Mario Balotelli would, in any other country, be seen as an exceptionally talented young footballer looking to break into the national side. In Italy, he has become the symbol of a nation that apparently refuses to accept a multi-ethnic society. The situation has been compounded as two of the most successful coaches in the footballing world, currently working in Italy, has dismissed the abuse directed at Balotelli.
Champions League-winning coach Jose Mourinho, who currently coaches Balotelli at Inter Milan along with World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi are the two esteemed men in question. Given their achievements and massive influence in the footballing world, one would assume the two would use their standing in the game to condemn this abuse and support a player who has the talent to lead Italian football for years to come. Instead, they have protected the racists and morons in the crowds by denying the abuse is racist. One explain why they have come to such conclusions through their respective characters.
After another calendar year of football, there have been some fantastic goals and LiberoFootball is back to look back on some of the best:
Martin Palermo – Best Header (04/10/09)
Before this goal, in a 3-2 win against Velez Sarsfield, Martin Palermo was most famous for missing a trio of penalties in a 1999 Copa America first round tie against Columbia in a 3-0 loss. He never wore the Argentina shirt until a call-up this year by a desperate Diego Maradona, where his last-gasp winner against Peru gave their faltering campaign a much needed boost.
Velez Sarsfield goalkeeper German Montoya came out of his box to clear the ball, which sailed harmlessly, at head height, towards the centre circle, where Palermo was standing, 38.9 metres from goal. The rest is history. The veteran striker said afterwards, “It always happens to me. When I look for similar stories of other players there aren’t any. Things happen to me that I can’t explain”.
UEFA have had massive publicity in the past week – mainly for the wrong reasons. Wednesday night’s Champions League qualifier at the Emirates Stadium was at the centre of the controversy. Eduardo dived after minimal contact from Arthur Boruc – that much is true. What followed is ridiculous.
Firstly, a charge was administered to the Brazil-born Croatian based on Article 10, paragraph 1c of their regulations which deals with ‘acting with the obvious intent to cause any match official to make an incorrect decision’. The prospect of a two-match ban is being mentioned for Eduardo, assuming he can be proven to have acted with intent and a desire to cheat and deceive the referee. While the player dived, there was minimal contact with Boruc. Can UEFA prove this clearly? It does seem unlikely.
It seems that UEFA have suddenly decided to pull out a rule barely referred to in the history of the Champions League. A cynic would argue this organisation is acting upon the media hysteria in Scotland and England. But that is exactly what is happening. The last time a player was banned for diving also involved a Scottish side. Lithuanian Saulius Mikoliunas did so against the national side. Of course the coincidence has led to Wenger claiming the Scottish influence at UEFA has led to the charge being administered. UEFA general secretary David Taylor, a Scot, said of Wenger’s comments:
“It’s our duty to apply the rules without fear or favour. We simply refer the matter to the disciplinary committee, which is independent.”
Wenger’s dismay at how UEFA informed Arsenal of the charge is understandable. A number of senior officials were in Monaco for the CL group stage draw and could have easily been informed by UEFA. Instead a fax was sent to the club, where it was only spotted by a junior worker, who informed Wenger of UEFA’s rash decision.
The retrospective ban has opened the door to a dangerous path for UEFA. When a player is caught simulating a tumble by the referee on the pitch, he is in most cases cautioned. Why the sudden increase in punishment if the action has been taken after the match? It makes little sense and lacks any consistency.
The improvement in technology for caused the music industry to suffer for not adapting to the digital revolution. Now, after also taking newspapers, film and television in as victims, football is next. In particular, English football. The English Premier League is refusing to adapt to improvements in Broadband speeds and the increasing popularity in internet streaming and peer-to-peer streaming. By doing so, the EPL is fighting a losing battle.
By ignoring the potential of online streaming, the EPL has become vulnerable in terms of his dependence on the television deal it brokered with BSkyB. The Premiership business model, which has raked in billions over the years, has revealed its weaknesses in terms of focussing massively on a domestic market. The EPL therefore sells rights abroad at far lower prices, which makes less sense given the fact that there are a far greater number of viewers abroad than at home.
The price differences have become so vast that fans in the UK have to pay £46 a month to watch only a few games featuring their own sides, while, for example, in China, EPL games are to be broadcast on free-to-air television. The Sky monopoly means fans have to buy the standard Sky package before investing further to view Sky Sports, rather than buying the latter in a stand-alone deal.
In an attempt to stop Sky’s monopoly, the EU ruled that one company can only own 5 of the 6 packages on offer, meaning ESPN have bought the remaining two from Setanta. Their business plan seems to complement BSkyB, instead of competing with them as Setanta and ITV Digital failed to do, with Sky suscribers offered the new channels for £9 a month and others for £12 a month. This means for UK fans to legally watch as much EPL football as they can, it could cost up to £55 a month.
Excluded in this UK price are all the Saturday 3pm kick-offs, in a blackout which the EPL insist protect lower-league attendances. This logic is ridiculous given that the majority of matches in the television deal feature the bigger, more popular sides, whose attendances are generally to capacity (bar Chelsea, though that is another story). There are few lower league matches shown on Sky in general.
Spanish football has been in mourning after the sudden death of Espanyol Captain Daniel Jarque, aged 26. The centre back passed away on Saturday night at 8pm local time after suffering heart failure at the Barcelona side’s training camp in Coverciano, Italy.
Reports suggest the Espanyol youth product was on the phone to his fiancée, who is eight months pregnant, when the tragedy occurred. He was found by his team-mates who noticed his absence at dinner. Club doctors and Italian paramedics tried to revive Jarque, but without success.
Jarque joined Espanyol at the age of 12, making his debut in 2002. He was a highly-rated defender with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur both strongly linked to him. Jarque succeeded Raul Tamudo as captain just one month ago. Under his leadership, the club were moving in a new direction, with their new stadium recently completed and celebrated with a 3-0 win over Liverpool in which Jarque played.
After last season, there have been several doubts over the effectiveness of Denilson, Alexandre Song and Abou Diaby. Perhaps rightly so in the case of the latter, who so frustratingly seems to randomly fluctuate between world beater and idiot. Hopefully the extra fitness training he has put in prior to pre-season will pay off this year (yes, I’m ignoring the accident that caused Nasri’s injury!).
Massimo Moratti and Jose Mourinho must be laughing. In fact, the latter might struggle to manage Inter next season because of it. Having pulled basically (bar a few issues here and there) off the deal of the century this week, Inter are looking strong favourites to walk to the Serie A title for a fifth consecutive triumph.
The deal in question reportedly involves Zlatan Ibrahimovic moving to Barcelona for a fee of €45m, Samuel Eto’o on a permanent transfer and Alexander Hleb on a season-long loan deal. Yes, LiberoFootball were also wondering whether Joan Laporta was feeling well when he agreed to sanction such a preposterous deal in the favour of Inter.
There have been many, many questions surrounding the wisdom of such a deal. After all, Samuel Eto’o is a proven, world class striker and Alexander Hleb is suited to Italian football. In contrast Zlatan Ibrahimovic is widely acknowledged as the most overrated striker in world football. In addition, the huge sum of money added to the players being swapped makes it seem vas if Moratti has bulled off his own ‘Italian Job’.
So a salary cap doesn’t seem feasible. But what about a player draft? Is it equally impossible? Once again, given the competition is spread across many countries, player drafts would have to be based on National Football Centres, like the excellent Clairefontaine academy in France. England would have to give speed up the progress of the Burton project for the option to be viable.
Yet the international transfers of U18s would have to be banned for the drafts to work in the individual countries, and quotas, such as Sepp Blatter’s highly controversial 6+5 rule, may have to be implemented. The likelihood of both these actions occurring are nigh on impossible given they also contravene EU law. In addition, clubs who have spent millions on their own academies to nurture talent may be unwilling to let a national draft occur, with the weakest/poorest side given first pick on a player, as is the case in a number of American sports. Barcelona, who have spent millions on their cantera, producing some world-class players, would vehemently disagree with any such proposal.
Yet, they would agree with lowering the age when a player can sign a professional contract, stopping sides such as Arsenal and Liverpool poaching their most promising prospects. Similarly, clubs may agree to the cessation of exploitation of players from poorer regions, although this is always difficult to regulate.
As was discussed in part one of this article, the salary cap placed upon NFL sides increased competition in American football. Yet there are many reasons as to why the monopoly of league titles across Europe will not be broken, if a salary cap is imposed (assuming Football is made exempt from normal labour laws).
For example, if a salary cap was to be implemented for the 2009/10 season, clubs in Spain would have a massive advantage over their English and Italian counterparts, given the tax legislation in each of the countries.
This summer’s transfer market has shown that football is in a world of its own. While the rest of the world struggles through the recession, Real Madrid have taken out loans reportedly adding up to €1bn to fund their excessive spending and Manchester City are throwing money at anything that moves.
Many footballing figures are called for a salary cap to be placed in football to stop the inflated figures from making the world’s most popular sport from becoming solely an expensive plaything of billionaires instead of normal, grounded fans and to increase competition. Yet, any comparisons to a salary cap and draft in the NFL are poorly researched considering the fact that, at least in Europe, extravagant spending occurs across a number of top flights.
