Through the din of vuvuzelas, the South Africa 2010’s goal
scoring began with Siphiwe Tshabalala’s thunderous left footed strike and
finished with Andreas Iniesta’s World Cup winner in extra time. If this is the
last time you watched a ball kicked in anger, you’ve missed one of the most
exciting and controversial periods in football history.
Four years is an eternity in world football. Entire
philosophies have come and gone. Tiki-taka has been heralded as the future,
risen into the ascendancy, won every major competition, and been declared dead
in only four years. Hundreds of managers have been brought to clubs, exerted
their influence, found success or failure, and then been fired or moved on
forcing these teams to repeat the process again. In this time, players have
found form and favor, suffered injury and faded into obscurity. Wonderkids have
developed into international superstars while elsewhere dreams have been shattered. It is an intimidating, brutal landscape scrutinized by some of the
most vigilant journalists and fanatic supporters on the entire planet.
Stability does not exist in this world, it is an illusion. Every
player, manager, and club has a price which can be paid to acquire their
talents. Contracts can be terminated at a moment’s notice for the right fee. Everything
and everybody can be purchased for the right price, including the rights for a
country to host the World Cup. Russia and Qatar acquired the rights to the 2018
and 2022 World Cups respectively, by maneuvering their bids and lining the pockets of voters with cash. Notoriously corrupt football bureaucrat, Sepp Blatter,
offers little objection to the Qatari’s use of slave labor to construct World
Cup stadia. So far over one thousand migrant workers have died constructing
these cathedrals of football. These stadia will be used for one month in 2022
and then abandoned to a nation devoid of a football culture.
Throughout these four years, Spain has maintained a
stranglehold over international football. Their players and clubs find success
at nearly every level and every competition. Spain won Euro 2012 without ever
looking in danger, aside from a goalless match with Portugal which took them to
penalties in the semi-final. Fernando Torres has gone from one of the most
lethal strikers in the world to a punchline despite winning two Golden Boot awards, the UEFA Champions League and Europa league.
This Spanish dominance has only recently come into question,
with the declared demise of tiki-taka and the ascendance of “parking the bus.”
The death of Barcelona’s philosophy did not spell doom for the rest of Spanish
soccer. Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid will face off in the UEFA Champion’s
League final, making it the first time two clubs from the same city will meet
in the final of Europe’s most prestigious club competition. Despite these
successes, La Liga continues to struggle with the disgusting acts of racism
taking place in the country.
England has seen Manchester United go through its first
period of instability following the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. The club
will not qualify for the Champion’s League for the first time since 1996.
Meanwhile, Liverpool looked all but ready to break their unsuccessful streak of
Premier League seasons, but stumbled late in the season allowing financial
fair-play rule breakers, Manchester City, to slip into first place. This coming
weekend will determine whether Liverpool win their first Premier League title
or whether talismanic captain Steven Gerrard is forced to languish after
another unsuccessful season.
In Germany, their national team has flourished thanks in
part to the cohesion developed by the national team and German giants Bayern
Munich. The club has won the Bundesliga in consecutive seasons, captured the
UEFA Champion’s League title, and poached their biggest rival, Borussia
Dortmund’s, best player two years in a row. The backbone of the Munich squad is
nearly identical to the German national team, which is determined to set the
record straight after a third place finish in South Africa and semi-final
elimination at Euro 2012.
Meanwhile in Italy, Juventus has regained their place atop
Serie A, with their third consecutive league title. AC Milan has seen their
owner and former Italian President Silvio Berlusconi disgraced in court
decisions and forced to reduce the budgets of the club. Milan made history this
season by hiring club legend Clarence Seedorf as manager, making him only the
second black manager in Serie A history. Seedorf’s return to the club after ten
years as a player came following incidents of racial abuse towards Mario Balotelli and Kevin Prince Boateng.
In France, Ligue 1 has seen the arrival of Qatari money with
the purchase of Paris Saint-Germain and more importantly Zlatan Ibrahimovich.
Zlatan, Edinson Cavani, Javier Pastore, Thiago Silva and a host of others have
brought success to the club, allowing them to capture the league title in 2013
and 2014. Monaco looked poised to mount a title challenge thanks to the arrival
of Radamel Falcao, but a knee injury in January put the striker out for the
World Cup and the title challenge on hold.
Finally, the United States has witnessed the arrival former
German national team manager and player, Jurgen Klinsmann, as manager of the
USMNT. Klinsmann has brought a new philosophy and confidence to the national
team setup. He has encouraged his players to find success abroad in the world’s
best leagues. Klinsmann convinced players such as Jermaine Jones, Fabian
Johnson, and most recently Julian Green to leave the depths of the German
talent pool for the greener pastures of the American national team. Traditionally,
European based players struggle to adapt to the time differences and climate of
World Cups based in the America’s. This has led proven national team stars, Michael
Bradley and Clint Dempsey to return to Major League Soccer allowing them to
train and promote their World Cup push in the western hemisphere.
So begins the most exciting two months of the international
football cycle. Triumph and glory lay on the horizon, with defeat lurking in
the shadows.
0 comments:
Post a Comment