In an interview with De Volkskrant, Nigel de Jong said that he was treated like a "war criminal" following his karate kick of Xabi Alonso in the 2010 World Cup final. Um, this just in Nigel. It's a lot more than just the karate kick. It could be breaking Stuart Holden's leg as well. There's also Hatem Ben Arfa, whose leg you also broke and we're not even getting into the several other reckless challenges you've gone in and and haven't injured someone. Oh yeah, and if it were just the Xabi kick, you kicked him in the chest!
Dear Nigel De Jong, It’s More Than The Karate Kick
To de Jong’s credit, he admitted that the kick should have resulted in a red card (could you really argue otherwise?) and it is just football so having people create an atmosphere where you “had the feeling that people wanted to harm you” is too much. But you also said that you felt like “public enemy number one” and guess what, when you have the track record of injuring players with awful tackles like you do, that’s going to come. The Xabi kick was the most high profile of your terrible challenges, but it’s hardly the only one.
Lost in de Jong's bone crushing reputation is that he's a damn good footballer. He's been crucial to Manchester City this season and at a position where players are normally underrated, defensive midfield, he's even more underrated than most. All of that is because people don't want to give credit to a player with a reputation like his and that reputation is more than just the Xabi kick. Ask Holden or Ben Arfa.
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