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Rejecting the American draft system Posted: Monday November 25, 2002 1:24 PM
Gabriele Marcotti covers international soccer for CNNSI.com. He will answer questions from users in his mailbag periodically. Dear Mr. Marcotti, I am sick and tired of watching big teams buy endless amounts of stars and ruin their careers as they are put to rest on the bench. Then when you really analyze the quality of the football, it isn't even that good! The best football in Europe last year was played by a neighborhood team called Chievo, which was made up of first team rejects but who obviously knew very well how to play. The lack of depth in the squad prevented them from succeeding. I am a great believer in the American system of seeding prospective players and assigning them to clubs who did poorly like in the NFL. This creates a balance and a real healthy competitive atmosphere. Gone are the days when the players wore the club's shirt with pride and they represented a footballing mentality. Case in point would be Van Basten at Milan, Maradona in Napoli, Di Stefano at Madrid just to name a few. Now football seems to be made up of a bunch of mercenaries who play just long enough for them to get the next best deal down the road. The abominable treatment of Inter at the hands of Ronaldo is a good example. This must stop! Bring back the days when we supported the players and the footballing mentality of the team and not just their clothing like we do today.
I think you're being a little harsh on the players. There are countless examples of players today who remain loyal to their teams, even to the detriment of their own careers, just as there are many examples from yesteryear of players who chased more lucrative deals elsewhere. I don't think the American draft system would work either, because it runs counter to the ethos of soccer, which has always had bigger and smaller clubs, with promotion and relegation. Chievo is a great example of what underrated players can do when they perform together as a team, but there is nothing preventing the bigger clubs in Europe from doing the same.
Hi, Do you like Africa's new World Cup qualifying format for 2006? In essence, it means there will be no qualifications. Instead, the five teams that finish first in the African Nations Cup, to be held in Egypt in 2006, make it to the World Cup in Germany.
Personally, I don't like it all, but I understand why they did it. I don't like it because there are too many variables at work in a competition like the African Nations Cup. A very good team may get a bad draw, thereby putting its World Cup participation in jeopardy. A short competition like the Nations Cup is simply not a good test -- injuries, for example, weigh far too heavily. I appreciate that it helps keep costs down and limits club-vs.-country disputes, ensuring countries have the best possible teams out there. But I think it would be tragic if a good team were excluded from the World Cup through a combination of injuries, misfortune and a tough draw.
Hi Gabriele. A short question: Can O'Neill take Celtic any further? As a Celtic fan, I think we should replace him with O'Leary.
O'Neill is a solid manager who knows how to get the best out of his players. I'm not convinced his style is as versatile as it should be. Sometimes, watching Celtic reminds me of his old Leicester teams, only with better players (and Henrik Larsson up front). Not sure O'Leary is the answer, though: he did well at Leeds, but then again he had the luxury of spending nearly a $100 million dollars... Celtic should stick with O'Neill for now and see if he can add another dimension to the club's style of play.
Hi Gabriele, I know I am looking at this from a North American perspective where trades are commonplace in baseball and hockey, but what exactly prevents a club in England from trading a player to another team for another player to improve its side? For example, why can't West Ham trade Paolo di Canio to Leeds for Nigel Martyn? Why can't Manchester United send one of their many forwards to an EPL club to get some defensive help?
Well, they can do that if they wish to. But, in reality, it's easier and more efficient to buy and sell players, rather than trading them. Years ago people bartered food, then the economy evolved and they started using money. U.S. sports simply haven't evolved to that point, I guess... seriously, apart from the opportunity to perform some accounting sleight-of-hand, there are few benefits to trading players, rather than selling them for cash.
Aren't the national cups completely meaningless competitions? The league winners are the best team in the country. The cups only distract and confuse fans. The argument that they provide surprises and excitement is a phony one. Nobody is going to say that Freiburg are a better team then Borussia Dortmund just because they beat them in the cup, so what's the point? I think these competitions exist only because the people who run football are very narrow-minded and traditionalistic.
Many of us like the tradition involved or the excitement a major upset brings. I agree that national cups tell you absolutely nothing about who the best team is during the course of a season, but this does not make them meaningless or useless. Having said that, certain cups, like the English FA Cup, carry a lot of prestige; others, like the Coppa Italia, are of little interest to the very teams competing in them.
Do you think (as I do) that the English Premiership is overrated? Most of their current stars were failures in the other big leagues in Europe
I do think that the English Premiership receives more coverage than it deserves to, but that is largely due to the fact that the English speaking media are so dominant. Having said that, I think there is plenty of quality and, in some respects, it is getting better every year. I wouldn't say that most of their current stars were failures elsewhere. For example, people like Thierry Henry or Patrick Vieira simply didn't spend enough time in Serie A to shine over there. And it works in reverse as well: Darko Kovacevic was a bust in England, but succeeded in Spain and, albeit to a lesser degree, in Italy. In terms of depth of quality, the Premiership may not rank as high as La Liga or Serie A, but I think it is very close. In terms of results in European competition, it is ahead of Serie A, at least in recent seasons.
La Liga has proved in these recent years that can be the best league in the world, now do you think we can have the best national team of the world some day before I die (I am 23 years old). Gracias.
Have faith man, Spain has plenty of young talent who will only get better: Reyes, Vicente, Joaquin, etc. Things are cyclical -- if Spain gets one or two more top-class defenders to line up alongside Carlos Puyol and a little bit of self-belief, I think it will be among the favorites for the next World Cup.
Hi Gabriele, I'm a big fan of the Bundesliga and personally rate it to be the biggest league in Europe (4 finalists in the last 6 seasons of the UEFA Champions League). Germany itself is still Europe's top national side as evidenced by its injury-ravaged team getting to the World Cup final. Question is: Why isn't German football accorded the respect it so rightly deserves? Could it be that their marketing strategy is poor?
I don't think the German national team is the best in Europe, just one of the best. And I wouldn't agree that the quality of the Bundesliga is as high as you suggest. Some of that has to do with money. Bundesliga teams can't match the spending power of La Liga, Serie A or the Premiership. Bayern's early exit from the Champions League underscores some of the problems the German league has been having. I think it will always be among the best, but, for now, it's a fair way off from being the best.
Do the FIFA rules govern anything about the color of a soccer ball? Can a league game be played with a solid orange ball?
FIFA leaves the color of the ball to be used in official matches to the national FAs, who then approve or reject balls. In fact, orange or red balls are often used in inclement weather conditions because of their higher visibility.
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