Two Villains – One Winner
If Pop Culture has taught us anything during our humble lives, it’s that the villain never win; No matter the circumstance. James Bond always comes up trumps (and gets the girl), Batman defeats the Joker and eventually Luke Skywalker triumphs over his father, and thousands of Storm troopers. For football fans one villain will win on Sunday night, depending on your team preference.
Over the past three seasons we have witnessed Besart Berisha entertain us with his various antics, but at the end of the day most consider him a type of villain. Maybe it’s his over the top antics, or his freakish goal scoring ability. If you are not a Brisbane Roar fan Berisha is one of the biggest villains in the league.
Three red cards over the course of the season, frolicking around like a fish and even his silent celebration against his new employee Melbourne Victory hasn’t managed the Albanian to win many hearts over the course of his A-League career. This is not to say we don’t respect his tremendous ability, hey even the Joker had some qualities we all liked.
Turning our attention to a villain of a different type, Western Sydney’s Brendan Santalab. The incident with Ali Abbas received wide amounts of publicity at the time, but unfortunately the FFA failed to reach a verdict either way. We all have our own personal opinion on the issue, and most of us on social media have widely expressed this. What I think doesn’t matter, but since that moment Brendan Santalab became a villain in the eyes of most A-League fans. Before the alleged comments Santalab was just another player for Western Sydney, now and for the remainder of his career he will be a villain to opposition supporters, and even some Western Sydney supporters.
Since the incident Santalab has scored two crucial goals coming off the bench, and has produced some good football for his coach Tony Popovic. On the field it appears the Abbas saga hasn’t affected him, but my off the pitch I’m sure it has. Having never received an official sanction for the alleged comments may on the surface look as though the player got off scot free, being confronted with being called a racist will follow him for the remainder of his playing career.
One incident defines both players; for Santalab it’s the Abbas saga, for Berisha it’s feigning a 93rd minute foul to win his team a grand final. Both incidents can only be described as ugly and a black mark on their careers, but a standout performance on Sunday will go some way to becoming less of a villain. That is until both players walk out on a pitch next season, Berisha in a Victory shirt.
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