT | February 6th, 2008

The US has so many sports to offer kids growing up, that the dreams youngsters have vary as much as the game they choose to pursue. My dream was to dismantle the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Washington Redskins on a weekly basis.

For kids in the rest of the world where the beautiful game is king, the dream is to line up in your country’s strip and take on Brazil.

For a quick, skillful winger like Aiden McGeady, the chance to play the silky Seleção is a challenge that he’s undoubtedly visualized over and over again throughout his footballing life. McGeady gets to realize that dream when the Republic of Ireland trot out this afternoon at Croke Park against Brazil.

Now Ireland haven’t gotten around to selecting a manager yet, and there appears to be some dissent in their camp about the painstakingly slow process, but that won’t deter 80,000 Irishmen from coming out to see their boys take on the Brazilians. It should be a great one to watch, and it’ll be televised on delay on FSC. See our Aideninho match wits against the creators of the genre, and hope he brings back a bit of what he learns to Parkhead.

New Bhoy Ben Hutchinson has set some high goals for his immediate future at Celtic Park. Despite the presence of the league’s top scorer Scott McDonald, the reinvigorated Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, and loanee Georgios Samaras, Hutch has designs on making a first team impact now.

Hold your horses there, my man. Train, absorb, and learn the Celtic way first. Ambition is great, and its difficult to succeed at the top level without it, but breezing past the three strikers ahead of him at this point in his career is a bridge too far. His time will come, but it won’t be in the next few months.

WGS obviously feels the same way too. Celtic have adjusted their Champions League roster due to the departures of Jiri Jarosik, Jim O’Brien, and Maciej Zurawski. New signings Barry Robson and Samaras have been included, with Koki Mizuno’s addition being a bit of a surprise.

Speaking of the Magic Man, it sounds like the awful weather that Scotland has been experiencing of late got to him as his prospects of playing for Poland in Euro 2008 dimmed. He doesn’t appear to be too excited by the idea of staying at Greek side Larissa for long either.

Some loyalty might be nice in this situation, I think. They rescue you from your mental anguish in the “rainy, gloomy and dark land” that is Scotland, and the best you can say about them is that they’re “some team in the middle of the Greek league.” I’m sure your new mates can’t wait to see your ungrateful ass on the training ground!

The punditry have begun to demand the dropping of Scott Brown for Robson. Admittedly, Brown has suffered a drop in form and there has been a mild wind of discontent swirling around him lately, though none of this requires Brown to take a seat next to WGS on the pine.

For me this is all temporary. We’ve seen what a machine he can be in midfield, and a longer, more intense season with higher expectations than he has ever experienced might be wearing on him a bit. Some rest may be called for, but by no means should his starting role be in danger. He’ll miss out on the home leg against Barcelona due to yellow card accumulation, which has got to be tough on the guy as well. If you want to discuss dropping Massimo Donati for Robson, thats another conversation entirely.

Both sides of the Old Firm have been instrumental in helping new arrivals to the country integrate into their communities through what else, football! Celtic have specifically been helping out immigrants from the Indian sub-continent through coaching seminars, guided tours, discussion groups and other community events around Glasgow.

This is the kind of stuff that needs to get more press, because it shows the type of club Celtic is at heart: one whose primary mission is to serve the community through the avenue of football, and who also happen to have a prominent professional squad too.