“We consider ourselves realists, but in philosophical terms we are pessimists. »Let’s borrow from the masterpiece that is season 1 of True Detective this quote to kick off our new year in sports writing of 20 Minutes : if 2020 sucked, don’t expect much better from 2021. Here is a non-exhaustive list of things that could be worse next year. Blame it on the Covid , we are ready to spend twelve more months deprived of the emotions we cherish the most. With you?
Pochettino is finally the coach that PSG needed
The hard blow we didn’t see coming, just before the holidays. The PSG heavy its trainer Thomas Tuchel and trusts a former member of the house, Mauricio Pochettino. Given his reputation, this asshole is screwed to make the Parisian players run or even worse to manage to make the team play correctly.
RIP our suspenseful end of the season in Ligue 1, which we were slowly starting to consider between the big 3 Lille- Lyon-Paris, the PSG will roll over everyone and end up as usual with 09 points ahead and a Mbappé at 30 pions. So that’s for sure, we’ll probably gain a few beautiful European evenings, let’s say at least two, but frankly, who cares?
Thibaut Pinot in good shape just before the Tour de France
Regarding the leader of Groupama-FDJ, we swore we would no longer believe it. Too much injustice, too much grief to digest each time. For 2020, it was Gaudu or nothing . And then the addiction that comes back without warning. First a victory in the Tour de Provence, without opposition, then a demonstration on the last stage of Paris-Nice, where even the Slovenian mopeds bow down. Curtain up to the Critérium, where the plumed Pino we love flies away with Pogaçar to finish the race on the podium.
Forgotten Démare and massive sprints, France from bike has fallen in love with its champion. However, she knows the disappointment that awaits her, from the first time trial in Mayenne . No goal in Laval, but a big disappointment for Pinot which gives Roglic and Pogaçar three minutes. “I’ve been dragging bronchitis since the start, my legs are gone. »The story of his life.
Euro and Olympic Games in empty stadiums
We can get used to it, we will never get used to it. It will soon be a year, with a few intermissions, that we play sports in empty stadiums. And unless the vaccination campaigns accelerate drastically, we’re gone for a while yet. Until when ? It’s hard to imagine that we won’t go until spring like that. And for the rest, it’s more vague, but nothing indicates that the public can be present at the Euro (11 June – 11 July) then at the Tokyo Olympics (23 July – August 7).
In October, UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin assured that the public would be present in the 12 stadiums which will receive the Euro. “For the moment, we are planning the Euro exactly as we wanted. We could do different things. We are thinking about solutions without fans, or with 25%, 50%, 50%. »
On the OJ side? “How many spectators will there be and under what conditions? This will depend a lot on future developments in the health situation ” CIO boss Thomas Bach hadn’t come forward in November. Even if the organization side, we seem rather confident about the presence of spectators, but with very restrictive conditions, including for example the ban on shouting.
Teddy Riner Who Loses For Real
There are things in life that you take for granted. The frangipane pancake on January 1, the heat wave in July, and the baby’s first ear infection in November. Teddy Riner’s third Olympic title is somewhere among all these certainties. It is still not
a small defeat against the last Japanese come
, the first in 70 fights, against a guy not even retained for the OJ version 2019, who is going to make our chin tremble?
– the L’Équipe channel (@lachainelequipe) February 9, 2020
However, we will be less clever in early August in Tokyo when the so-called Kokoro Kageura, finally drafted in 2019, will push our Obelisk Riner to sudden death in the quarterfinals. We will even be at the bottom of the abyss when the French will be declared the loser on a scandalous pinnacle in the land of judo. Riner does not digest and announces his retirement in the wake, like a Lionel Jospin wounded in his pride in 310. Farewell Paris, farewell Teddy.
Federer forced to retire
“It would have been easy to retire now, but I want to give myself a chance to still enjoy tennis. “ If the latest media interventions of the man with 14 Grand Slams are reassuring, his forfeit at the Australian Open, which he will miss for the first time in his career, is a way to prepare for the worst . Will we ever see the Swiss on the circuit again, after two knee arthroscopies which obviously did not give the expected results?
Regarding Roland-Garros , it’s definitely done.
Federer will fight to play one last Wimbledon and the Olympics , no doubt, but what interest if it is not to seek the win? A return to the Murray would be painful to see, frankly, and to 30 years, there is a great risk of damaging his legend. Tennis is on the way to losing its absolute icon, and Nadal will soon follow: night is about to fall for tennis fans.