World Football

Football Nationalism

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European football’s governing body, UEFA, has made clear their response to FIFA’s stated plans to sell private stakes in the World Cup.

“UEFA and its 55 member associations stand as one. We unanimously and unequivocally reject FIFA’s proposal to transfer ownership interests in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions to private investors. The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product. It is one of football’s greatest sporting legacies. It has been built over generations by players, national teams and supporters across every continent. No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale.” —UEFA

This evokes memories of the European uprising in response to twelve of the biggest clubs coordinating for their own breakaway league in 2021. The dirty dozen involved were Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan, and Inter Milan.

“Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus all dropped out of the Super League on Wednesday, leaving the new competition essentially extinct before it even started.” —CBC

The interesting thing is that the new league wouldn’t have ended the domestic European leagues the clubs are all aligned with, it would have changed the “Champions League” format by giving these top clubs permanent placements and a larger share of the money from it. The Champions League is their season-long playoff system that is most easily comparable to the College Football Playoff. The plan they had discussed was far less of a fundamental change to their structure than what College Football has and is currently in the process of undergoing.

Which has me thinking, if only Europe was as conservative about its borders and Americans were as resolute about our College Football, what a vastly different world it would be.

Soccer 2.0

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Spain cut down the defending champs with a suffocating performance in the World Cup final yesterday. Argentina was held quiet, not getting a shot on goal until the second half of extra time. The lack of a true striker on the Sky Blue and White squad forced Messi up front, where he was less of a factor, only having 15 touches across the 120 minutes. Messi is at his best when operating from the wing or just behind the striker, using his tactical brilliance to generate scoring opportunities, following up on rebounds, or threading a shot on goal from the top of the box.

As the games played out over the past five weeks, I thought often about how aspects of what I was seeing would never translate to a mainstream American sports audience. And there are two in particular. 

Flopping: This can be given a yellow card after VAR review, but players will continue to hit the deck and scream bloody murder anytime they’re grazed by an opponent. The art of drawing the foul and selling the injury is a part of the game, but it’s not enjoyable to look at. If Joe McCarthy were alive he would investigate it, and rightfully so, it’s downright unAmerican. We don’t like when LeBron James and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander do it in basketball either. 

Offsides: This is the most egregious issue when watching a game. A beautiful goal plays out, and the offsides flag goes up because a player’s shoelace was a millimeter beyond where his defender was, and the goal is disallowed. This happens often — it feels like at least once a game.

The good news is that, and you’re gonna think this sounds insane when I say it, Canada is doing something about it. Yes, Canada. The country that couldn’t even do basic forest management, leading to the Northeast getting engulfed in wildfire smoke to the point that the Cleveland Indians had to postpone their game against the Pirates — and had the World Cup final’s air quality in question in the days leading up to kickoff at MetLife Stadium.

But the Canadian Premier League — yes, that’s a real thing — is testing out a new “daylight” offsides rule. Right now, as I mentioned, the offensive player being even the slightest bit past his defender the moment his teammate sends a pass negates the play. The daylight rule would require the offensive player to be completely beyond the defensive player, with visible daylight between their bodies. The issue with the current model is that timing your run as an offensive player to be fully behind the defender is a near-impossible task, since players are moving up and down the field constantly. The daylight rule would open up offensive scoring, create more breakaways, and force defenses to be honest with their line positioning.

It would make the game far more enjoyable to watch for an American audience that has just shown it’s willing to tune into the world’s game — with record ratings for Fox and Telemundo during this tournament.

SACRÉ BLEUS

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The French National Team, Les Bleus, has been eliminated from the World Cup by Spain after a 2-0 finish at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

My two thoughts going into this tournament a month ago were:

  1. Not France
  2. Not England.

And while England is still alive in the tournament and will face Leo Messi and Argentina tomorrow in the other semifinal in Atlanta, the French were my public enemy number one. The team that looked to reach its third consecutive World Cup final today feels nothing like the French squad from 2006 that I cheered on in that tournament, and against the flopping Italians in that absurd final. Zidane, Ribéry and Henry played the game with elegance, grit and authenticity. I don’t say that lightly. I’m not easily moved to support the French.

While this French side lacks any semblance of the appeal the team from two decades ago may have held for me, they were perhaps the most high-powered offense this World Cup had to offer and a solid favorite to win the competition, growing steadily as such with each passing round.

To quote a man who himself has not been having the best week, Conor McGregor, “Precision beats power, and timing beats speed.” That is exactly how Spain dominated this game. In a match that was 50/50 in terms of possession, it felt tilted in favor of the Spanish. They struck with lethal precision not only in the game’s most critical moments, but through all the small battles upon which those tipping points are built.

France’s advances were turned away by a highly aggressive keeper, Unai Simón, who wasn’t afraid to run out of the box and cut off a charging Mbappe on multiple occasions. The last fifteen minutes of the game saw the action vacillate between Spain extinguishing France’s desperate attempts to get on the board and a brilliant game of keep away to kill time, masterfully executed by the Iberians. Mbappe being unable to get his final two shots on target contributed to the French misery. Spain will almost certainly be the favorite heading into Sunday’s final, whether it be against either England or Argentina.

And should the English manage to get through the White and Sky Blue tomorrow, they may be reminded that Spain was the original empire upon which the sun never set.