International & Club Friendlies Affecting Our Players.

This week provided us with an unnecessary midweek interruption of international friendlies. Of course, there is nothing like an international friendly to pop out of nowhere while the season is in full swing. Time and time again we hear FIFA talking about its players playing too many games but do they have the players' best interests at heart or is it all about the money? It's time for FIFA, UEFA, clubs and the players to create a better more relaxed schedule for the sake of its players. This applies not only to international friendlies, but also to club friendlies.

Sport had a great headline on their website today - 20 horas de vuelo + 95 minutos de juego + intensa lluvia = 15 días de baja. That was posted with a photo of a tired Alexis. It basically translates to 20 hours of flying + 95 minutes of playing + intense rain = 15 days out with an injury. Alexis was injured yesterday and perhaps this midweek international calendar is to blame for forcing players to fly across the globe for a meaningless game for their country and then rushed back to play for their clubs. Alexis suffered an injury in yesterday's game that will see the forward miss almost two weeks of action.

Now, we can't be sure that the flying back and forth the Atlantic contributed to his injury. For all we know, this injury would have occurred even if he never played for Chile back on Wednesday. However, we already have seen the likes of Abidal, Coentrão, and Huntelaar pick up knocks on international duty for a meaningless friendly. The only purpose of this friendly was purely financial. So ultimately, clubs have to suffer in their quest to win the league just so countries play each other for a game that has nothing at stake.

We already saw Spain fly to England and Costa Rica back in November play to friendlies. Fans were not too pleased and many blamed FIFA for this. However, what was lost on people was the fact that the countries have the final say in scheduling a friendly. So yes, the RFEF could have easily decided not have a friendly this Wednesday against Venezuela and allowed its players some rest. Just like November however, they opted not to. You can blame FIFA and UEFA as much as you want but no one forced a gun to RFEF's head to schedule the games either.

That's why I can understand clubs being upset at losing their players to injuries from international duty action. This past Wednesday’s games are a perfect example of useless games with the sole exception of the World Cup qualifiers matches that took place in Asia and even that could be argued as poor scheduling. Clubs are heavily invested in winning both domestic and European football competitions and cannot afford to lose players to injuries. For those older fans like myself, the memories of Romario, Ronaldo and Rivaldo leaving Barcelona during the season to play for Brazil still lingers in our memories. Fortunately the idea of players missing league matches for international duty is a thing of the past but there is still much work to be done in fixing the international calendar.

However, clubs are also to blame for scheduling insane friendlies during the summer and winter break. Even our beloved FC Barcelona have been guilty of doing that. We just witnessed our club play friendlies in Croatia, Germany, and the US last summer with some players picking up knocks along the way. We also saw them play in far east Asia the summer before and there is talk that they could be playing in South America, India, China and Japan this upcoming summer.

Clubs also have a responsibility in watching out for their players and these excessive summer tours have to be cut down too. Keep it simple and scheduling friendlies in Spain and compete in friendly tournaments in Amsterdam or London. Sure, the club will feel it in their pockets but perhaps it’s for the best since most of these players going to be busy representing Spain in Euro 20120, Confederations Cup 2013 and the World Cup 2014. We are witnessing some of the greatest players to not only represent Barça, but also represent the sport of football in general. They need to be looked after and not pushed to their breaking point.

This is where players have to step up and make their voices heard. If they sit back and accept to be overused by both club and countries, then they will have to accept the consequences of their silence. Perhaps FIFPRO should actually make their voice heard and resolve this matter since the big boys can't seem to get it done.

This week provided us with an unnecessary midweek interruption of international friendlies. Of course, there is nothing like an international friendly to pop out of nowhere while the season is in full swing. Time and time again we hear FIFA talking about its players playing too many games but do they have the players' best interests at heart or is it all about the money? It's time for FIFA, UEFA, clubs and the players to create a better more relaxed schedule for the sake of its players. This applies not only to international friendlies, but also to club friendlies.

Sport had a great headline on their website today - 20 horas de vuelo + 95 minutos de juego + intensa lluvia = 15 días de baja. That was posted with a photo of a tired Alexis. It basically translates to 20 hours of flying + 95 minutes of playing + intense rain = 15 days out with an injury. Alexis was injured yesterday and perhaps this midweek international calendar is to blame for forcing players to fly across the globe for a meaningless game for their country and then rushed back to play for their clubs. Alexis suffered an injury in yesterday's game that will see the forward miss almost two weeks of action.

Now, we can't be sure that the flying back and forth the Atlantic contributed to his injury. For all we know, this injury would have occurred even if he never played for Chile back on Wednesday. However, we already have seen the likes of Abidal, Coentrão, and Huntelaar pick up knocks on international duty for a meaningless friendly. The only purpose of this friendly was purely financial. So ultimately, clubs have to suffer in their quest to win the league just so countries play each other for a game that has nothing at stake.

We already saw Spain fly to England and Costa Rica back in November to play friendlies. Fans were not too pleased and many blamed FIFA for this. However, what was lost on people was the fact that the countries have the final say in scheduling a friendly. So yes, the RFEF could have easily decided not have a friendly this Wednesday against Venezuela and allowed its players some rest. Just like November however, they opted not to. You can blame FIFA and UEFA as much as you want but no one forced a gun to RFEF's head to schedule the games either.

That's why I can understand clubs being upset at losing their players to injuries from international duty action. This past Wednesday’s games are a perfect example of useless games with the sole exception of the World Cup qualifiers matches that took place in Asia and even that could be argued as poor scheduling. Clubs are heavily invested in winning both domestic and European football competitions and cannot afford to lose players to injuries. For those older fans like myself, the memories of Romario, Ronaldo and Rivaldo leaving Barcelona during the season to play for Brazil still lingers in our memories. Fortunately the idea of players missing league matches for international duty is a thing of the past but there is still much work to be done in fixing the international calendar.

However, clubs are also to blame for scheduling insane friendlies during the summer and winter break. Even our beloved FC Barcelona have been guilty of doing that. We just witnessed our club play friendlies in Croatia, Germany, and the US last summer with some players picking up knocks along the way. We also saw them play in far east Asia the summer before and there is talk that they could be playing in South America, India, China and Japan this upcoming summer. 

Clubs also have a responsibility in watching out for their players and these excessive summer tours have to be cut down too. Keep it simple and scheduling friendlies in Spain and compete in friendly tournaments in Amsterdam or London. Sure, the club will feel it in their pockets but perhaps it’s for the best since most of these players going to be busy representing Spain in Euro 20120, Confederations Cup 2013 and the World Cup 2014. We are witnessing some of the greatest players to not only represent Barça, but also represent the sport of football in general. They need to be looked after and not pushed to their breaking point.

This is where players have to step up and make their voices heard. If they sit back and accept to be overused by both club and countries, then they will have to accept the consequences of their silence. Perhaps FIFPRO should actually make their voice heard and resolve this matter since the big boys can't seem to get it done.

RFEF dragging their feet again regarding the Copa Final venue.

The current predicament plaguing the Spanish league is not about which clubs are able to pay their players’ salaries or the possibility of another strike from the league players. No, the current quandary that has once again put the RFEF in the spotlight again is the uncertainty of where the Copa del Rey final will be played. Madrid’s rejection of hosting the final has put the RFEF in a negative light regarding how inept they are which is a clear contrast of their neighboring countries’ leagues.

The Santiago Bernabéu was the preferred venue for the Copa del Rey final by both FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. Unfortunately, Real Madrid opted to refuse to host the final because they have bathrooms to renovate, a Bruce Springsteen concert to plan for and that they might be celebrating Champions League title should they win it on May 20. Some thought their refusal was a sign of fear that they didn’t want Barça celebrating a title in their own stadium. Now, if that was the sole reason for Madrid not wanting to host the final, then shame on them for thinking it was a foregone conclusion that Athletic had no chance of winning the cup against Barça.

However, the problem here falls squarely on the RFEF and their lack of planning ahead. Unlike most countries, Spain does not have a “national stadium” to host a cup final. England has Wembley stadium in London to host the FA Cup and also used the Millennium Stadium, in Wales as the temporary home of the FA Cup final. France has the Stade de France in Paris that hosts the Coupe de France. Germany has the Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium) in Berlin as the venue for the German cup/DFB-Pokal final. Italy has the Stadio Olimpico, home to both Lazio and Roma, in Rome as the venue for the Coppa Italia final. Even Spain’s Iberian neighbor, Portugal, has a national stadium, Estádio Nacional/Estádio do Jamor located in Jamor that hosts the Portuguese Cup/ Taça de Portugal final.

All those venues have been hosting their respective domestic cup finals for a long time. Yet, Spain opts to wait till the Semi-finalists, or the finalists in this case, have been decided before deciding on a venue for the final. Supposedly, Madrid’s indirect refusal is the first time that a club has rejected hosting a Copa final. So what can the RFEF do? Put their foot down and remind Madrid who’s the boss? Highly doubt it especially with their laid back approach in punishing Mourinho for attempting to poke Tito Vilanova’s eye or their failure to discipline Pepe after what appeared to be an intentional stamp on Messi’s hand.

The RFEF have three options. The first option is to build a national stadium so they can have their own version of Wembley for Cup finals and for big international matches. We know that won’t happen and they sometimes use the Bernabéu for the big international matches. The second option is to go ahead and pick a stadium to be their national stadium which would probably be the Bernabéu since it hosted the 1962 Euro Cup Final and the 1982 World Cup Final. We know the Camp Nou would never get it and can’t imagine the reaction of the Madridistas if the national stadium was located in Catalan country. The problem is would Real Madrid throw a fit if the final would feature Barcelona in it? RFEF doesn’t need more headaches so it won’t happen. Estadio de La Cartuja in Sevilla probably could be a worthy candidate as a Cup Final venue since it’s not being used but its capacity of slightly over 57,000 would not make it a suitable venue. La Cartuja would allow over 28,000 fans from each of the finalist to witness the final which is not bad based on the average attendance of the Spanish league, which was over 29,000. However, if the finalists are from the big clubs, such as this year’s finalists, then that venue would be deemed too small.

Before I address the third option, it should be noted that FC Barcelona never rejected hosting the Copa final back in 2004. Guti tweeted that Barça pulled the same stunt back then but El País and Marca have come out and said it never happened.  The story that Barça didn’t want Real Madrid playing in their stadium is false. All the semi-finalists back then decided that Espanyol’s old stadium, Montjuic, should be the venue for the final.

So that leaves us with the third option, and that is picking the venue a year in advance. You don’t see the NFL waiting till the last minute to decide where the next Super Bowl will be. You already know where the next UEFA Champions League final will be this year and next year. Munich will be hosting it this year and Wembley will be hosting it again next year. Sadly, we all know the RFEF is going to do nothing. They are going to just sit back and pretend that this never happened and go on with to portray the “mañana attitude” that continues to plague Spanish football. One has to cringe when we see how the Premier League gets things done in terms of disciplinary action; TV revenue; scheduling; and marketability while RFEF is content just not care. Villar was just re-elected as FA president but don’t expect any changes anytime soon.

One Title Lost But Two More Left.

Barça’s loss over the weekend to Osasuna probably all but ended their hopes of winning their fourth consecutive league title. We can blame it on many things and complain as much as we want but, barring some unexpected collapse from Real Madrid, it’s time for the club and fans to focus on the two other cups and expect a cup double. However, there still some blame to pass around about how the league seemed lost in February and that’s aimed at Guardiola and all the way up to club President Sandro Rosell.

A 10 point gap is a lot to overcome although Real Madrid did squander a big lead back during Laporta’s first year as club president that saw Valencia win the league title. However, many, including myself cannot see Mourinho squandering that lead unless he rests his starters for the Champions League and as a result, somehow drop points. I suggested in my last blog that Pep had to rest his players by rotating them with the backups and Barça B players after Barça fell 7 points behind Real Madrid. Well, neither I nor others expected him to rest Xavi, Iniesta and Cesc from the starting lineup. Nevertheless, he did and on that cold freezing night, Barça tried hard but not overcome consecutive two goal leads.

Now many were upset by that decision but I thought it was a safe bet with Iniesta back from injury and Xavi and Cesc exhausted from playing in so many games. FourFourTwo’s Tim Stannard said it best in his column today,

"Wouldn’t Guardiola have received even more criticism had Iniesta and Xavi played for example and knackered themselves again, missing the Champions League games which Barcelona could then have lost?"

So the bottom line now is for the club to go ahead and capture the cup double by winning the Copa Del Rey and the club’s fifth Champions League title.

With Madridistas already celebrating the league title, the cup double would put a damper on their celebrations. What Mourinho will be accomplishing is a personal impressive statistic but Valdano, Capello and Schuster also won the league title managing Real Madrid. The thing is; they at least managed to defeat Barça on their way on claiming the league crown. Madrid will be coming to the Camp Nou in May, which coincidentally would be around the same time as the UEFA Champions League Semi-Finals. The best way to really dampen the mood over in the Spanish capital would be if both teams end up meeting in the Champions League Quarter-Finals with Barça yet again getting the best of Madrid.

That early elimination would leave Madrid with just league football to look forward to for the rest of the season while Barça continue their quest to win titles. Of course it still is disappointing to see the league be determined so early but it was inevitable. Many fans thought the club should have made more signings during the summer and the winter break. I am not a fan of buying players during the winter break but I think picking up some players on loan would have been a great idea during the winter transfer window. However, I blame Pep on relying too much on having a small squad. That works in seasons where the schedule is more relaxed than and not as condensed as seasons such as this year that because an upcoming international summer tournament.

In hindsight, perhaps signing the likes of Kanouté, Botía, and José Ángel along with Alexis and Cesc would have benefitted the club in the long run. But alas, Pep trusted his players a bit too much and didn’t expect tons of hamstring injuries. It’s February and we can already see players are suffering from playing in too many games. Being champions took a toll on their bodies with trips to Monaco, Japan along with friendlies in numerous countries over the summer. Hopefully Pep learned from this season and will plan better for next season in having a slightly deeper squad. Additionally, maybe it’s best if club president Sandro Rosell doesn’t plan any upcoming summer tours that will see the team fly halfway across the globe.

This upcoming summer will see half the squad participating in Euro 2012. Thus, any ideas from Rosell about traveling to North America or Asia as part of their summer preseason/tour should be scrapped. These players have been through a lot these first four seasons under Pep and deserve some rest this summer. How about participating in European summer tournaments such as the Amsterdam Tournament, Emirates Cup, or the Wembley cup while also participating in domestic tournaments such as Trofeo Naranja or the one cup Pep has yet to win, Copa Catalunya. As much as I would love to see Barça come back to America this summer, I believe it’s time for Rosell and the club to ignore the dollar signs and let the players rest and adjust to one time zone for at least one summer.

I might as well vent some more since I’m mentioning Rosell since part of the reason why the club has fallen back 10 points behind Real Madrid also falls on his shoulders. We can’t ignore the obvious in that Madrid’s tactics of intimidating the referees has worked to their advantage. I mentioned it before that we need instant replay since referees are missing the obvious calls while Madrid seem to be getting the benefit of the calls. 11 consecutive penalties awarded without any given against them? I am not saying they don’t deserve getting penalties. I am more upset at how the referees seem to swallow the whistle if there is call against Madrid. Madrid’s away form hasn’t been that impressive either as evidenced by their recent struggles against Mallorca and Getafe where they benefitted from some bad decisions.

Of course this is mere speculation but it’s not that difficult to see that Madrid gained a lot from going after the referees via the club, manager, media and the fans. Meanwhile, Mr. Rosell opted to play the nice guy. Maybe it was worth going forward and filing complaints with the league against Mourinho after eye gouging Tito Vilanova and against Pepe after what did to Messi. Instead, Rosell put his faith in the league and in return, the league walked over him like Pepe did when he stepped on Messi’s hand. Perhaps then the league would have finally grown a pair and came down on both clubs and made it easier on their referees to make calls without fear of repercussions or backlash from either club. Nice guys don’t fare well when they are in a dirty fight and Rosell is being nice to a club that is trying its best to destroy our club by any shady means necessary. Madrid’s Allegations of doping, allegations of gaining favors from referees, allegations of favoritism, along with dirty cheap shots on Barça players from the Merengues makes this a dirty fight that requires a club president to fight back and not rely on the better judgment of league and its officials.

The club resumes its quest to win their fifth Champions League title tomorrow.  Now, for those who are upset or doubt this team can win the Champions League because of their poor showing in the league. Let me give you this bit of sports trivia. When AC Milan became the last team to win back to back Champions Cup under Sacchi, they did so without ever winning the league title during those two seasons.  Even Real Madrid won their 8th Champions League title while finishing fifth in the league table. So it is possible for Barça to win another Champions League title and here’s hoping that Pep and the players bring back El Quinto so we can celebrate a special brand of Manita Champions League success along with another Copa Del Rey triumph in May.

Perhaps it’s time for Pep to rest starters from league action?

With Real Madrid enjoying a seven point lead atop of the standings, thanks to some fine no-calls from the referees, maybe it’s time for Pep to conserve some of the team’s energy when it comes to league matches. Although they are not out of the race for a fourth consecutive league crown, their chances are looking a bit tough. Additionally, they have two other titles to think off with the Champions League still theirs to lose. The club has seen numerous players pick up injuries and we are only in the month of February. Thus, perhaps Pep is better off saving his players for the Champions League and Copa Del Rey titles by resting his starters from some league matches.

Now, I’m not saying that the league is lost and that the quest for the fourth consecutive is over. It looks bleak but the league has already been decided in the final five matches. However, this season is condensed season because of the upcoming UEFA Euro 2012. That is why Barça has had to play a lot of midweek games this season. Just January alone saw them play two games a week and that will continue this month when they host Valencia in the second leg of the Copa Del Rey Semi’s and then travel to Germany next week for the first leg of the Round of 16 encounter against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.

That makes it six consecutive weeks where they have played twice a week. In other words, 12 games in 6 weeks.  The schedule is going to be like that the rest of the season with midweek games late in March, all of April and that is just the league fixtures only. You also have some international fixtures coming up which will regrettably cause more fatigue. Bottom line is that these guys will be playing a lot of games without the usual six to seven days off between games like last season. Pep has seen many players go down with injuries and players fighting fatigue from playing too many games.

Unfortunately, the price of success has taken a toll on the players with an awful summer preseason along with trips to Monaco and Japan. The players average around 60 to 70 games a season and it was inevitable that fatigue and injuries would plague this team someday. That’s why I enjoyed watching Guardiola rest some of his starters in Saturday’s victory against Sociedad. Xavi got to enjoy a full week off while Pique and Abidal got to rest for a half. It’s time to utilize the other players who have not featured much along with players from the youth setup.

It’s time for Pep to give the Barça B players more minutes in the league. Montoya should be playing a few games in place of Dani Alves while Bartra and Muniesa should start in place of Puyol and Pique with Adriano filling in for Abidal here and there. Mascherano now can fill in for Busquets while he recovers from the injury that caused him to get 15 stitches. Thiago and Jonathan Dos Santos filled in for Xavi and Iniesta while Cuenca and Tello filled in for the injured Pedro and Alexis. That leaves us with Cesc and Messi. Cesc, Xavi and Iniesta, when he comes back from his injury, can all alternate with each other with some league starts.

Unfortunately, Pep seems reluctant to rest Messi and that could be a vital mistake. Whether he likes it or not, Messi needs to be rested and not start every match for a full 90 minutes. It is rather odd that Pep is reluctant to rest Messi. After all, he used him as a substitute 10 times in all competitions during his first season as the manager of Barça where they won the treble. Perhaps it is better to bring on Messi in the final 30 minutes of a game in the occasional league match than watch him play 90 minutes every game the rest of the way. Keep him fresh for the more important league matches only and for the Champions League. The issue is which games are considered non-important in the league.

Valencia dropped more points yesterday and are currently 11 points behind Barça for second place. Pep can afford to rest his players without worrying about falling into third or fourth place. If the team does well with all these rotations and somehow catch up to Real Madrid while resting their players for the Champions League, then the risk would have been worthwhile. If not, then Pep still has players well rested as they look to capture their fifth Champions League title and another Copa Del Rey crown should they succeed in advancing to the final on Wednesday. Either ways, our starters will get the rest that they so desperately deserve.  We may be halfway through the season but the second half of the season will be quite demanding so here’s hoping that Pep looks at the long term solution of resting and rotating his players, especially Messi.

The remaining schedule with pending Champions League dates should Barcelona advance all the way to the final.

 

The Double Standards of RFEF towards Barça is pathetic.

Another Clásico came and went and once again, we got to encounter another controversy regarding Mourinho’s Real Madrid. Everyone saw Pepe’s intentional act of stepping on Messi’s hand and although no swift action was taken, it was expected that the RFEF would use video evidence to go after Pepe. Unfortunately, RFEF failed to punish Pepe and he was back in the starting lineup. This was just another example of how the RFEF have double standards and quite frankly it is getting to be pathetic.

With Madridistas whining about Barça getting calls in their favor and calling for Villarato, this past week gave us another fine example of how it truly is Barça against Spanish football figureheads. The recent Copa Clásicos presented viewers a unique chance to see every angle imaginable thanks to the 28 cameras available at the Santiago Bernabéu. Well, we have all grown accustomed to the Madrid players’ dirty and pathetic cheap shots on Barça players, especially when they are down.  Nevertheless, it still surprised us all that Pepe intentionally stepped on Messi’s hand. He got away it on the pitch but we were certain that the RFEF would sure that he would get disciplined for that act.

Yet, there was Pepe starting in the starting lineup in yesterday’s game. The RFEF opted not to lay a finger on a man who stepped on another player’s hands. How could this be? It was another obvious sign of double standards from the RFEF and a shining example of how inept they truly are. Their competitive neighbors, the Premier League, wasted no time in making sure Mario Balotelli would get suspended for his actions on Sunday. Replays showed Balotelli stamping on Scott Parker during Sunday’s league encounter between Manchester City and Tottenham. The FA charged him two days later with violent conduct and he is awaiting his punishment.

Meanwhile over in Spain, we all waited and waited yet nothing seemed to happen. No word on any action against Pepe came during the weekend. So we all expected a final decision to be made yesterday, on the day of the second leg. Unfortunately, the RFEF and its Competition Committee decided not to punish Pepe because there was no mention of Pepe’s incident in the referee’s report. The decision in not punishing Pepe was an insult to not just all Cules, but to all football fans across world.

However, Barça fans had to be aggrieved. How could they not punish Pepe? Why is it that the RFEF has different standards when it comes to punishing Barcelona players and punishing Real Madrid players? Back in the 1999-2000 season, the RFEF had no problem punishing Barça player Patrick Kluivert for punching Rayo Vallecano’s Cota by banning him for five matches. That was a league match and the incident was missed by the officials but caught by the cameras. So why was Kluivert banned while Pepe walked?

Speaking of Pepe; it was also ironic that the RFEF failed to punish him last season too for his Butifarra gestures after celebrating Ronaldo’s goal in the Copa Del Rey Final. When these two sides last met in the Copa Del Rey back in the 96-97 season, Brazilian striker Giovanni scored what turned out to be the game winning goal in Madrid. He is famously remembered by Barça fans for celebrating that goal with his Butifarra gestures in front of the Madrid crowd. However, the RFEF was not too pleased and he was banned for two games. Now fast-forward to last season’s Copa Del Rey Final. Pepe committed the same act and yet, he escaped punishment from the RFEF. Even UEFA punished former Barça player Mark van Bommel with a fine a few years ago when he committed the same gesture after scoring against Real Madrid in the Bernabéu for Bayern Munich.

 

Yet, the RFEF and its Competition Committee failed to punish Pepe twice now when they punished Barça player for similar conduct and actions in the past. Madrid may cry Villarato as much as they want, but the RFEF’s cowardly decision not to punish Pepe at all just shows that perhaps the Spanish capital club is the club that is getting the favors after all. We know he won't get punished for attempting to step on Dani Alves too yesterday.

Time for Fútbol to join the club and use replay.

As we enter a new year, an old dilemma still haunts our beloved game of football. Just these past few weeks, the calls of ref bias reared its ugly head again. The big surprise though, was that it was coming from Barça fans this time. The missed calls on the obvious handball in the Espanyol game coupled with the booking to Iniesta after he was fouled inside the box in the Betis game and the missed calls in the Madrid Mallorca game upset many fans who believe the gap between the archrivals should be down to two points. I don’t think there is a bias by the refs. It’s just incompetence. I also think that the idea of instant replay has to become a reality in the near future so we don't have to witness another poor decision like Iniesta's booking against Betis this past weekend.

This debate has been going on for a while with those for and against instant replay. There was even a very lively discussion about it on twitter between me, ESPN Soccernet’s Eduardo Alvarez and the infamous Barcastuff this past weekend. The discussion went back and forth between us regarding the issues that refs are not intentionally favoring any side; past or present in recent history. Eduardo made the point that referees need to be full-time professionals and not part-timers. He made the strong point that if they remain part-timers, then the pressure on the referees will keep growing, and they will remain unprepared and amateur as they are nowadays.

Barcastuff countered that the pressure though is coming from Real Madrid, its fans and the Madrid press. I have to say I agree with that statement. One of the best examples was during last year’s Champions League Semi-Finals. Madridistas were upset with Wolfgang Stark’s decision to send off Pepe. Afterwards, ITV’s Andy Townsend was threatened by angry Madrid fans who thought he was Stark. If this is what Townsend went through, imagine what the Spanish refs go through then. It is not that farfetched for referees to feel the wrath of fans. It wasn’t that long ago that Anders Frisk retired following Mourinho’s accusations that resulted in threats made at him and his family from Chelsea fans.

Now back to Eduardo’s comment that referees should be full-time professionals. I agree and this is something that many others have said before and the NFL is currently thinking about making their referees become fulltime. I don’t think the referees are biased. They just are not that good. It seems like the game is advancing every year while they regress backwards. I don’t think referees becoming full-time professionals is enough though and that more needs to be implemented to aid the referees and provide just results.

More referees was one suggestion and perhaps it might work. However, we all agreed that instant replay/TV technology is something we all want to be implemented someday.  Of course, that topic has ruffled the feathers of the purists for a long time. I can understand their views against it. It’s not part of the game, it slows down games, and it takes away from the game. I agree with all except the latter. I am sorry but I didn’t buy Platini’s explanation that human error is part of the game. Sorry, but this sport is now a business where managers lose their jobs and players might end up losing out on success. I don’t believe Mexico’s and England’s national teams were too pleased with FIFA’s apology after their elimination from the World Cup.

The neutrals might say they prefer it that way but I would be hard pressed to believe any fan shares that view after seeing his team get the wrong end of a call. We are now in the year 2012 and NCAA Football and Basketball use instant replay. Heck, even Major League Baseball uses instant replay and that sport has been around just as long as fútbol and has its own share of purists. Yet, I never heard any of them complain about it when it has been used to get the call right. Now some argue how can we rely on instant replay when the NFL can’t seem to get calls right with the use of replay? Valid point but the NFL is a different sport where they can challenge for many things unlike football where we want it just for a few things such as off sides, hand balls, did the ball cross the goal line and foul or dive for a penalty. I prefer we compare it to NHL’s use of instant replay since the NHL and fútbol share many similarities.

NHL’s instant replay applies to only goals. There are basically eight things they can review and guess what, I can’t think of many instances where they got a goal wrong with the minor exception of the Dallas Stars Buffalo Sabres series clinching goal involving Brett Hull skate in the crease during overtime in the Finals controversy. Other than that, they have gotten it right and if I am wrong, please let me know. Now, for fútbol, it would be used for the following reasons. Did the ball cross the goal line? Was it a handball to score or deny a goal?; Was the player onside or not and was it a foul or a dive inside the box? You can also make the argument for off the ball decisions like Zidane’s head butt. I can’t believe that fans would rather see a game be decided by a blown call. Maradona’s Hand of God anyone? Instant replay is the way of the future and FIFA needs to get the ball rolling on it quickly. Every sport seems to have it now except our beloved sport. Of course, this would mean more cameras, more camera angles and even a video goal judge so the referee doesn’t have to go through the peep show booth that NFL referees go through. Let someone upstairs review it like they do in the NHL.

The problem though is that this issue has to be brought up by the players. Players whining to the media about bad calls is not enough. They have to demand it. Barcastuff made the argument that players union have other concerns such as protecting the players. I beg to differ and think the players and their unions have to make their voices heard along with the league presidents. It’s a win-win situation for everybody. Clubs and fans no longer have to witness their team suffer a bad call. Leagues and teams can make money from the TV time used during the instant replay. I don’t buy into the argument that it stalls games by affecting continuity and momentum since we go through that already from players wasting time for injuries or protesting a bad call.

Until then, we have to sit back and watch referees make horrible calls such as the missed handball in the Barcelona derby or the wrong call on the disallowed Mallorca goal for off sides or the missed Sergio Ramos handball near the end of the game.  We cannot continue to live at a time where teams could get relegated or lose its chance at winning a trophy from a bad referee’s decision. Eduardo made the point that he didn’t think the Spanish league has been decided by refereeing mistakes. I agree with him when he said that there will be tons of ref mistakes after 38 matches but ultimately, the best side always wins. He detests this sort of debate and made the obvious claim that both Real Madrid and Barcelona get way too many calls to complain about it. I concur and think that’s the case in all the leagues when it comes to big teams getting the benefit of the calls against the smaller teams.  In case you didn’t know, Eduardo is a Real Madrid fan who is very fair and level headed in my opinion.

I agreed with him about the best side always wins and that’s why I don’t blame the referees for Barça being in second place. Much of the blame lies with their away from albeit some of the referee calls have not helped either. With that said, we should not accept incompetence from non-fulltime referees that affect the outcomes of close games that could lead to teams being relegated or hindering teams from winning a title when there is video technology available. So I hope that the push for video technology grows stronger. Please make it happen FIFA!

Fútbol coverage in America has to improve.

Belated Happy New Year to you all. 2012 is upon us and sadly, I already have to whine about something. I was enjoying my wonderful Christmas break and should have been in a happy festive mood. Yet, my mood quickly turned sour. The Old Firm was being played but low and behold, not one TV station was carrying it live in the US. Not FSC. Not GolTV and not ESPN. What gives? As if that wasn’t enough for me to be upset, I grew more bitter when I realized that yet another edition of the Africa Cup of Nations will also not be aired on any of those stations. With all these extra outlets for football coverage, why is it that we always seem to miss out on football action?

I could waste your time listing what all these channels have the rights to and what they show on the TV and what they stream online. The big issue is that we should have all these games on TV. Of course, I don’t mean on the big three networks. Let’s face it, we all know that they don’t care about the sport that much. So we are left with cable TV which usually means buying the sports package channels. However, not all the leagues are played. This of course brings me back to the Old Firm game that I mentioned above. When I discovered that there was going to be a midweek Old Firm match, I quickly checked to see what channel would be showing it.

Low and behold, not one of the big three soccer channels were showing it. What gives? One of the most important rivalries in the world and it’s not on TV. I don’t know who shows the Scottish League and it seems like no one does. This is a pity since Celtic and Rangers have a lot of fans in this country and you would expect this game to at least be aired for the masses. This quickly made me look into who owned the rights for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations and my Old Firm disappointment was compounded by additional misery. There is no free TV coverage for the African Cup of Nations whatsoever.

I remember the first time watching the African Cup of Nations back in 1994. I was in Lebanon enjoying an entertaining tournament that made become a fan of Nigeria’s national team for future African Cup of Nations. It become harder to watch when I moved to the States soon afterwards since no one showed it in America. I didn’t get to watch another edition till next decade when I discovered that the Arabic package on Dish Network. They were showing the competition and I got to watch it a few more times.

Sadly, we are into the new days of 2012 and still face the same dilemma. No coverage of African Cup of Nations in America. We also don’t have coverage of other big games from other leagues. No Old Firm. No PSG against Olympique Marseilles. No Ajax v PSV. I know ESPN 3 streams some of these games but that’s the problem; we get these games online free or through other means that is not approved by the league and TV big wigs.

I am not asking for every league game from every league to be played. No, far from it. But I would like for the big games of the big leagues to be played on TV. I sure would wake up early to see a clash between Ajax against Feyenoord or the Old Firm or Olympiakos against Panathinaikos over an early kickoff of Sunderland hosting Bolton or at least show games featuring one of the top teams of the league too. The leagues and the sports networks need to sort something out because I can watch all those games online for free by other means. I am not the one losing out; they are.

Sure watching the games online is not the same as watching it on your big TV screen but when they are not even on the TV screen, you have no other choice. That’s why things need to change. When you can watch games online for free, then what incentive do you have to order those channels later on via cable or paid online channel service? Hopefully things change in the near future because I am tired of being stuck in the 90’s when it comes to coverage of football in America.