THE CURSE OF adidas; Even Zidane has joined the flops.ZINEDINE Zidane's sensational sending off for France last night confirmed that the Curse of Nike is dead...long live the curse of adidas.Brilliant Zidane is one of the highest-profile stars in the adidas stable, and before last night's madness had become the jewel in their World Cup crown. But having made us roll around the aisles with laughter for years as their highly-paid stars have flopped on the biggest stages of all, it seems that Nike's disease has finally been cured. The same virus that turned some of the most bankable bank·a·ble adj. 1. Acceptable to or at a bank: bankable funds. 2. Guaranteed to bring profit: a bankable movie star. winners in sporting history into embarrassed losers appears to be airborne. For the first part of this decade, most of the big-name stars sponsored by the American sportswear giants tended to self-destruct when it really mattered. But that dubious honour now belongs to their main rivals, adidas. They are now finding out what it is like to back the three-legged nags in the big races. Hardly a night goes by when we don't see Zidane, David Beckham  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. , Allessandro del Piero and Patrick Kluivert Patrick Stephan Kluivert (born July 1, 1976 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch international football striker. His mother is from Curaçao and his father is from Suriname. He signed a contract with Lille OSC, a French Ligue 1 outfit, on August 30 2007. do their stuff on
television adverts.
Posters around the country have Mr Victoria Adams staring out at us as the German boot company reminds our historians to take a note of the date. These are the men who were going to rule the world this summer, right? Sorry, wrong so far. Italian star Del Piero had a magnificent season with Juventus, but injury and the form of playmaker play·mak·er n. A player in a sport with goals, such as a guard in basketball, who initiates offensive plays. play Roberto Baggio Roberto Baggio (born 18 February 1967 in Caldogno, Veneto) is a retired Italian footballer, among the most technically gifted and popular players in the world throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. has meant he has struggled to get his place back. Poor old Beckham has also fallen victim to the curse. He played in every qualifier and warm-up game, but still managed to get himself dropped for the opener against Tunisia. And what about young Dutch star Kluivert - the ultimate jinx jinx n. 1. A person or thing that is believed to bring bad luck. 2. A condition or period of bad luck that appears to have been caused by a specific person or thing. tr.v. ? He was with Nike in 1996, with a poster proclaiming: "Venables - Quit Now". History shows that the Dutch were blown away by England before exiting the tournament without a fight. We must not forget Paul Gascoigne Paul John Gascoigne (born 27 May, 1967 in Gateshead, England), often referred to as Gazza, is a retired English football player who is widely regarded as one of the most gifted footballers of his generation. , either. He was surely going to travel to France as England's most creative player. Wrong again - the only creating Gazza is doing now is making sandcastles in Florida after being dumped by Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born October 27, 1957 in Hayes, London) is a football manager and former player for Tottenham Hotspur and England. He has had spells as manager of Swindon Town, Chelsea, England, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and most recently Wolverhampton Wanderers. . It has certainly not been a good start to the World Cup for adidas, but Nike spokesperson Debbie Cox reckons the only thing to do is laugh about it. "In 1996 it didn't quite happen for Nike's big stars, and fairly soon it became a very talked about thing," she said. "So then we decided to make fun of it. "We had an advert before the semi-final against Germany which said "Good luck to the Germans...right, that ought to do it". We admitted that things hadn't gone well for us and gained great publicity out of it." The legendary Curse of Nike first struck at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where Ukrainian pole-vault star Sergei Bubka Sergei Bubka (Ukrainian: Сергій Бубка) (born December 4, 1963) is a retired Ukrainian pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union before its dissolution in 1991. was the only athlete considered unbeatable. The Nike posters trumpeted: "Spanish Air Traffic Control - Be Warned". He didn't even get a medal after the worst series of jumps in his career. And Nike's other "certainty", 400 metre specialist Michael Johnson, couldn't win in Barcelona either. |
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