Archives for the month of: December, 2009

Messi and Barça’s long-term commitment

December 21, 2009 //

I had written earlier on about what I would do if I were FIFA’s president. One of the points concerned long-term commitment of players to their team. Take the case of Messi. Barcelona helped his family pay for growth hormone treatment when he was 11 and decided to bring Messi and his family over to Spain because the club believed in the kid’s incredible potential. The story between Barça and Messi has become one of trust, mutual confidence and success. With Saturday’s victory of Barca over Estudiantes La Plata, Barça have now won all 6 competitions they participated in over the 2008/09 season, a feat no other club has ever achieved. Guess who scored the winning goal against Estudiantes…..Messi por supuesto! I’m ready to bet that Messi will stay at least 5 more years with Barcelona – that’s an eternity these days – and will keep on adding new titles for the blaugrana. I wonder how many clubs think along these terms and how much common sense it makes in terms of the entire career of players instead of their year-on sales value.

Maracanazos like endurance over instant gratification.

Categories Clubs, Stars, Thumbs up

The 3 ideas I would implement if I where FIFA’s President

December 18, 2009 //

Sepp Blatter

If I where in the shoes of Sepp Blatter, here are the 3 ideas I would implement now:

Impose a minimum 3 year contract for footballers playing in professional teams. That would bring about less of a market-driven, show me where the money is, type of behaviour that has transformed some players – and their agents – into mercenaries looking for the next good deal. I strongly believe that the spirit of a team comes with fans identifying with a somewhat stable group of players over a couple of years. There are still too few Rauls and Tottis around these days; players like them help their clubs build a spirit and a long-term relationship with the club fans. It brings identity.
Get rid of the FIFA Confederations Cup. The only country level Cups that matter are the World Cup and the continental ones. The Confederations Cup is a farce and taking it away goes in the sense of my less is more post.
Do not use video and go now for Michel Platini’s plan of having 5 referees.

Maracanazos like to dream once in a while.

Categories FIFA

Less is more

December 17, 2009 //

That seems like an odd thing to say for the football fanatic that I am! But then I am also a firm believer in “less is more” sometimes. I remember Blatter once saying that he thought the World Cup should be organized every 2 years. Now that would be a really stupid idea! The magic – and tragedy – of the World Cup is that it is held only every 4 years. You only get a very rare chance as a player or team to attend the most prestigious competition ever held. If you start to “commoditize” the game then its intrinsic value will go down.

The same applies to the additional competitions many national federations are imposing where the only final motivation is to bring more money into the coffin. This is the case of the “Cup Leagues” which only professional teams can participate in. Come on, the only Cups that matters at the country level are the ones where all clubs can participate in, from the unknown district amateur team to the premier league pros. Not to mention the increasing amount of sponsor-backed friendly games and tours which in 99% of the cases are deadly boring.

You can now on television see dozens of games per week. When I was a kid, I remember that it was about one match a month! But how excited I was at the anticipation of being able to see a rare moment of my favourite sport! Once a month is surely to much on the scarce side but I am certain that the current orgy of games will one day be paid dearly for.

Maracanazos enjoy scarcity.

Categories Thumbs down

Will Beckham get to throw his shoe at Ferguson?

December 16, 2009 //

The Telegraph reports about Beckham wanting to play against his former club Man United in the Champions League draw this Friday for the next round. Beckham is going to play again for Milan AC in about 2 weeks for the rest of the season. Since Milan finished second of their group and Man Utd first, that could well happen. The title of this post refers to the famous Ferguson outburst at Beckham in 2003 when Man United lost 2-0 to Arsenal in a FA Cup match. Shortly after that, Beckham left to join Real Madrid.

I really enjoy Beckham’s handling of the ball with one of the best passing games I have ever seen. I also like the way he trains hard and blends into team spirit despite all the frenzy that surrounds him. It would be quite a scene if Beckham got to score the winning goal at Old Trafford no?

One of Beckham’s goals I prefer is the fabulous 92nd minute 2006 World Cup qualifier against Greece.

Maracanazos like world-class players.

Categories Stars

Don’t let Saint-Etienne die

December 16, 2009 //

Logo Saint-Etienne

One of France’s most popular clubs, Saint-Etienne, has just fired its coach Alain Perrin and replaced him by his first assistant, Christophe Galtier. I really don’t understand the logic behind that. Isn’t the coach’s first assistant also partly responsible for the team’s bad results? This is all part of the bad management Saint-Etienne has had since several dozens of years. The 2 Presidents at the head of this mythical French team have no idea how to lead and manage the club. This all shows complete disorganisation, lack of proactivity and absolutely no vision. I’m really pissed off at the state of decay the “Verts” are in. I vividly recall that one of the most memorable television matches I ever saw was Saint-Etienne’s incredible comeback 5 -1 against the then Yugoslavian champion Hadjuk Split in the return game of the eighth finals of the Champions League 1974/75. Split had won the first game 4 to 1 but just couldn’t resist the legendary spirit of the “Chaudron” (cauldron).

Here is a video of the quarter final return game in the cauldron against the Polish champion Ruch Chorzow that Saint-Etienne eliminated following the eighth final against Split.

Categories Clubs, Thumbs down

Will Benzema make it?

December 15, 2009 //

There is a lot of talk in the Spanish and French media on Benzema’s probability of success in joining Real Madrid. I believe that there is way too much pressure on young players like Karim Benzema. He’s only still 21 and hasn’t – yet – proved that he can become a real star though he seems to have all the qualities to do so. I would have liked him to stay a couple more years in the French championship before making the big leap. Now he must face several challenges :

Moving to a new country
Learning to speak a new language
Having a €35M price tag flashing on his face every day
Facing the peer pressure from the likes of Raul & Co
Dealing with the ruthless Spanish media
Convincing his coach Pellegrini and the Real Madrid fans
Being in a team where there is an overload of players that are positioned in the central attacking part of the field (Raul, Higuain, Kaka, Ronaldo)

It took Zidane about 6 months before proving to the Spanish fans and media that Real Madrid had made the right choice in bringing him over from Juventus. The big difference with Benzema is that Zidane had already proven himself by winning the 1998 World Cup, the 2000 Euro and had already played 5 seasons with Juve. I think Lyon’s President Aulas made a major mistake by selling Benzema too early.

I really like Benzema so I hope he will have the resilience to face all these challenges and pave the way to a brilliant career with Real Madrid.

Categories Stars

My choices

December 14, 2009 //

If I were to choose between the following, here are my picks:

Maradona or Pele : Pele
Milan AC or Inter Milan : Milan AC
Real Madrid or Barça : Barça
Lippi or Capello : Lippi
Penarol Montevideo or Nacional Montevideo : Penarol
Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo : Messi
4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 (or 4-5-1) or 4-4-2 : 4-3-3
Stade de France or Parc des Princes : Parc des Princes
Juventus or Torino : Juventus
Lazio or AS Roma : AS Roma
Cruyff or Beckenbauer : Cruyff
Chelsea or Arsenal : Arsenal
Liverpool or Man United : Liverpool
Maradona or Platini : Platini

What are your choices?

Categories Uncategorized

Juventus : the end of an era

December 10, 2009 //

Being a huge fan of Platini, I was always interested in following the “old lady” of Italian football as Italian fans call Juventus. Their loss yesterday at home to Bayern Munich 4 – 1 kicks them out of the Champions League. Juventus only needed a tie to go through to the second round. A few years back, the famous grinta Juventini would have ensured at least the tie. That is all gone. The club has lost its DNA, its spirit. Where is the old Stadio Comunale passion which made for so many great matches? It’s as if the change of stadium to the boring Delle Alpi symbolized the decline years ahead. I’m a firm believer in keeping and adapting the DNA which is at the essence of the great football clubs around the world. When you destroy that you are down the drain. Juve, please get back on track, look at your glorious past to make for a better future. You just can’t let down the record-breaking Ballon d’Or players (Sivori, Rossi, Platini, Baggio, Zidane, Nedved and Cannavaro) that have worn the bianconeri colours not to mention all the other fantastic players (Zoff, Scirea, Bettega, Boniek, Tardelli, etc) that make Juventus such an important part of football history.

I’m not a nostalgic but I just think you need to be true to your foundations.Here is a video that says it all.

Categories Clubs

Kids like Super Heroes and so do I

December 9, 2009 //

While in the Parisian metro this morning, I was listening to 12 year old or so kids discussing yesterday’s Champions League game between Marseille and Real Madrid. I kept smiling to myself while overhearing the conversation. “Wow, did you see when Ronaldo kicked an amazing goal with his free-kick” said one boy followed by another one “I preferred the second goal where he gets up with lightening speed and kicks the ball into the open goal”. Then a third boy comments : “Il est trop stylé” which could be translated as “He’s so cool”. For kids, players like Cristiano Ronaldo are just like their comic book super heroes. A mix of coolness (think Superman) and speed (think Spiderman). As long as football will keep on creating Super Heroes, the game will stay in good shape. Thank you for making kids worldwide dream Mr. Cristiano Ronaldo!

Categories Stars

Who will be the best club in the world?

December 8, 2009 //

Club World Cup 2009 logo

Tomorrow starts FIFA’s Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. By qualifying directly to the semi-finals, both Estudiantes La Plata and Barça look like the big favourites to make it to the final. Estudiantes won the then called Intercontinental Cup in 1968 against Man United with a 1 – 0 win in Buenos Aites followed by a 1 – 1 tie in a memorably violent return game at Old Trafford. As for Barça, this is the only major trophy they have never won, loosing to Sao Paolo FC in 1992 and to Internacional Porto Alegre in 2006.

I don’t like the current set-up where all regional champions are invited to the tournament but where the European and South American champions get a break by going directly to the semi-finals. In my opinion, either you give each club the same treatment or you change the formula all together. I’m still in favour of the original recipe where it was a home and away game between the European and South American champions. That created huge passion, notably on the South American continent where the Intercontinental Cup has always been seen as a major trophy. South American teams have won the different versions of the Cup (Intercontinental, Toyota and now Club World) 25 times against 23 for Europe.

Categories Clubs, Thumbs down

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