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Time for FIFA to take a stand
CNNSI.com soccer columnist Gabriele Marcotti will periodically answer a few of your questions. All of your comments are read and appreciated.
Hello sir, I want to ask you if any team outside of South America in latin america will ever win the world cup in these new millenium, for example Mexico, U.S.A. and Honduras. Please give me your opinion without putting your South American nationalism.
A millenium is a long time, and I think it's inevitable that a CONCACAF nation, most likely the U.S. or Mexico, will win at some point (probably not in our lifetimes). However, I would guess that an African and possibly Asian country will win before a CONCACAF nation does. Incidentally, it's nice to be accused of South American nationalism when you're not from South America...
The recent retirement of Lucas Radebe, South Africa's best defender, from international football is saddening. What will it take for CAF and UEFA to harmonize schedules so that African internationals in Europe can, like their European counterparts, represent their nations without the threat of punishment from clubs?
I agree completely. I've written about this before, but it's scandalous that we cannot have a harmonized calendar. As it stands, every continent outside of Europe is severely penalized, especially Africa and Oceania. It's time for FIFA to take a stand.
Congratulations for your well-written and comprehensive Fatih Terim article. One no small feat you have omitted, the guy happens to speak broken Italian as well. In just a few months, he has learnt to express himself in Italian starting out of scratch. Coaching Galatasaray or not, we love him and believe in this football master and world-class leader who will inevitably have even greater impact on the game in the near future.
I received a lot of mail on Terim's grasp of Italian. When he arrived, he could not communicate. Now, he does give press conferences on his own, but he is much more articulate and sophisticated speaking through an interpreter. This is why he is aided by an interpreter in his coaching. There are simply too many subtleties and intricacies for him to convey. I know the Turkish media has made a big deal about learning Italian, but the reality is that, for now, he is not yet comfortable coaching his team without an interpreter. This does not diminish the fact that he has made tremendous strides and has picked it up very quickly.
A few weeks ago you wrote a brilliant piece on Sacchi. Milan coach Zaccheroni, before Fiorentina-Milan game, commented that Terim was an advocate of soccer which Sacchi had introduced 15 years ago. Would you consider Terim to be a follower of Sacchi?
Terim is similar to Sacchi in that he preaches attacking football, but I think the key difference is that Terim gives his players more individual freedom. Sacchi believed that systems win titles; Terim believes that players win titles.
Do you think just one season of success in european club competition is enough reason for uefa to place Spanish football ahead of the italians, even though they have dominated european football for a better part of the 90's and late 80's.
UEFA's system for ranking nations is based on five years of cumulative results. It's all down to math; it's not subjective. The system is used to allocate spots in the Champions League and UEFA Cup.
What do you think are the 5 best club rivalries in soccer?
There are many great ones. Of the top of my head, for historical reasons, I would include:
Have you had a chance to follow the
French First division? Have you been surprised to see the success of Sedan, Lille and Nantes? These are teams without the means of Monaco, PSG, Olympique Marseille -- or even Bordeaux, but have been near the top most of the season. Your thoughts?
The French league this season is exceptionally tight. At first, the smaller clubs did well, partly because some of the bigger names made some key mistakes in the transfer market. Recently, things have changed, but I think the equilibrium underscores the fact that there is a lot of quality there, above and beyond the French stars who play abroad. Firstly, I would like your opinion on Lothar Matthäus, do you think that he could be considered one of the best players ever or has he overstayed his welocme a bit much. Secondly, I don't know if you will agree with me but I would like your view anyway. Why when people speak of Barcelona, Man Utd and Real do they never mention Bayern Munich. I feel that they are one of the greatest clubs ever as is shown by their results over the years and the players they have produced and they always seem to be the most consistent club in Europe reaching the semis of the Champion's League more regularly than most.
Matthäus has definitely overstayed his welcome but this does not mean he is not one of the best ever. He redefined the central midfield position and, later, proved himself to be an excellent sweeper as well. Beyond his unquestioned talent, his attitude, professionalism and competitiveness ensured he rarely had a bad game.
Why are you trying to defend Mihailovic on Vieira issue? What the guy did is wrong and should be condemned, whether he had a terrible childhood or not. He IS A ROLE MODEL AND SHOULD LEAD BY EXAMPLE. Fighting racism in Soccer should begin with the players.
I am not defending Mihajlovic in any way. What I am suggesting is that the issue of racism in soccer is far more complex. He should be punished, but turning him into a scapegoat is dangerous because it draws attention away from some of the real problems -- namely racist fans. Nobody can hear what players say to each other on the pitch, but everyone hears the racist chanting and sees the racist banners. I don't think Vieira should have gone public with Mihajlovic's insults. If anything, it turned Mihajlovic into a hero and a martyr to some of the more demented, racist fans. Now they have someone to look up to. Had Vieira remained silent, nobody would have turned Mihajlovic into a hero. Mihajlovic may be a role model but his was not a public gesture. It became a public gesture when Vieira talked about it. I agree that fighting racism begins with the players, but only if they act racist in public. A far more important factor is fighting public racism in stadiums, something the powers-that-be have not done sufficiently (in Italy and elsewhere). Mihajlovic's childhood in no way justifies what he did. My point is that he too was insulted, he too has suffered, he too is a product of the environment in which he was raised. Was he wrong? Yes. Should he have been punished? Absolutely.
But it is not simply an issue of black-and-white. And we should not lose sight of the real problem.
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