Midfielder's Thrashings Expose a League's Flaw

For reasons known only to whatever soccer gods there may be, it has fallen to Pedro Mendes to play the lead role in a number of highly dramatic events that have brutally — yes, brutally — highlighted an ugly flaw in English soccer.

Mendes, a midfielder from Portugal, moved to England in 2004 when, at the age of 25, he joined Tottenham Hotspur. Mendes soon found himself in a familiar situation for Latin players in the English Premier League: sitting on the bench. In 2006, he was traded to another EPL club, Portsmouth.

But even during his short, benchridden stay at Spurs, Mendes had managed to hit the headlines with a spectacular goal against Manchester United. A brilliant, breathtaking, audacious effort — a shot from 40 yards out that completely deceived the ManU goalkeeper, Roy Carroll.

Just one problem: The goal was never given. Carroll, falling backward, managed to scoop the ball out of his goal — when it was already well over the goal line — and play continued with the referee not having noticed the trickery.

The game finished 0–0, and Mendes's name did not get on to the score sheet. It did, of course, dominate the soccer headlines for a few days, as the bizarre incident became a cause celebre for those pressing their demand for some sort of goal-line technology to indicate when a ball has entered the net.

The shaggy-haired Mendes remained calm and philosophical throughout the incident, seemingly unconcerned that he had been cheated out of a remarkable goal.

But Mendes was only warming up. There was more drama to come, and, inexplicably, it all involved the city of Manchester. In 2006 Mendes was a regular starter for Portsmouth, but the team was in trouble, floundering near the bottom of the standings, with relegation to a lower division looking increasingly likely. The turning point came in a home game against the other Manchester club, Manchester City.

Portsmouth had lost seven of its previous eight games and tied the other one. Mendes changed all that with two goals against ManCity — the second one a 25-yard rocket in the final minute of the game that gave his team a 2–1 victory. The win marked a Portsmouth revival that saw the team post a 6–2–2 record over its last 10 games, and ensured its survival in the EPL.

When the current season began last August, Mendes and ManCity clashed again. This time the game was in Manchester, and it ended with Mendes being rushed to hospital after suffering an appalling foul by ManCity defender Ben Thatcher, who smashed his elbow into Mendes's face, knocking him into the advertising boards. The unconscious Mendes required oxygen and then suffered a seizure while being transferred to the hospital. Luckily, Mendes was back playing two weeks later.

In January, Mendes had another Manchester encounter when, at ManU's fabled Old Trafford stadium, he cleared a shot off the goal line. To no avail, as ManU won the game 2–1.

Two weeks ago, it was ManCity's turn again. Playing at home, Portsmouth took the lead over ManCity after only four minutes on another of Mendes's 25-yard thunderbolts.

But the deja vu took a sinister turn 34 minutes later, with Mendes once more being stretchered off the field on his way to the hospital. This time the ManCity culprit was Joey Barton, who had trodden on Mendes's heel, giving him a nasty Achilles tendon injury.

Yet again, for all the wrong reasons, Mendes was in the headlines. When he was fouled by Thatcher, the incident was so blatant that few bothered to defend Thatcher, not even the ManCity coach, Stuart Pearce, who called the foul "indefensible" and suspended the player for six games. Later, Thatcher was traded to Charlton Athletic.

But Barton's foul was treated differently. Pearce defended his player and — without having seen the replays — said, "I take it for granted that it was unintentional."

Portsmouth coach Harry Redknapp had other ideas: "Anyone who says it was an accident needs his head examining." The replays supported Redknapp as they showed Barton running behind Mendes, his head down, looking straight at Mendes's heel as he stamped on it.

Both incidents — the Thatcher and the Barton fouls — exposed much about the English approach to soccer. Neither Thatcher nor Barton was red-carded; the referees in both cases issued only yellow-card warnings.

"What do you have to do to get a red card, kill someone?" asked Redknapp after the Thatcher assault.

Redknapp's hyperbole is justified, but the referees' feeble response to overt violence will surprise no one familiar with the English game. There can be no doubt that players of the Barton and Thatcher mold — snarling, gritty, hard- running, and hard-tackling — are much admired.

Just three days before clobbering Mendes, Barton had made his debut on the England national team. His style had been praised by former England captain Bryan Robson: "When you have a player crashing into tackles and wearing his heart on his sleeve like that, I don't think foreign players enjoy someone snapping around them at high speed all the time."

And Pearce's defense of Barton knew no limits: "People tried to make out that there was something disgusting about him treading on the back of another player's heel. It surprised me, it really did."

The sympathy for Barton echoed the earlier remarks of the head of the players' union, Gordon Taylor, who had even managed to say positive things about Thatcher: "He's a robust defender who epitomizes the physical side of soccer, but that doesn't mean that someone like that is reckless."

A better judge of the Thatcher/Barton type of player might be the twice-hospitalized Mendes, who called Thatcher's foul "the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my career," and judged Barton's tackle "hard but unnecessary."

Luck has again favored Mendes — his Achilles' tendon is still in one piece, though severely bruised. And Mendes's sense of humor is also intact: "Manchester City is a dangerous club for me. When I play against them I need to take out special insurance."

pgardner@nysun.com