Tag Archives: gael kakuta

the decade that was – part 2

Posted on by
2

Now for part two of my review of the last decade — and my apologies about being a few days late — whereI review and weigh in on the biggest stories of the 2000′s in the world of football. Thanks to all who read the first installment where I shared my choices for the Best XI of the decade, and sorry if I enraged you with my selection of Gary Neville. This caused a surprising uproar amongst the regular readers… who knew? But keep the comments and e-mails coming; I appreciate the feed back.

It’s been an eventful ten years, full of shocks and surprises. With that in mind, I’m sure that I will forget something huge. So let me know what you think I’ve left out.

liverpool’s champions league final come back was one of the best games of the decade

The Galácticos Era(s) (2000 & 2009)
As the saying goes, “money talks,” and Real Madrid has certainly done a lot of talking in the last ten years. Club president Florentino Perez revolutionized the sport by spending more money on individual players than most clubs would be willing to spend during an entire transfer window. Not only that, but he’s done it twice. In the early part of the decade, he brought in the likes of Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham and Owen. And upon being reelected last summer, Florentino worked his magic again by capturing Kaká, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso. Perez realized that signing the world’s best players could not only bring you great success on the field, but they can also bring a lot more money back into the club through worldwide marketing and merchandising sales. The down side: Madrid’s lavish spending is almost single-handedly responsible for the wild inflation in transfer prices now standard in the transfer market.

The Italian Match-Fixing Scandal (2006)
Corruption is hardly a new concept in Italy, which makes it all the more surprising that everyone was so shocked by the news that several of Italy’s premier clubs were heavily involved in a deep match-fixing scandal just before the 2006 World Cup. When Italian officials finally came forward with over two years worth of evidence (including taped phone conversations and numerous referee accounts), four clubs were implicated in trying to influence favorable referee appointments: Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio. The windfall was swift and harsh, especially for Juventus. The bianconeri were stripped of their 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles, relegated to Serie B, and were handed a further 9-point deduction. The rest of the clubs were spared relegation, but were handed heavy point-penalties for the 2006-2007 seasons (including a 17-point deduction for Milan, which helped to keep them out of the following campaign’s Champions League).

World Cups outside Europe and the Americas (2002 & 2010)
Well it only took FIFA sixteen editions of the World Cup finals to realize that they had been a little biased in awarding tournaments to host countries. Up until the 2002 edition, every single World Cup had either been held in Europe or the Americas. However, after seeing the amazing success achieved in 1994 in the United States, FIFA began to realize that there was a great untapped (profit) potential to hold the tournament in non-traditional football markets. First was the 2002 tournament jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan, which has resulted in a huge growth in interest the game in Asia. In turn, that spawned a massive boost in profits for the Premier League in particular. Then FIFA took another gamble, awarding the 2010 edition to South Africa. Whether or not this provides another financial boost for the game remains to be seen. But if nothing else, the passion the African continent has shown for the sport in the lead up to the cup is promising.

The Mircacle in Istanbul (2005)
Though I guess it could only really be called a miracle if you support Liverpool! Either way, the 2005 Champions League final contested between Liverpool and AC Milan was a match for the ages. In the rare case that you can’t recall the game, I’ll do you the favor of providing a recap. After falling behind 0-3 in the first half, the Reds staged an unbelievable second half comeback to tie the game before the end of regular time. Inspired by stunning performances from Steven Gerrard and Jerzy Dudek (funny, it’s nearly impossible to say “stunning performance” and “Jerzy Dudek” in the same sentence any longer), the Scousers netted three times in six minutes and eventually prevailed on penalties. This was easily one of the best games I’ve ever watched, and if you some how missed it, find a way to watch it… NOW.

who could forget zidane’s gaffe in the 2006 world cup final?

Zidane Headbutts Materazzi (2006)
Zizou, already a living legend due to a sparkling career with a winner’s medal from nearly every single major championship (1998 World Cup, 2000 Euro Championships, 2002 Champions League, a La Liga and multiple Serie A titles), was possibly just minutes away from adding another title and cementing his legacy as one of the greatest ever players. Prior to the tournament, he had announced his plans to retire from professional football after the title-deciding final. Sadly, that’s not the way it went down. Regardless of what center back Marco Materazzi must have said, his words must have been harsh enough to make Zidane become temporarily insane. As evidence, the Frenchman headbutted the Italian to the floor. Zidane controversially was shown a straight red (it is widely believed that all of the reffing staff missed the incident, but that the fourth official saw the replay on the jumbotron and advised the center ref to award the red), and he would then miss the penalties, where France would lose the shootout. Unfortunately, and especially for Americans who are not as familiar with the game, Zidane’s legacy now centers around a single, ill-timed foul.

Beckham Comes to America (2007)
I really doubt that you don’t know anything about this subject. But i’ll write about it anyway, like you have no clue what i’m talking about. Ten years ago, it would have been unimaginable to have the biggest name (notice how i didn’t say the best player) in football playing in MLS. But that became a reality on January 11, 2007, when the former England captain David Beckham signed a five year contract with MLS’ LA Galaxy. So how did he end up here? When beckham signed the contract, he was currently (and stupidly) being left out in the cold by both Real Madrid and England, with no end in sight to his expulsions from either team. He probably thought his time had passed, and that it was time to make his long-predicted move across the pond. The league changed their salary cap rules to make his astronomical salary possible, all in the hopes that Becks would be able to raise the profile of the sport in this country. While his on field success has been limited during his time in the States, he’s arguably done what he was brought here for. Evidence: the most ticket requests for next summers World Cup are not coming from soccer-crazy countries such as England, Brazil or Spain… they’re coming from the good old US of A. Thanks, David!

Chelsea’s Kakuta-gate Transfer saga (2009)
The most recent story on this list may not seem like such a big deal, at least right now. But trust me when I say that this story will have steep implications down the road. Chelsea’s illegal recruitment of French starlet Kakuta from Lens shined the spotlight on how many elite clubs are robbing small clubs of their best talent at a very impressionable age. Recruiting these players in before they sign a professional contract means that the club won’t have to pay a significant transfer fee to the club that spent all of their time/money/efforts on developing the player. As a rising star at the age of 14 or 15, how could you say no to a club like Chelsea? I certainly could, but only because it’s Chelsea… I hate Chelsea. But had any other top club offered, I would have jumped at in less than a second. It’s for that reason that I fully expect that this story will eventually lead to some sort of restrictions of the transfer of players under the age of 18.

Underdog Greece Win the Euros (2004)
If in the spring of 2004 I were tell you that i knew that Greece were going to win that summer’s European Championships, you would have laughed so hard you would have wet your self and then slapped me in the face with your newly wet pants. And that’s exactly how the world felt when Greeks stunned the field and pulled of the Cnderella stories to end all Cinderella stories. After all, how many Greek players can you name off the top of you head? I’ll give you a minute… still no answer? Yeah, that’s what I thought. And FYI… Georgios Samaras hadn’t even made his full international debut at that point. To make the title even more juicy, they had some spectacular results during the course of the tournament: a tie against 2008 Champions Spain, a quarter final win over reigning champion France, a semifinal win over the Czechs, and two wins over heavily favored host Portugal (including the final).

Marc-Vivien Foé Dies on the Pitch (2003)

cameroon’s marc-vivien foe’s tragic on field death was one of the low points of the last ten years

The scene: the 2003 Confederations Cup semifinal. The participants: Marc-Vivien Foé and his African-champion Cameroon side, facing off against Columbia. In the 73rd minute, Foé collapsed near midfield with no one around him. For the next 45 minutes, trainers and emergency medical staff desperately tried to restart his stopped heart, but to no avail. Cameroon courageously decided to play the final just two days later to honor their fallen teammate, and ended up losing to France. An autopsy later revealed the Foé died of previously undiagnosed heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, helping to shed light on players needing to be evaluated for such potentially life threatening conditions.

Manchester City Hit the Ownership Lottery (2008)
Remember the fuss that everyone made when Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich (net worth at the time: $11 billion) bought Chelsea and flooded the market with millions of dollars to build his own all star team? On the final day of the 2008 transfer window, Manchester City’s secret takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group (estimated net worth: hundreds of billions of dollars) suddenly made Chelsea’s billionaire seem like the poor kid on the block. The new Arab owners promised to make Cit-eh into a title contending side, and immediately followed up by landing Robinho from Real Madrid for a British-record £32.5 million. Since then, the Citizens have spent £100 million plus to land a bevy of stars (Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz, Kolo Touré, Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tévez and Joleon Lescott)… although all those millions haven’t been able to keep City in the top four or spare manager Mark Hughes the axe. I guess that’s predictable though… I mean it is City.

About these ads

making (dangerous) examples

Posted on by
Reply

well, well, well… it looks like fifa and uefa finally grew a pair.

two matches out for eduardo may be fair, but will the rest of the divers out there receive the same punishment?

two matches out for eduardo may be fair, but will the rest of the divers out there receive the same punishment?

the world governing body has been threatening for years that they would be clamping down on various activities in the game, but never really doled out any tough love for those that infringed upon these prohibited practices. first it was hooliganism, next came questionable transfer activities, then it was racism and then it was diving.

sure, there have been some exceptions:

  • former chelsea striker adrian mutu was handed the stiffest punishment that i can think of by any of the governing bodies for failing a drug test in 2004 for cocaine. the romanian was punished with a 7-month suspension and is still to repay chelsea the £14.65 million transfer fee that the blues paid for him.
  • catania were forced to play the remainder of their 2007 italian serie a season away from their home stadium and without any spectators, all of this after their extremist supporters rioted and killed a police officer in february 2007.
  • my real madrid were “punished” with a paltry $3,900 fine after a section of their ultra fans chanted racial slurs at opposing players. considering that’s 0.0000298% of what they paid for ronaldo, it must have really hurt the white’s pocket book.

so while there is some precedent for fifa and uefa actually coming down on offenders, most times (like the madrid example above) it has been more of a slap on the wrist than anything, if not empty threats. until the last week that is. and in less than 48 hours, those that govern the game came down swiftly and heavily not once, but twice.

the first punishment was given to arsenal’s “croatian” striker eduardo, who had been accused of diving to win a penalty in arsenal’s second leg champions league qualifier against celtic. eduardo was handed a two match ban by uefa, meaning the striker won’t be able to play in arsenal’s first two champions league group matches.

in the second punishment handed out last week, fifa came down extremely heavy on chelsea for tapping up of young french starlet gael kakuta. chelsea were accused by the youngster’s former club, lens, of not only tapping the player up, but also for convincing him to break his contract and leave to join the chelsea youth ranks in 2007. kakuta was fined an astonishing £682,000 and banned from playing competitively for 4 months. even more shocking, chelsea must pay lens a £113,000 “training fee” to lens and are not allowed to register any new players in the next two transfer windows.

it certainly seems like fifa and uefa came down plenty hard, and it seems evident that they are trying to make an example of both eduardo and chelsea. and on the surface they should… but let’s looks at each of case a little more closely.

eduardo’s simulation
first, let me get this out of the way… diving is rampant in today’s game. there are many who say there is little we can do to prevent it, and that it’s just a part of the game. i disagree. some of the game’s top players dive at every opportunity: ronaldo falls when people sneeze in his general direction, while didier drogba will end up on his ass if someone looks at him the wrong way. and i feel like it set’s an awful example for the kids coming up, who emulate every last thing they see their favorite players do on and off the field. so unless fifa/uefa do something drastic to discourage players from diving, then the vicious cycle will repeat itself and diving will be a part of the game for years to come.

but i think eduardo’s punishment was a bit harsh.

uefa’s decision was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. scottish f.a. chief gordon smith cried about the penalty like someone had stabbed his mother. [former] celtic player massimo donati said that it “heavily influenced” the outcome of the tie. sure buddy. arsenal went into their home leg with a two goal advantage, which means celtic had to come into the emirates and win by three goals minimum. secondly, he made it sound like eduardo’s fall was the worst thing that has ever happened, despite admitting that his own players had done the same thing in the very same speech.

sure, the replays make it pretty clear that there wasn’t little, if any contact, on the play in question. but, the player hardly has a history of being deceitful, as both his club manager and international manager have made clear. let us also not forget that eduardo just came back from an extremely long lay-off from a horrific injury. anyone who has played knows that after you’ve been injured, you’ll start preparing yourself for collisions before they happen to avoid a repeat of the injury. now while i wouldn’t put it past eduardo that he could have been diving, i think it is also highly probable that he was trying to lessen the blow he thought he was going to receive. does it make it ok that he dove? no. but i don’t think that uefa looked at the entire picture either.

so by coming down so hard on eduardo, uefa has set a dangerous precedent for itself. from here on out, they have to punish each diver in the same way. but less than a week later, wayne rooney was twice accused of diving to earn penalties in games against arsenal and slovenia. where is his two match ban uefa? listen, i’m all for making an example of someone to let everyone know how serious it is to dive. but if the governing bodies aren’t going to be consistent with their punishments, then they risk undermining their efforts considerably.

chelsea’s transfer ban
on one hand, i fully support fifa’s decision to ban chelsea from registering any new players over the next two transfer windows. in fact, i personally love seeing “chelski” get a mouthful of bad karma they’ve had coming to them for a few years now. it’s not like the london outfit haven’t been warned in the past over their dubious transfer behavior (ex: ashley cole and john obi mikel). chelsea have promised to make the strongest appeal possible, as if there is actually a way to weakly appeal, but their history might inhibit them from receiving a softer judgment.

is the 18-year-old kakuta worth a whole year without making transfers? ask chelsea.

is the 18-year-old kakuta worth a whole year without making transfers? ask chelsea.

i’m not ignorant either, as i’m well aware that chelsea aren’t the only club that has been accused of tapping players up. liverpool with robbie keane. manchester united with dimitar berbatov. barcelona with fabregas. and how could anyone forget my madrid’s pursuit of ronaldo. and while tapping up is just as serious of an offense as diving (if not more), i don’t think that this is the reason why fifa are coming down so hard. i think what fifa are really trying to crack down on is the shady poaching of bright young players from the clubs that they were brought up by.

everyone in england has seen how it has benefited arsenal to snatch up cheap young talent from around the world and develop them in their academy. it costs the clubs significantly less than paying millions for a fully developed player, and the player could develop some loyalty to the clubs that believed in them at an early age (ex: cesc fàbregas). but what of the smaller clubs that spent all the money to develop the players from their school boy days in the first place? shouldn’t they be rewarded for all of their hard work and efforts, and have the players eventually graduate to and suit up for their senior teams? i think so. especially if the club has a pre-contract agreement with the young starlets, as is the case with kakuta and lens. (which by the way, the kid does look like he could be a baller one day. see this youtube clip. maybe he was worth it?).

and while many a pundit think this is just another example of “anti-english” uefa and fifa presidents michel platini and sepp blatter, i think the intentions are fair enough. i mean they did just dole out the exact same type of punishment to tiny swiss side sion over their transfer of egyptian goalkeeper essam el hadary. what makes this case different is solely the size and prestige of the clubs involved.

but again, i worry about the precedent that fifa are setting. will they remain consistent in their punishment, regardless of the size of the clubs involved? and do they even know what they’ve gotten themselves into? in less than a week since their chelsea rulling, accusations of similar vile acts from some of england’s other clubs are springing up like weeds:

and if these rulings do go the same way, are we really going to see some of the best clubs in england (and possibly all of europe) facing lengthy spells without being able to sign new players? as much as money talks in the game of world football, i highly doubt it. perhaps the introduction of a ban of transferring players under a certain age, say 18, would be the next logical step in this process. it will be very interesting to see how fifa will be handling this little issue they’ve helped to create for themselves.

———-

there is no doubt that there are some changes that need to be made in football. despite all of their efforts, fifa and uefa have failed to stomp out hooliganism, diving, racism and greed. can their latest efforts have any long lasting effects?

with fifa and uefa’s iron fists having slammed down, i think we are at a crossroads for the game. while i admire the efforts the governing bodies are making to try to clean the game up and keep it honest, how they handle the aftermath of their punishments is much more important than the actual punishments themselves. and boy am i glad i don’t have to be the one making those decisions.