A Case For (More) Retroactive Punishment

In the past few weeks, we've seen the league flush with a variety of kick-outs, thrown elbows and various dirty tactics by some very high profile players (Rooney, Ronaldo, Ballack to name a few) and while hard-line tactics have been a part of the game forever, if the NFL can retroactively ban a player or fine a player for hits that he didn't even get flagged for in the match, I don't see why the FA should act any differently. Just because a referee caught in the match couldn't see a dirty trick 40m away doesn't mean it should go unpunished. Here are the Rooney transgressions:

At 5.50 in the video



And then the Ronaldo kicks


http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/1902679/ (Yeah HTML FAIL)


This is within the last couple weeks, and those are 5 card, and most red-card, worthy challenges. Players do get caught up in the moment, but at the end of the day, cheap shots like this should not be tolerated. The fact that two young star players on Manchester United have done most of it isn't too surprising. They feel invincible and invulnerable. Both of them had these transgressions when they lost possession or were beat in some way. Basically, when things don't roll their way, they'll lash out like petulant children and expect the world to look the other way. Unfortunately, they are looking the other way, and these two, as well as other superstars, are going to keep getting the superstar treatment and lashing out. Suspend Rooney for a couple games, and sure Ferguson will raise hell, but what power does he really have. He can't secede into another league, he can't sue them for suspending a player for cheap shots and really all he do is make a lot of noise. And that should be nothing new for the FA. I personally would have given Rooney a five match ban for his near elbow. He was clearly trying to take the poor defender's head off there, and had he connected, we'd be looking at a broken nose. So, save the next defender's face, and ban players who are clearly caught throwing dirty moves and fouls after the fact. Sure the clubs will complain, but if you want to keep the beautiful game beautiful, there's no other way.

Messi: Diver or Victim?

Much has been made of the recent brutality in El Clasico this past weekend. On the receiving end of this was, unsurprisingly, Leo Messi. You could easily make a case that Messi is the best player in the world, but even easier, you could make a case that he is by no means the strongest. At 5'6" and wire-thin, it's somewhat odd that thug tactics aren't used more often against him. Here are the fouls:


Now, I'd say many of those were hard fouls, and maybe a couple were a tad dirty, but to be fair, I just don't think any of this is deliberately malicious. This was just hard football. Messi did act up quite a bit, but to be fair, you try running at full speed and getting a cleat to the calf. And his resiliency was shown by his late goal and his refusal to be taken out of the game. Overall, you'd have to say that was a painful but effective performance for Messi. He got a goal, had the defense completely focused on him and had his archrivals rack up 6 yellow cards in the process. And did I mention Barca won?

While I think Messi gave a decent performance, what is perplexing is the public outrage that followed the match. These weren't Wayne Rooney Tackles:



What happened was a team sent its big guys to bully a diminutive finesse player (have these journalists watched an Arsenal game this season?) and used up all their yellow cards, and the official's goodwill, in the process. This is like saying an intentional foul in basketball is poor sportsmanship. You have a foul to give up, it could be advantageous to take that foul now, and so you commit a foul. Obviously, no one wants to see a repeat of the Eduardo injury (or the countless others like it) but those can happen on any number of tackles, clean and dirty, not to mention with no one around at all. I couldn't find a video of it, but McBride's injury with Fulham two years ago springs to mind, where after a goal he lands awkwardly and tore his ACL. My only point is, soccer is a contact sport with fouls. In a situation where players have a certain amount of leeway before they're red carded, players will, and should, use all of that leeway if they so choose. I think it's more damning that Barca didn't have their own hard men stand up for Messi, but to the same degree, I'm not sure who they would be. I found Cruyff's analysis interesting, with him stating:
"They [Madrid] kicked him about all throughout the game but he was partly asking for it. You are always going to be fouled when you play in the centre of the field. Madrid knew this and they were ready and they kept kicking him knowing they won’t be punished. If he [Messi] had played closer to the penalty area, then he would have drawn a direct freekick when he was fouled, or even a penalty if he was inside the box. If you know that you are going to get beaten up, then at least make sure the team benefit from it."

I would say there is some merit to Cruyff's thoughts, but I find them to be exceedingly harsh. Messi is an engine for the Barcelona offense, and it's quite difficult to really power the offense from the penalty box. To a certain degree, he couldn't do much if he wanted to stay an active part of the game, and to resign himself to penalty-hunting in the box would have been the biggest victory for Los Blancos. That strategy would only encourage all other teams who aren't in Barcelona's class (which at the moment could be almost any other team on the planet) to just rack up foul after foul on Messi knowing that they can completely neutralize him. The only thing I would have changed from Barcelona's response is I would have had Puyol absolutely upend Raul, say a nice few words, and let Madrid know that Barcelona may be more talented, but they are no pansies.

Columbus Crew Stadium and The Future of American Soccer

Much has been made of the choice of Columbus as the venue of the World Cup qualifier between the United States and Mexico on February 11, and I will have to join the chorus of praise. In all honesty, we should never play another game against Mexico in any state that borders Mexico, and should really look for these cold-weather venues they are unaccustomed to playing in. With the exception of Giovanni Dos Santos, who happens to train for Spurs and once in a blue moon gets an appearance, all of them play in sunny Mexico or Spain. The United States' biggest problem with soccer in comparison with other countries is the relative lack of home support, but this is largely overcome with Columbus. You get a very pro-US crowd, pro-US conditions and a stadium with a growing history. After all, it was here where the Gooch announced himself to the world by beating the crap out of Borghetti.



Surf Dad has spoken at length about his plans for the MLS, but in reality, it'll take a long, long, long time for real change to happen in US Soccer. In a recent poll, 36% of US soccer fans follow the MLS. For every three soccer fanatics, only one actually could tell you the teams in the league, or possibly the reigning MVP. I won't lie; I'm in the 64%. I could tell you (probably) all the teams and maybe a handful of notably players, but I really don't know much more about the MLS than I would the Austrian Bundesliga (Janko has 30 goals in 18 appearances!!!! Absurd!). To be honest, this isn't for a lack of trying. I've watched plenty of MLS games and tried to follow, but I never can keep up. It's a combination of plenty of borderline unwatchable games as well as the nagging fact that you always feel like you're watching AAA. And after watching the obsessive soccer following in my apartment, of Mancester United, Juventus, Inter Milan, Roma and my beloved Liverpool, it's rather difficult to a game where I don't have the same passion for the outcome and the quality is so much lower. To be honest, when I watched the Championship promotion playoffs last year, I had a better time. With good reason, the passion of the fans is just too infectious


I love my USA Soccer, and given my tie to the outcome, I always cheer passionately and enjoy myself, but for whatever reason I can't do this with the Revs. The real questions are: Why, and what can be done?

Quality of Play To be honest, this is somewhat a moot point. Like I said, I had a great time watching the promotion playoffs, and while I might argue that the Coca-Cola Championship is more talented than the MLS, I would never say by a considerable margin (and a great counterpoint would be that the best player in the Championship isn't being sought by Bayern Munich anytime soon).

Star AppealAgain, I think an overrated point, but one worth mentioning. Obviously casual fans like superstars, and it's difficult to sell a league without one. Beckham is much more of a brand than a superstar at this point, and Landycakes isn't exactly Hollywood A-List material. Seeing as Club Football isn't very popular in the United States, but the World Cup is, we really have one option for Americans to learn about players. A best-case scenario is to have a Golden Generation explode onto the MLS, and have these stars have a huge World Cup splash, but the problem is that these players would surely not stay in the MLS. This leads to one of the biggest issues in the MLS

Money If you're not a star in the MLS, you are making peanuts. The salary cap is smaller than most mediocre premiership players salaries. And with a limited cash flow, and no golden parachute on the horizon, it's unlikely to see any of that change anytime soon unless business owners see this as a viable venture. How will this happen?

BUILD FAN SUPPORT It seems like a no-brainer, but really, the best way to build fan support is through kids. There's really no market for having adult fans suddenly declare allegiance, especially if they weren't large soccer fans to begin with. But if their sons and daughters become large fans of a certain team, to a certain degree I feel like parents will follow suit. MLS teams should be gun-ho about getting involved in the community, the USSF should be trying to make soccer fields and facilities for underprivileged kids in the city and all of our efforts should be a long-term plan with plans with the youth. This will obviously take a couple decades to really start paying dividends, but without this, we will never be more than a farm league, waiting for our best stars to be willingly poached by the best clubs (and often, just the mediocre ones) in Europe. With this built-in fan support, owners will be more willing to splash the cash and within my lifetime, you're looking at a vibrant soccer league in the United States, and combined with the ever-growing Hispanic contingent (which is largely soccer-rabid), it's a plan that could really build the MLS into a true contender.