Laurent Dubois's Blog, page 85

¿Qué tan importante es el fútbol para un pequeño pueblo ecuatoriano?

¿Cuánto está dispuesto a pagar un pueblo por conservar su estadio?

Este artículo cuenta la historia de Portovelo, Ecuador y la polarización que puede llegar a generar una cancha de fútbol sobre una mina de oro.

“La cancha de oro.

Debajo del terreno de juego del equipo Río Amarillo hay una posible riqueza que, paradójicamente, empobrecería a los habitantes de Portovelo, en Ecuador. Según ellos, esta cancha es lo único bueno que jamás le ha pasado al pueblo, y ni siquiera una montaña de oro puro podrá quitárselas.”

 

Ballon d’Or: Why it should have been Neuer

This past Monday would have been a great day to make history. Instead, January 12, 2015 will be remembered as the day where soccer players, coaches and sports experts from all over the world collaboratively could have made history but unfortunately refused to do so. Of course I’m referring to Cristiano Ronaldo being awarded the 2014 Ballon d’Or, arguably the most prestigious honor an individual player can receive.

Why I am so upset about the jury’s decision, you may ask? Certainly not because I’m doubting Ronaldo’s skills (only a fool would do so) or because I think he didn’t deserve the golden ball. He is an outstanding, incredibly talented player who’s achieved great things with Real Madrid in 2014. Not only did Cristiano Ronaldo win four titles with his club (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup and Copa del Rey which is the annual competition for Spanish soccer teams just like the “DFB-Pokal” in Germany or the “FA Cup” in England) but he also boasts a goal record any professional would dream of. Ronaldo is indeed pretty awesome. And yet in my opinion there is someone else who should have won instead: Germany’s / Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer.

Just to be clear: I was born and raised in Munich, therefore it would be wrong to assume that I am completely unbiased. However, I strongly believe that my sincere love for soccer is far greater than any bias or national pride. Besides, who else should be in charge of complaining other than the Germans?

My disappointment arises first and foremost from the fact that appointing a goalkeeper as FIFA’s best player of the year would have been a statement in terms of acknowledging Neuer’s distinct conception of his position. For he is far more than a traditional goalie, he basically reinvented his role and fits more into the perception we have of a sweeper, if not even a centre-back (outside the penalty box of course). To put it in other words: In the long run, Manuel Neuer is changing this sport. Because every future professional goalkeeper would want to be like him and every team would want someone like him as their backup.

 

 

 

Moreover, just like Ronaldo, he can look back at a fantastic year. Two titles with Bayern Munich and of course the World Cup. If it hadn’t been for Neuer, Germany would have been knocked out in the round of 16 after that nerve-racking face-off with Algeria. In the German Bundesliga, Bayern Munich couldn’t be better off right now as the team possesses an impressive goal difference of 41:4, meaning that they scored 41 times while conceding only 4, thanks to their number 1. And it’s already been 17 match days. Last but not least, Manuel Neuer is more of a team player than Cristiano Ronaldo will ever be.

Finally, there is absolutely no way to justify Lionel Messi being ranked second. Frankly, he shouldn’t have been in the top 3 in the first place. Neither did he lead Barcelona to any titles, nor did he excel at the World Cup. There are many players who would have been more deserving such as James Rodriguez, Philipp Lahm, Sergio Ramos, Toni Kroos, Arjen Robben or Javier Mascherano. Apparently, the “brands” C. Ronaldo and Messi are too ubiquitous after all.

For what it’s worth, at least one goalkeeper was awarded the Ballon d’Or, back in 1963. His name was Lev Yashin, also known as “The Black Spider”, who played for the Soviet Union. Although back then, only European players were eligible for the award which is the reason why for instance Pelé or Diego Maradona have never received the Ballon d’Or. Hence, Manuel Neuer could have been the first goalkeeper to ever be named “World Player of the Year”. Like I said, it would have been a great day to make history.

 

sources:

featured image of Ronaldo, Neuer and Messi

Manuel Neuer header

Technology in Refereeing – Treat or Threat?

Flash back to the England versus Germany match in the 2010 World Cup Knockout Stage, where Frank Lampard picks up the ball trickled off from Jermaine Defoe, and chips it over Manuel Neuer, the goalkeeper of Germany; the ball hits the crossbar, bounces off the line, and Neuer quickly recovers it; Lampard raises his hands in celebration, but soon puts them over his head in disbelief, as the goal gets disallowed. The replay shows that the ball definitely crossed over the line before it bounced off the ground – a clear misjudgment by the referee Jorge Larrionda. A game-changing moment; the score of the controversial moment was 2:1, and Germany went on to dominate the match and win 4:1. Had the would-be equalizing goal not been disallowed, the match would more likely have been different.

  Oops.

 Joseph Blatter, president of FIFA, issued an official apology after the match, announcing that technological means would be reconsidered as viable tools for the officials in making accurate decisions in future matches. Subsequently, goal-line technology has been introduced in 2012, and has been implemented in major football events such as the 2014 World Cup and Barclay’s Premier League. Electronic devices installed in the posts assess whether a ball was completely over the line, and send signals to the referees’ watch if it was. This is arguably the defining moment of the history of football, where technology starts to be directly involved in refereeing football matches.

The issue is not about the immediate benefits or authenticity of the implementation itself; there is little doubt that the goal-line technology will increase the accuracy of the goals allowed in controversial moments. Rather, it is about a sense of undermining of the referees that such implementation has brought to the footballing community. As much as the players, managers, and spectators argued and retaliated about mistakes by referees in the past, there wasn’t much of a direct, major questioning of authority among the referees themselves. Nowadays, however, referees have become more and more pressured to be humbled and apologetic for every controversial decision they make in the game, bombarded by the instant replays of the incidents in various angles that they couldn’t possibly have seen. The unprecedented official statement of apology by Mike Riley, the head of the Professional Games Match Officials Ltd. (PGMOL) in England, for a penalty call made by referee Andre Marriner in a match between Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion in November 9th, 2013, is a reflection of the dwindled sense of self-esteem among the referees in the modern world of football – defeated, doubtful, and deemed incompetent.

Some might argue that this is a desirable shift, or perhaps a cycle, of power to happen in the world of football: that this is for the greater objective of maximizing the accuracy of the performance of the referees. Agreeable though such arguments are to a certain extent, they harbor a risk of disregarding the crucial roles of the referees in a game of football, as a ceremony and a ritual. If referees are such limited figures to make “accurate” decisions in every moment of the game, why not hand them additional portable cameras that replay every controversial situation in every conceivable angle? Or, better yet, why not let the technology do the job instead – a Referee Ex Machina, if you will? Would it be better for a football match to have robotic referees with perfect artificial intelligence, which could make accurate decisions for every single moment of the game?

 

A “RoboRef” – Is This The Future Direction for Football?

 

I think not.

Referees in football are often juxtaposed to the judges in the “real” world – the embodiment of rules, and those who must deliver their own interpretation of situations in which one party inevitably gains at the cost of the other. What is even more difficult for the referees is that they need to make such decisions almost immediately, without breaking the flow of the ongoing game. Therefore, more so than the decisions of the judges in the “real” world, there is definitely a room for controversies and, in the case of Lampard’s would-be goal above, even an element of misjudgment in the decisions of the referees.

And that is a natural, even partial element in a game of football; a sense of reality projected onto this illusive world, as Christian Bromberger describes in his article Football as World-View and as Ritual:

 

“…a match opens itself up to a debate of theatrical proportions on the validity and arbitrariness of a flawed system of justice. Football, therefore, embodies an image of today’s world which is both consistent and contradictory… It can embody a culture of Promethean success, as much as a Sisyphean philosophy of misfortune.”

From a fan’s perspective, referees are more than judges in the world of football; they are also an incarnation of that Sisyphean element of misfortune. In controversial moments, the spectators cannot help but to arrow their frustration towards the referees, for they are the only visible, tangible figures who generate that uncanny element of misfortune, which is so painfully omnipresent during every football match. This, in turn, galvanizes the crowd, booing the referees along with the opponents, cheering their players to overcome such “injustice”; such are the main fuel that builds an atmosphere in a football match to almost a religious, ceremonial extent. What fun would it be to watch a football match, knowing that every decision that the referees make would be crystal clear and “correct”? On whom or what other than the referees can we project that element of misfortune, which makes football so distinguishable from other sports?

Image from: http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/10725

  Of course, that is not to say that the referee performances shouldn’t be improved; that is quite apparent from the Lampard example above. Referees themselves should be optimized to make the best decision they can, and technology is indeed a plausible way to improve their performances. However, such improvements are best done in ways that can inject self-belief, not self-doubt, among the referees. Extra fitness and dietary programs for the referees would be one; a Google-Glass-like camera device to record the referees’ viewpoint of each moment to back up their decisions post-match would be another. What good would it be to have all the reverse-angle cameras and replays, if it functions to be used by the media and the managers to suck every drop of confidence and self-esteem out of the referees?

Almost by nature, referees are unfavorable figures in the game of football, a subject to hate and rue as an embodiment of both “justice” and “injustice”. The fact that the referees are willing to deal with such high level of hatred is a testament to their love of the game – at least, to a certain extent. Allowing technologies to be involved in the decisions – particularly those that may serve to devalue the roles of the referees – should be approached with extreme caution, for it could not only be disrespectful to the referees, but also be extremely unhealthy to the game of football, the encapsulation of both success and misfortune.

 

Reference:

Bromberger, C. (1995). Football as world-view and as ritual. French Cultural Studies, 293-311.

¿Por qué Perú no ha estado en el Mundial desde hace 32 años? Parte 1

(Detalle de camiseta de la selección peruana. Jesús Hidalgo, 2015)

La próxima semana cumpliré 30 años -sí, lo sé, estoy viejo. Pese a que he visto 7 Copas del Mundo en estas 3 décadas -uno de mis primeros recuerdos relacionados al fútbol es el penal que el arquero argentino Sergio Goycochea tapó a Italia en el Mundial de 1990. Probablemente la mayoría de ustedes ni siquiera habían nacido cuando Estados Unidos jugó un 4 de de julio de 1994 contra la que sería la selección campeona del mundo ese año, Brasil, o incluso la goleada de Francia sobre Brasil justamente en la final de 1998. Algo que no he visto en mi vida, no obstante, es un partido de mi selección nacional en el el Mundial. Soy de Perú, un país cuya última participación en la Copa del Mundo data de 1982 (en España, donde no ganamos ningún partido, empatamos 2 y perdimos 1).

Mi generación está formada por adultos jóvenes adictos al fútbol que se decepcionan, frustran y/o enfurecen cada cuatro años. A lo largo de nuestras vidas, hemos hinchado por cualquier otro país de Sudamérica excepto el nuestro. Generalmente por Brasil. Algunos, por Uruguay o por Argentina -yo suelo hinchar por Brasil pero el año pasado lo hice por Argentina porque quería que Messi ganase por fin su Mundial. Casi nadie hincha por Chile, debido a la conflictiva relación que Perú tiene con “el vecino del Sur”, tema de un futuro post. Para algunos países, como el mío, lo único que piden sus hinchas a Dios es ver a su selección en el Mundial, así perdamos por goleada cada partido. Eso es lo único que, en términos futbolísticos, todos los miembros de mi generación hemos rogado por casi 30 años. ¿Se hará realidad el sueño para Rusia 2016?

 

(Claudio Pizarro en su actual club, Bayern Munich. Getty Images)

No es que nuestros jugadores sean malos. De hecho, si alguno de ustedes sigue la Bundesliga, quizás sepa que Claudio Pizarro, un jugador peruano, es el máximo goleador internacional en la historia de la liga alemana. Y que Nolberto Solano, hoy en día ya retirado, es un ídolo tanto en Argentina (Boca Juniors) como en Inglaterra (Newcastle United). Diversos entrenadores latinoamericanos de primer nivel (Francisco Maturana, Paulo César Autori, Sergio Markarián) han fracaso en su intento de llevarnos al Mundial. Pero, ¿por qué? Pese que no son el único factor, me centraré en la responsabilidad de los jugadores en lo que resta de este post.

Los jugadores de fútbol peruanos son usualmente muy habilidosos… pero indisciplinados. Los niños en Perú juegan “fulbito” en la escuela primaria como parte de los cursos de Educación Física. Esta mini-versión del fútbol (por lo general, cada equipo solamente tiene 5-6 jugadores que juegan con una pelota más ligera y más pequeña que la oficial, con arcos más pequeños que los normales y en una cancha cuyo tamaño es aproximadamente un octavo del de una cancha oficial) desarrolla significativamente a habilidad, creatividad y precisión de los jugadores puesto que deben aprender a controlar el balón en un espacio sumamente reducido. Cuando estos niños crecen, pueden jugar fútbol de una manera casi artística.

Desafortunadamente, la disciplina no acompaña a estas tempranas habilidades. Cada semana, los periódicos deportivos y las revistas de chismes peruanos publican artículos, vídeos y fotos de jugadores profesionales jóvenes que se emborrachan luego de los partidos y, quienes, además, son capturados engañando a sus parejas/novias/esposas con otras mujeres. El estereotipo del jugador peruano es el de un borracho mujeriego con problemas serios con la autoridad. Jóvenes promesas malgastando su potencial.

Probablemente el caso más representativo sea el de Reimond Manco. Cuando Manco tenía 17 años, recibió el premio a Mejor Jugador del Campeonato Sudamericano Sub-17 (2007). Había marcado 3 goles y su juego lo había convertido en el factor clave para que la selección peruana jugase el Mundial Sub-17 en Corea del Sur ese mismo año. Las páginas deportivas, por supuesto, lo idolatraron. Estas actuaciones le valieron su contratación por el PSV Eindoven, club holandés del que salieron grandes estrellas latinoamericanas en los últimos 20 años, tales como Romario, Ronaldo -el brasileño- o, incluso, el peruano Jefferson Farfán. Hoy en día, sin embargo, Manco tiene 24 años, juega por un club peruano menor y es considerado como un alcohólico empedernido por las revistas de chismes. En el video, se puede ver a Manco, completamente alcoholizado siendo llevado en brazos, como si fuera un bebé, a su hogar tras una noche de juerga.

Por otra parte, la cultura peruana celebra “la criollada”: el arte de engañar a la ley sin recibir castigo alguno y, además, hacer alarde de ello. Así que no solamente los jugadores profesionales peruanos son indisciplinados sino que los medios de comunicación generalmente celebran esta indisciplina. En vez de censurar la conducta de Manco, por ejemplo, los programas de televisión y los periódicos regularmente lo entrevistan para preguntarle acerca de la última chica con la que tuvo un affair y su última borrachera.

La Federación Peruana de Fútbol (FPF) representa otra de las causas de la desastrosa situación contemporánea del fútbol peruano y será el tema de mi próximo post. Y sin embargo… ¡arriba Perú!…

Why Hasn’t Peru Made it to the World Cup in 32 Years? Part 1

I am turning 30 years old next week –yes, I’m old, I know. Although I have watched 7 World Cups in this 30ish years –one of my first soccer memories is a penalty kick blocked by Argentinian goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea in Italy’s 1990 World Cup; also, I know a great number of you were not even born when USA played against Brazil on July 4th 1994 but I remember that game clearly–, my national team participated in none of these cups. I’m from Peru, a country whose last participation in a World Cup dates from 1982 (in Spain, where we didn’t win any single game, tied two, and lost one.)

My generation is a crowd of soccer addicts who get disappointed, frustrated, and angry every four years. All these years, we have rooted for another Latin American country in the World Cup instead of ours. Generally, for Brazil. Some people root either for Uruguay or Argentina as well. Although Brazil is commonly my favorite team, I rooted for Argentina last year because I wanted Messi to add that trophy to his track record. We never ever root for Chile –Peru and Chile have a difficult relation that I will explain in a post later. For some countries, like mine, the joy soccer offers will never be about winning “el Mundial.” We only ask God to participate in one soon. Or before we die. Just being one of the four Conmebol national teams in the World Cup. Even if we loss every single game then. That’s all what we have been asking for almost 30 years.

It’s not that our players are bad. As a matter of fact, if you follow the Bundesliga, you might know that Claudio Pizarro, a Peruvian soccer player, is the top foreign scorer in German soccer history. And Nolberto Solano, nowadays a retired player, is an idol both in Argentina (Boca Juniors) and England (Newcastle United.) Excellent Latin American head coaches –Francisco Maturana, Sergio Markarián, Paulo César Autori– have failed in their mission to make our nation’s most desired dream come true. But why? Although they are not the only factor, let’s focus on the players’ responsibility in the following lines.

Peruvian soccer players are usually quite skillful… but undisciplined. Children in Peru play “fulbito” in school as part of their Physical Education courses. This mini-version of real soccer –usually each team only has 5-6 players who play on a field that is usually a sixth of the size of an official one– boosts the players’ skills significantly since they have to learn how to control the ball in a quite reduced space. The goals and the ball used to play are smaller so accuracy is enhanced as well. When these children grow up, they play real soccer almost artistically.

Unfortunately, discipline and dedication do not complement these rich abilities. Every week Peruvian sports newspapers and gossip magazines publish articles and photos of young professional players who get drunk after games –and are usually caught cheating on their girlfriends/partners/wives. Young promising talents wasting their potential. Probably the most representative case is Reimond Manco. When Manco was 17, he received the award for Best Player of the 2007 South American U-17 Football Championship. He scored three goals and was a key factor to make the Peruvian national team reach the FIFA U-17 World Cup in South Korea the same year. Sports publications idolatrized him back then. Nowadays, however, he is 24, plays for a minor Peruvian club, and is considered as an alcoholic by Peruvian gossip magazines. Such a waste!

In addition, as a culture, Peruvians love “la criollada”: the art of tricking the system/the law without receiving any further punishment… and being overtly proud about that. So not only do professional players misbehave in public but also media usually celebrate that misbehavior. Instead of censoring Manco’s misconduct, for instance, TV shows and newspapers regularly interview him to ask about the girl he had an affair recently and his last alcoholic blackout. Not a great model for younger players at all.

The Peruvian Football Association represents another cause of the disastrous contemporary situation of Peruvian soccer and I’ll focus on it on my next post. ¡Arriba Perú!…

Solo, Team USA Dodge Bullet

Fourth-degree assault charges were dropped against USWNT goalkeeper Hope Solo on Tuesday afternoon, according to Fox Sports. Although she was permitted to participate in all team activities since June, when the charges were filed, the uncertainty surrounding her availability for the upcoming 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup had many wondering if Team USA would have to travel to Canada without arguably the world’s best keeper.

Solo has been brilliant since she stepped into the international scene in 2007 with Team USA at that year’s World Cup. She recorded 2 clean sheets in the group stage at the 2011 World Cup and turned in an admirable performance in the knockout stage, for which she was awarded the “Golden Glove,” which recognizes the tournament’s best goalkeeper, and the Bronze Ball (FIFA). Solo’s superb play has also translated well to the other popular quadrennial sporting event: the Olympics. After losing her first career Olympic match to Norway in 2008, Solo and Team USA have won 11 consecutive matches at the event, which has resulted in 2 gold medals for the red, white, and blue. Solo has an incredible 6 clean sheets interspersed throughout the 11 wins and has allowed less than one goal per match (FIFA).

If Solo had been convicted, which likely would have led to US Soccer keeping her off the roster for this summer’s festivities, Ashlyn Harris would likely have replaced Solo in the Starting XI. Though having considerable international experience with the U21 and U19 USWNT, Harris only has 4 career caps with the senior team, two of which came during 2014 (US Soccer). A product of Anson Dorrace’s hallowed UNC-Chapel Hill women’s soccer program, she won three national championships from 2005-2008 (US Soccer). Look for Harris to make an impact with the national team when Solo’s career has run its course.

Information from the FIFA and US Soccer websites were used in this post.

Solo (L) and Harris (R) warm up prior to an international friendly against France on June 14, 2014. (courtesy of Brian Blanco/Getty Images)

 

English FA Intends to Take Action on the Ease of Work Permits

English Football Association Chairman Greg Dyke has long sought to change the current work permit system that allows for a large number of non-European Union internationals the chance to compete in England. The BBC reported that in 2013, English players played under one-third of the minutes in the Premier League, in aggregate. Currently, many in England believe that international footballers coming to play in England’s Premier League and Championship are ruining the development of young English footballers, as many Premier League clubs promote less than one home-grown academy member per season. Even England manager Roy Hodgson echoes this sentiment and states that Premier League clubs are much more likely to try and buy an international star such as Radamel Falcao than try to develop English talent, like Danny Welbeck. Former Southampton star and England international and current Sky Sports broadcaster Matt Le Tissier also agrees with this sentiment, but states that the FA needs to intervene because managers such as Jose Mourinho do not have the responsibility to develop English players, but rather they are trying to buy the best talents for their clubs to succeed.

Currently players without an EU passport that want to play in England must have played in seventy-five percent of their national team’s matches over the past two years [1]. Moreover, they must come from a country that is in the Top 70 of FIFA’s World Rankings. If players do not meet these standards, there is an appeals process, of which 79% are successful, which is a concerning percentage for Dyke. Due to this, Dyke has today proposed a new rule that would only require a player to have played in 30% of the national team’s matches over a two-year period, but this rule would also require that the nation that the footballer plays for must be in the Top 50 of FIFA’s World Rankings [1]. Under this new rule, the appeals panel would be eliminated, so one would need to qualify under these new rules or they would not be able to play in England. However, if a player’s transfer fee costs more than 10 million pounds, they are not subject to this rule [1]. This rule would in theory help young developing English players as instead of buying cheap international talent, English clubs would focus on buying and developing English talent. However, this new plan could backfire as clubs may turn to EU talent instead of English talent and instead it could help increase the talent of other EU countries which are competing against England in the European Championships and the World Cup. This would also make English clubs overpay to at least a ten million pound transfer fee if they wanted to purchase a player who was ineligible to gain a work permit under the new FA rules. However, this will disproportionally hurt smaller clubs more than bigger ones, as bigger clubs such as Chelsea and Manchester City could afford to overpay for young international talent by a few million pounds, where smaller English clubs do not have the same financial resources and would struggle to pay ten million pounds for one player. Other proposals to increase the English talent playing in the Premier League have been introduced by other Englishmen in the past few years. Professional Footballers’ Association head Gordon Taylor believes that three homegrown players should be required to start every league game, which in theory would force the clubs to focus on development of youngsters, particularly young Englishmen who have been in the club’s academy for years.

As England has not won a World Cup since 1966 and went out in the group stage in Brazil, it is clear that something has to be done to restore their National Team to its former glory. Whether or not Dyke’s plan will succeed in doing this will have to be seen at a later date, but as for now it seems like it could be a move in the right direction for developing English talent. However, it alone might not be enough, and a plan like that of Gordon Taylor’s may also have to be implemented to start seeing a dramatic improvement in English footballers’ development.

 

[1]http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/fo...

 

Hyperlinks Cited in Article

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/2...

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/2...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foot...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worl...

http://www.espnfc.com/england/story/2...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footbal...

 

The Problems Inherent in the FIFPro World XI

Revealed on January 12th, the FIFPro World XI is supposed to be a list complete with the best goalkeeper, four best defenders, three best midfielders, and three best attackers of the past calendar year. This XI is voted on by 20,000 professional soccer players from across the world, all members of FIFPro, the largest soccer player association. Those 20,000 players decided on this as their best XI.

At first glance, it seems like a fine list. It has 3  members of the World Cup winning German side, the magisterial Messi and Ronaldo, the dynamic Arjen Robben, and the La Decima hero Sergio Ramos.

However, when one begins to look more closely at the defenders, in particular, the XI starts to fall apart. The most controversial selection of the bunch is certainly the curly haired Brazilian, David Luiz. Best known for his utter disaster of a performance as captain of Brazil during their 7-1 drubbing by Germany, David Luiz wasn’t even the second best defender on his club team for the first half of 2014. He was consistently stuck on the bench at Chelsea behind the excellent English combination of John Terry and Gary Cahill. Even though he has been the best center back at Paris Saint Germain over the latter half of 2014, it does not make up for his mediocre form at Chelsea and his absolute shocker at the World Cup. There are many candidates for Luiz’s spot, but most agree that it should have gone to either Uruguay and Atlético Madrid’s Diego Godin or Germany and Bayern München’s Jerome Boateng.

But, if David Luiz is so undeserving of the award, how was he voted into the World XI? One possible explanation is contained in this imgur album, and that explanation is regional voting. Every single South American country voted for the David Luiz/Thiago Silva pairing, while only Uruguay and Germany voted for Godin and Boateng respectively. The most striking example is Chile, who were the most biased, voting for four of their own players. Those players were Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, Gary Medel, and Claudio Bravo, players that did not appear on any other country’s XI.

However, regional and country based voting is not the only reason that David Luiz, among other undeserving candidates, made this World XI. Social media and general popularity are hugely important in the world of soccer, and David Luiz is one of the most popular players out there. He featured in a huge amount of commercials throughout the World Cup, for brands such as Gillette, Gatorade, and Nike. His face was plastered all around the world, raising his profile and almost certainly prompting lots of other players to vote for him.

All in all, the FIFPro World XI is a glorified popularity contest, and should be viewed as such. It is not an all-encompassing list of the best possible XI in world football, and will not be such a list unless its format is changed. The voters are simply more inclined to vote for their compatriots and players they know, rather than the real best players.

Sources:

 http://www.fifa.com/ballon-dor/world11/

Voting by Countries

Luiz and Silva picture

 

Philosophy and Soccer

A humorous reminder that there is something very strange about this game.

Though, more recently, a series of philosophers have also shown that there are many ways to use soccer to think of what it is to be human.

Soccer Politics Class Begins

Today is the first day of the Spring 2015 semester of “Soccer Politics” here at Duke University. This year, students are taking the class in four different languages: English, Spanish, French and German, and will be doing work on the blog in all of these languages.

You can see the class readings here.

For the first day, we’ll be analyzing three bits of the visual archive of the sport. First, a clip from the brilliant film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.

Then, this moment in Algiers, one of the most crystallizing videos I have seen of the intensity of joy the World Cup can produce at its best. I wrote about the Algerian team’s 2014 run here and here.

And finally, a return — slightly traumatizing for U.S. fans, joyful for Belgium fans (I’m part both) — to what I think were some of the most thrilling moments of the 2014 World Cup. I wrote about this game hereSoccer Politics Syllabus for Blog 2015.