Some opinions on football
Not pretending to be so ambitious on this text, I just want to comment at least what I consider three of the main football phenomena or events nowadays: Messi-CR7's duality, VAR (Video Assitant Referee) and money on football.
In my short life (I'm 23 now), I have had the chance of seeing three individual rivalries that have trascended the "elite sportmen" status to achieve the "immortal sportmen" position among history. These have happened in different disciplines: Michael Schumacher-Fernando Alonso(F1), Rogeder Federer-Rafael Nadal (Tennis) and Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo. Of course, I am going to highlight the last one, which is, by sure, the most competitive of the group and the one concerning the previous paragraph.
Imagine you design a garden to grow certain number and kind of plants, but some day you just wake up and notice there are few strange plants that blossomed in such unexpected ways that you are barely able to estimate their growing, the tones and forms your garden will take because of those incredible new plants, even paying real attention to them everyday. That's what Messi-CR7 means for football to this point. I think few people, sport journalists or specialists had considered these two men's actions would be SO determinating in their clubs since a decade ago (27 titles for Messi in FCB; 16 titles for CR7 in Real Madrid counting from 2009) and in this sport.
For instance, Messi-CR7's duality have pregressively made famous "El Clásico" match reach new levels of popularity around the world with nearly 200 countries interested in its broadcasting rights and more of 600 millions people stopping their lifes every time this game is about to begin. Source
What's more, their outstanding individual performances can be also perceived in outstanding concrete results: 5 ballons d'Or on each side. This make other football players achievements to be seemed so poor. It leads to think after them it will exist a huge emptiness in football that hardly other players will fill. So, yes, for me, Messi-CR7's duality is a once-in-a-lifetime event we should be so happy to experience (we're the lucky ones).
Now, let's move to the second point: VAR. In brief, the Video Assistant Referee is a recent innovation in the laws of the game made by the organism in case, the International Football Association Board (IFAB). The main purpose VAR was created for is to review arguable decisions a head referee could make during a match with special emphasis in four types of situations:
Goals, specifing if there was an offside or a foul in between
Penalties decisions
Direct red cards
Wrong yellow or red card calls
Got the basic VAR's explanation, I have to tell you that I see two possible roads VAR could go through: a positive one or a sad/cold one. Bad news first, ok?
I was a VAR enthusiast as I thought it would be the key to finally clarify many unfair (and sometimes unacceptable) decisions referees made in different tournaments or competitions, just in favor of a more pure sport...Later, the more I saw VAR application, the more I disagreed with it. Let me put this clear: it has nothing to do with «match interruption» many football romantics were against to, but the human factor involucrated in its use.
Either a bribery or a "fear-to-disfavor-an-important-club" case, there are referees or associations that have refused to use or install VAR when situations clearly demanded it. Also, and this is honestly the worst, referees have had wrong calls even when taking adventage on technology. So, in the end, does VAR really come to throw light on football?
Do you remember that 2014 Brazil World Cup video where animated football stars were replaced for perfect versions of themselves because future of football would be better without mistakes? In case you don't, here it is:
For exampple, to this «perfection» context football will be submitted, it is not hard to suscribe teams will be constantly looking for the way to put their players in a «machine mode», so they can face more and more tight games that lack of creativity and soul... nothing less than perfection. Indeed, that's something getting very usual in recent years every time you watch any match.
Uhm, we always tend to go through abstract or material items to do things we are not capable to achieve by ourselves, don't we?
Oh right! We arrive to the good thoughts on VAR I have. Think on this: What's our normal behavior while we know we are being recorded by cameras? Exactly! We do not like to behave inadequately because we know we are not just being observed, but recorded, so our actions will be there faithfully although we try to deny them later. Cameras do not lie. With the correct algorithms for actions interpretation, VAR could be the tool push football players to be not so insincere.
Third point: money. Hoping not to be so trivial, I remember this economic principle that states whatever thing people demand, its value in the market will raise. Football is demanded by many people around the globle from the very beginning (specially when World Cups occur), but I think the real massification of this sport—thus money rivers started to flow — came with this millenium. Asian and African audiences' boom after nations of these continents had great participations in World Cups and even hosting them, «Galácticos» Real Madrid, Manchester City or PSG petrodollars teams, very high prices for even goalkeepers.. all of them are examples of the huge money amounts present in football nowadays. So, thanks to things I just mentioned, football world have asked itself several times if this sport is now the largest legal public business on existence.
There are two aspects I worry the most on this money theme: football young promises and clubs aristocracy.
As a strategy to domain future football scene, big clubs buy very young talented players with good performances. However, most of the time these boys get stuck in their natural development. Not mature enough and so much pressure on them to do fantastic games in short time lapses after being signed, come to make their careers not that good as it looked they could be.
And talking about opaque current fotball situations, let's say clubs are also doing their best to contribute to the pro-business football context. Every time I turn on the tv I notice there are less possibilities a wide range of clubs can win national and international competitions because the chance of getting better players and general preparation are reduced to those teams with enormous economic forces. Then, it's big clubs' aristocracy what we live today in football.
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