Welcome to the "Frog," my little piece of cyberspace to talk about my passion - le foot (or soccer for my North American friends) especially anything around French football. Of course I will have some guest contributors that might want to discuss other aspects of footy!
I support Les Bleus, Arsenal and PSG but really just love watching, analyzing and following the beautiful game.
"You have to trust your teammates, always. If not we are lost."
So UEFA today announced the possibility of another international tournament, in the off years from the World Cup and European Cup - the League of Nations. We all know how well the league of nations did prior to the advent of the United Nations. Thanks Mr Wilson for not joining...well it is debatable whether or not Wilson wanted to join but was blocked by congress. Anyways I digress into my political science nerdiness.
This new league of nations would seem to be a hybrid domestic system and US styled playoff - with groups that have relegation and promotion and the nations atop each group would face off on neutral sites. Not quite sure about this idea. Other than looking to find a way to make some more money. International footy really runs in 4 year cycles, between
This version didn't fare so well
World Cups and European Cups. In between there is also the Confederations Cup, which for all its faults actually has become a good little tournament - allowing the future host of the World Cup have a dress rehearsal. Speaking of which I wonder if we will have to see a Confed Cup in the winter prior to Qatar hosting their World Cup (what a fiasco)....with that in mind there is really only one year out of four that does not have some international footy tournament going on. So do we really need to force one into that slot??
Those who know me and read this blog know that I am a huge fan of international matches. I definitely side with country in the club v country debate. But this is even too much for me. Players are already taxed way too much. The beauty of the World Cup and European Cup are that they remain exclusive (with the expansion of the European Cup I might argue that no longer holds true to that competition) - nations take two years to qualify all the drama and lead up makes these events the global phenomenons they are. Adding more trophies to be won feels like a cheap excuse to grab more money. I know that greed begets greed. But as the saying goes - pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. UEFA don't be a hog.
Oh my...more controversy over the awarding of Qatar 2022. The continues to be buzz around moving the event to the winter and now calls to have more nations host the tournament, that coming from Platini. Blatter has stated that there is a greater than 50% chance the tournament will be held in the winter! He claims that the European leagues already have a winter break so...hey no problem let's stick a major sporting event during that break! Makes perfect sense to me. Clearly there are chinks in the armor when it comes to why Qatar should host the World Cup.
Even Blatter has made another zinger of a statement with regards to how his own organization votes for who gets the World Cup - "But you have a college of voters who vote more with their heart than they vote with their head." Sigh...maybe he should have added: and you have a Swiss who thinks with his wallet and not his brain. Clearly he continues to demonstrate the fact he is not of sane mind to run the governing body that oversees the most popular sport in the world.
See the Swiss' interview and his typical "dancing" around the issues - click here.
If I were the US or Australia, I would quietly make sure my infrastructure is ready for when FIFA comes crawling back to them to host the 2022 World Cup. Such a farce...Blatter must go.
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.
Ah Sepp...you give us the first African World Cup and now the the first one in the Middle East...of course no homosexuals are really welcome. Nice job Blatter. Love to see the leader of FIFA showing off more insensitivity, for someone who has tried to host World Cups in different regions under the guise of being more "inclusive" then decides to make comments about the stance towards homosexuality in Qatar...demonstrates once again that the Swiss leader of FIFA is a bit of a moron. Shocking.
Another voice in the every growing rumble that is "Qatar 2022, the First Winter World Cup"...The Jordian Prince Ali, stating the obvious - IT IS VERY VERY HOT IN THE SUMMER IN THE MIDDLE EAST...not really good footballing weather. Temperatures can reach 122 degrees F...that is toasty. Even with the supposed air conditioned fields and hopefully practice facilities, the searing heat will remain a problem for players, managers, officials and fans. But I guess the lure of petro-dollars are too appealing to FIFA and the welfare of the teams and fans be damn!
Clearly my predictive skills are not that good...I thought England would get the 2018 World Cup, and they did not even make it past the first round! I also thought The United States would get the 2022 World Cup....and that went to the state of Connecticut...I mean Qatar a nation the same size as Connecticut and I would argue whose national team would have difficulty defeating an All-Connecticut team! So what happened? Petro-dollars? Insanity? Practical joke?
First, I am not entirely surprised by Russia winning the 2018 bid. I truly thought that England would get the tournament, it was finally their time to get the showcase soccer event. However, England was out in the first round. I will agree with my fellow podcaster - Gooner - that England has more enemies than friends when it comes to international football. Between their arrogance associated with the EPL, the British press, the feeling of entitlement when it comes to the game and the list goes on, makes for the English constituency not very likable. Not that Russia and Putin give you the warm and fuzzies! It does make sense to see the world's game move to Eastern Europe.
What really was shocking...was how did Qatar get the 2022 World Cup? How? Seriously??? Okay first question, how many World Cups have Qatar played in? Anyone? ZERO! At least South Africa had qualified for a World Cup! Okay, I am sure that Qatar has done well in their regional tournament - the Asian Cup. Want to guess their best result? Quarter finalist in 2000, wow! That is some footballing pedigree. Okay they have won the Gulf Cup of Nations twice, in 1992 and 2004 defeating Bahrain and Oman, two global soccering nations. Wonder where Qatar is ranked in the FIFA world soccer rankings....not that I give those much credence...but they are ranked 113...ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH right behind Central African Republic, even Haiti is ahead of Qatar at 101...I have had players from the Haitian national team on my mens' league team. So basically Qatar's international soccer squad has the same level of quality that have played on my over 30 mens' soccer team! I understand that there is some value in bringing such an event to the Middle East, but to Qatar? Had the bid been a joint bid with Saudi Arabia, I would understand the reasoning. Add to this the fact in the summer temperatures easily reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit...those are not good conditions in which to play football, actually physically dangerous. Of course Qatar is promising to build air conditioned stadiums...that includes the field being air-conditioned.
I guess if you throw enough money you could air condition a nation for a 30 day period! Add to this the geographic size of Qatar and the fact the majority of the venues will be within a 20 mile radius. Great if you want to try and see 2 games in a day, not so great if you are trying to house, feed and keep entertained all the fans that will be in that 20 mile radius. Germany and England not playing in the same group, no problem except their fans will be "mingling." Then again no beer allowed in Qatar so might not have any English fans in attendance, assuming the Three Lions qualify...There just seem to be too many logistical and practical issues with the bid...especially when you had the United Stated and Australia as better options (Japan and South Korea would have been good options had they not hosted in 2002).
I have a hard time grasping the reasoning behind this awarding. I think that there need to be some rules in place for nations to be allowed to bid - such as quality of domestic league and results from national side. Unlike the Olympics where there are dozens of events, it is based on a city not a nation and there is no "prestige" points to be had if the host does not do well, the World Cup takes place in a nation and there is a genuine benefit from having the host nation perform well. Alas, these aspects are not there in Qatar. But I guess the petro-dollars that must have found their way to individuals' pockets outweigh the sanity that should have dictated the decision.
Today, in Zurich, a number of hopeful nations made their presentations to FIFA pleading their case as to why whey should host either the 2018 or the 2022 World Cups. The 2018 version will take place in Europe - with Holland/Belgium, Spain/Portugal, Russia and England all vying for the right to host the globe's biggest sporting event. For 2022, the World Cup will find itself in a non European or South American nation with Qatar, USA, South Korea, Japan and Australia bidding for the the World Cup. Of course as always with anything involving Sepp Blatter and FIFA there have been bribery and other unsavory allegations. Shocking. So who should win the bids?
Last time England hosted...they won!
Even with all the allegations I cannot imagine England not securing the 2018 World Cup. England, the self proclaimed birth place of the game, have only hosted the tournament once - 1966. They did host the European Cup in 1996, which by all accounts was well run and went very smoothly. Russia is an interesting candidate, their football has shown itself to be very strong both at the club and country level, and I am sure they and Putin are itching to demonstrate the world that they can hold such an event. The other European bids are curious. Holland/Belgium hosted the Euros in 2000 and did admirably but not sure they are ready to receive another major tournament when others have not had their chances. Spain/Portugal is also interesting. I actually think that had Spain entered on their own they would have a better chance. Spain has not had a major footballing event on their home turf since the 1982 World Cup...ah the memories...Sevilla still haunts me! Yet, Portugal hosted the Euros in 2004, so again not sure if FIFA will award to a nation that has had a major tournament in recent history when others, Russia and England, have not. So with all the bribery scandals and shenanigans, England will still get to host its second even World Cup
"MLS better than EPL" will shout out Lalas
The 2022 World Cup will also go to a no-brainer bid....USA. Granted by 2022, China or India might be the richest nations and the ones with the most consumers, but right now they are not. So FIFA will be licking their chops at the possibility of hosting the World Cup in the biggest market in the world and all the revenue they will reap. Plus they will have 11 years of marketing and sales to take advantage of! Australia would be a good option, but I think that with regards to location (travel for fans), time zones and infrastructure they will find themselves at a disadvantage. South Korea and Japan (separate bids) will suffer the same as does Portugal, Holland and Belgium, they have hosted a major tournament. Also, there is a rumor that China is interested in bidding for the 2026 World Cup, I doubt they will lose that bid, therefore FIFA would not want two Asian hosts in back to back World Cups - putting Japan, South Korea and to some extent Australia at major disadvantages. Qatar....that is an interesting bid. They clearly have the resources to host the event. However, when is the last time Qatar qualified for a World Cup? Um right. Never. We all mocked South Africa as a weak host nation, and they were better than expected but still failed to qualify for the second round, what if Qatar were a host nation? They might not even score a goal! Then again they might have nationalized the Brazilian B team by then so would have a chance! Bottom line, the money is too good in the US bid, the MLS has been a decent professional league (don't forget when the US last hosted the World Cup the MLS was just getting off the ground) and the US men's national side has proven itself at the last few World Cups.
I think tomorrow's announcement will be very anticlimactic, granted many thought Paris was a shoe-in for the Olympics only to have Chirac and his big fat mouth give the bid to London. Chicago was also though to be a no brainer and they lost out in the first round for the 2016 version. I think the US is a lock for 2022 and England a virtual lock for 2018....unless Putin leveraged some of his KGB tactics.
A great article from SI about the proposed new World Cup qualification process from CONCACAF. The main take away - with this new system it will be very unlikely to see Mexico v USA matches played during qualifying. Both nations are head and shoulders ahead of all the other CONCACAF nations and will never be paired in the same group. The argument for this format is to give a number of the smaller nations more matches to play and develop their talent pool, a worthy goal but one that seems to be skewed. You want these smaller nations to get more World Cup qualifying games? Then create a pre-qualifier tournament for these nations, for example:
Take the top 5 CONCACAF nations and they are in the final group.
The remaining nations are broken into groups - 5 groups of 6 nations. The winners of each group move on.
The 10 nation group then plays home and away to determine the ranking.
Top 3 go to World Cup, 4th team goes to playoff.
I realize this might not work from a time perspective but there should be a way to make this work. This would give smaller nations more games that count, while preserving the competitive aspect of CONCACAF qualifiers - aka Mexico v USA.
The real issue for me is that CONCACAF does not need to give the minnows more games but needs to get their big 2 more serious matches. I have always thought CONCACAF should work with South America to merge their qualifiers. I realize this is a pipe dream, but for nations like Mexico and the US, being forced to play regular qualifiers against the likes of Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and the rest of the South American nations would help their teams develop. As Wahl points out in the article, CONCACAF does not have the equivalent of the European Cup of Nations to bridge World Cups. While I am not convinced the US and Mexico will ever move to the level of Germany, Italy, Brazil and the rest who are legitimate World Cup contenders on a regular basis, the ability to play more serious, more competitive matches on a regular basis are the only ways they will move the needle when it comes to competing on the world stage.
I realize that Gulati will never want to jeopardize the US' ability to qualify every 4 years to the World Cup. As it is currently constructed the US and Mexico are both almost 100% guaranteed to qualify, under the new format they will be 101% guaranteed. Merging with South America will drastically drop that percentage, but it would give those squads more serious international matches and potentially make the US and Mexico legitimate contenders for international silverware. Alas, I am sure that the revenue from attending the globe's biggest sporting event every 4 years is too important to sacrifice for an opportunity to truly develop your program.
Today Thierry Henry announced he will be retiring from International Football. Not exactly a surprise. Many wondered if he would even be going to South Africa at all, so his withdrawal from the International scene is what we all expected. So we will never see TH14 wearing the #12 stripe from Les Bleus. His recent signing with New York Red Bull will be a final chapter in what has been a prolific playing career. He has graced the pitches in the biggest leagues of the domestic game and played with some of the most historic sides: Juventus, Arsenal and Barcelona. I cannot, even as
a Frenchman, put Monaco in that category! His statistics speak for themselves, for a while at Arsenal he was arguably the most dangerous striker on the planet. With Les Bleus he earned 123 caps and scored 51 times...the latter making him the leading goal scorer of all time for France. I will always remember him as a 20 year old striker playing for France at the 1998 World Cup and the fact that he and Trezeguet (also 20 at the time) both took spot kicks in the 1/4 PK shoot out against Italy (which France won that time!). He and Trezegol then formed a lethal strike partnership for Les Bleus both strikers piling up the tallies. Henry and France would, 2 years later, add a European Championship to their trophy case. He would reach another World Cup final, in 2006 and overall played in 4 World Cups and 3 European Championships - winning one of each and getting a runner up in the World Cup.
With his retirement from France as well as Pat Vieira's announced earlier this month, the next French squad that takes the pitch on August 11th will have no World Champions on the roster. Granted they will have a World Champion managing the team in Laurent Blanc. However this marks a turning point for Les Bleus, until now there has always been a link with the team that lifted the trophy in Paris. For better or worse, those expectations and that experience has permeated the French side. Now the team has a chance to, as the ad says, write its own history. With the debacle in South Africa fresh in our minds, no better time than now to take step in a new and positive direction.
Henry you have been a great player and ambassador when wearing the France kit. I realize that many will focus on the "hand of Gaul" when speaking of you, while that is part of the history, it is only part. The greater sum is one of a world class player. A player that I have been fortunate enough to have watched.
