Qatar World Cup - the debacle continues

The rumors continue to swirl that the World Cup in 2022 will be played in the winter. Due to the high heat of the middle east during the summer months. Seriously? This continues to show what a farce the entire World Cup in Qatar has been. The potential for extreme heat continues to haunt the World Cup venue. Hmmm, have UEFA and FIFA only now realized that it gets hot in Qatar? Have none of the governing body looked at a weather report or better yet, been in Qatar during the summer months?

This once again speaks to the money grabbing and corruption that is rampant in international soccer. There is no way that Qatar should have been a)allowed to bid for the World Cup b)won the bid. I am not against having the World Cup in new venues...but there are some places that are not feasible. Due to weather issues, geography, size of nation and standing in the international football landscape. These should and do play factors in being able to host such a tournament. All these factors should have ruled out Qatar from the start. Alas, money trumped common sense.

Now UEFA and FIFA are paying for the mockery they made of the process. Those that will really pay are the players and fans that might have to deal with oppressive heat in 2022.

Another reason why FIFA rankings are rubbish...

The latest FIFA rankings are out...no surprise Spain keeps its position atop the ranking. After winning the European Cup and holding three straight titles there is no way it could not be atop the rankings. The teams that come after that is all hogwash. The rankings:

Aug 2012

	Rnk	Team	Pts	+/- Pos
	1	Spain	1605	0
	2	Germany	1474	0
	3	England	1294	1
	4	Uruguay	1236	-1
	5	Portugal	1213	0
	6	Italy	1192	0
	7	Argentina	1098	0
	8	Netherlands	1053	0
	9	Croatia	1050	0
	10	Denmark	1017	0

Someone remind me what place England finished in the Euros...oh that's right...knocked out in the 1/4 finals by the #6 team, who then ended up reaching the finals. But no, the Azzurri stay at 6 behind Germany, who they defeated fairly soundly in the semi-finals. As well as England another team they defeated. What about Holland...didn't they lose all three of their games???

Anyways, all hogwash!

FIFA World Rankings...what a load of...

The new rankings are out!!! Yahhhh. Okay I realize I should write about the Champions League, but a)I had work so was not able to watch b)had I been able to watch I would have turned off the massacre in Milan...disgraceful...

But anyways, once again the FIFA world rankings are out...and Spain remains tops. But what always amuses me is how some nations seem to find themselves ranked. Uh England fifth? Really? Above Brazil and Italy? Really? Does anyone in their right mind really think England is the fifth best national side in the world? The other interesting fact, only two nations outside Europe in the top 10: Uruguay at #4 and Brazil at #7, Argentina is #11. The United States is down to #31, guess the Klinsmann experiment isn't going as expected...yet. Then again I heard rumors that Klinsmann might be called back to Europe to take over Tottenham if Redknapp heads off to manage England.

Once again the FIFA world ranks shows that they are about as important as the paper it would be printed on were we back in a paper news world!

Messi - the golden one

No surprise that Argentine and Barcelona star Messi won the Ballon D'Or, his third such honor. At the tender age of 24 will anyone be surprised if he ended up doubling his tally? He joins the only other three time winners - Zidane and Ronaldo (the Brazilian) - of the FIFA player of the year. Don't forget that the Ballon D'Or and FIFA player of the year award merged, in terms of Ballon D'Or, Messi joins the likes of Platini, Cruyff and Van Basten as three time winners.

As long as he has these two, more awards in Messi's future

What I find interesting of all these winners is their success for both club and country...except for Messi. All of these players won titles and were major contributors for their nation teams, their impact at the club level are all on the same level. Messi's success is disproportionately weighed to his run of form with Barcelona. There have been many discussions, articles, debates and opinions about why this is...there is no doubt that Barcelona, as it is currently constituted, is one of the best teams ever seen. However that is not unique to Messi, all the other winners above played on clubs that were also loaded: Zizou and Ronaldo did play for the Galacticos! The Milan teams of Van Basten were some of the best club teams ever seen. Cruyff's Ajax sides revolutionized total football. Platini's Juventus were one of Europe's best with the likes of Boniek, Rossi and Tardelli. All these winners also won on the international level.

Messi continues to struggle with Argentina. Maybe Argentina needs to stop trying to be Barcelona and figure out what is the best way to leverage the world's best player with the other pieces they have. It is not as if Argentina is full of chumps either - Tevez, Higuain, Pastore, Aguero, Mascherano and Di Maria to name a few. What is holding back Argentina is this attempt to build a Barcelona type system, rather than build a team and figure out where Messi would slot into the side. Until Argentina get a manager who is there for a longer time frame than a year or two, who devises a system and sticks with it, I fear that Messi might always be pushing when he puts on the light blue strip of Argentina. But for now he can thank Barcelona for allowing him to show the world what a wonderful talent he is.

Congratulation Lionel.

Shocking! FIFA and Blatter under investigation

I hope, for once, that justice and rational minds prevail. Sepp Blatter, the "leader" of FIFA, was looking to buy...errrr I mean win a 4th term in office (which he claims would be his last, unless he finds some other source of "revenue"). In his quest to continue his reign, he decided that it would be in the best interest to launch an investigation of his primary rival - Mohamed bin Hammam. Nothing like using your position of authority to squash the competition...wonder if Blatter has taken pages from the Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il election playbook. What is dripping with irony is that these charges have now raised the eyebrow towards Blatter's prior indiscretions...and there are many to pick from!

Make sure my "envelope" is at least this thick

So now the entire election will be called into question and most likely delayed. Good. I also hope that the investigations are done properly and that we are finally able to shed some light on the "leadership" of FIFA. Blatter has always had a dark cloud over his head, and for reason. He is a shady character. He has clearly come close to and most likely crossed many ethical lines - his original election was rife with allegations that bribes were offered to secure his passage.

The Swiss has made ridiculous statements such as: "Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball" Uh okay...yet the concept of leveraging technology, like goal line technology, is constantly poopooed by the Swiss. He has also presided over bring the World Cup to Africa - South Africa - that was a great achievement. Seen the World Cup head to Russia, also good, as well as Qatar...uh what? Qatar? Still a questionable move, especially when the Swiss Genius then comes out with the idea of playing the game in the winter since Qatar summers tend to be slightly warm.

So now Blatter finds himself under the scrutiny of his own organization...and let us all hope that they find the truth and hold those responsible accountable. If, as I believe, we discover that Blatter turned a blind eye or had direct involvement with any bribery scandals, then he MUST stand down. And CANNOT be re-elected. It would be an absolute disgrace and will completely discredit FIFA.

Do the right thing FIFA, get to the bottom of this and let us all hope that if the results warrant it, that Blatter does the right thing as well - step down.

When politics and football cross paths

Interesting news from the world of soccer that could impact Les Bleus and their qualifying campaign - read here. Bosnia has been suspended from FIFA and UEFA...meaning they might not be able to complete their Euro qualifiers. While they sit 4th in Group D, they have a game in hand and assuming they win that match would only be 2 points off the pace set by group leaders France.

Group D

			Home			Away			Total
	Teams	P	W	D	L	W	D	L	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1	France	5	2	0	1	2	0	0	4	0	1	8	1	7	12
2	Belarus	5	1	1	0	1	1	1	2	2	1	3	1	2	8
3	Albania	5	2	1	0	0	1	1	2	2	1	4	4	0	8
4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	4	1	0	1	1	1	0	2	1	1	6	4	2	7
5	Romania	5	1	1	0	0	1	2	1	2	2	5	6	-1	5
6	Luxembourg	6	0	1	2	0	0	3	0	1	5	1	11	-10	1

It would be unfortunate if this were to occur, Bosnia is one of Europe's up and coming nations with the likes of Pjanic and Dzeko, not having these players participate in international competitions would be a shame. All this over the Bosnian FA not complying with president rules outlined by the UEFA. The root cause - ethnic division within the FA. Again, rekindling some old political and ethnic divisions, sad, but reality of what are the Balkans.

Let us hope that Bosnia can at least play out the remainder of the qualifiers and Euro if they qualify. This is similar to what happened to the former Yugoslavia in 1992 when the war disqualified them from the Euros...where replacement nation Denmark went on to win the trophy!

Qatar 2022 - first World Cup in the Middle East...held over the winter

Sigh, this is getting more surreal by the day...another ramble from Blatter about moving the World Cup to the winter...because the location he wanted to host 2022 is TOO HOT in the summer. Once again this demonstrates that Blatter needs to be removed from power, the World Cup 2022 needs to be given to Australia or the United States and FIFA needs to be revamped. The fact that the head of the world governing body is mentioning a winter World Cup as a possibility is ludicrous.

Blatter misses once again

Many domestic leagues have winter breaks, but they tend to be 1-2 weeks not 2 months...add to this the entire qualifying campaign that would need to be readjusted. Remember the France v Ireland play off games were played in November, tough to ask the winners to then jump into the World Cup competition. All we need to do is look how disruptive the African Cup of Nations is to the domestic games. Those players always come back tired and worn down, a negative impact on their clubs. A winter World Cup would also cut right into the Champions League. does Blatter really want that?

Sigh, just demonstrates to me that Blatter does not really care about the players, fans, managers or the game. What he wants is to pad the coffers of FIFA, his own coffers and attempt to develop his own "legacy." Unfortunately what his legacy will become is one of a self-centered leader who is blinded by his own self importance and desire for self enrichment. Alas it is damaging the beautiful game, I just hope the game is resilient enough to withstand Blatter's pathetic leadership.

FIFA world rankings...Les Bleus back in top 20, pop the champagne

Ah the comedy that is the FIFA world rankings, France scrap back into the top 20 - tied with the United States at #18! Thankfully Spain, the holders of the World Cup, remain top of the list. That at least gives some credibility for the rankings...I mean if the current World and European Cup holders are not the #1 team in the world, then these rankings are bunk. Oh wait they are bunk. What I find interesting is that Egypt, a nation that did not even make the World Cup remains the highest African nation on the list, ahead of Ghana who...went to the 1/4 finals of the World Cup! The top 20 -

1	Spain	1887	0		-33
2	Netherlands	1723	0		5
3	Germany	1485	1		-4
4	Brazil	1446	-1		-47
5	Argentina	1338	0		-15
6	England	1195	0		-55
7	Uruguay	1152	0		-22
8	Portugal	1090	0		-12
9	Egypt	1078	1		31
10	Croatia	1075	-1		-23
11	Greece	1016	0		-27
12	Norway	995	0		-9
13	Russia	982	0		-21
14	Italy	965	0		-30
15	Chile	950	1		21
16	Ghana	908	1		5
17	Slovenia	897	-2		-61
18	USA	867	6		20
18	France	867	3		15
20	Slovakia	854	-2		-12

I realize these rankings are really just some strange formula concocted by FIFA to artificially give nations and fans a sense of where their sides rank in the world. Much like college sports in the United States, there is no rhyme or reason to how they are determined, and unlike college football really do not matter. The winners of the World Cup or European Cup is determined on the pitch...plain and simple.

Good to see the World Cup hosts for 2022 have not yet cracked the top 100....sigh. That will be a great top seed for the World Cup....just saying.