It was an interesting weekend in the soccer world to say the least.
From the New England Revolution’s flight to remember, to the big fan brawl at the Columbus Crew-West Ham friendly, there was plenty of off-field activity to talk about. Fortunately, there was also some on-field stuff to talk about as well, including the completion of SuperLiga group play and the MLS schedule, which finished with five ties (yes, all five games this week finished tied).
Here are some tidbits from Europe to get your day going:
Chelsea denies making Kaka bid
One of the more shocking stories to emerge this weekend was Chelsea’s reported record-setting bid for AC Milan star Kaka. Chelsea has denied making the bid while Milan insists that no bid exists.
Admit it, you were hoping the deal would happen. Having Kaka in the Premier League would have been very intriguing, while it would also have been interesting to watch AC Milan spend the record transfer fee.
Makelele to PSG
When Claude Makelele left Real Madrid for Chelsea five years ago, it was seen as the start of the demise of the ‘Galacticos’ and also marked the rise to prominence of Chelsea. Those weren’t coincidences.
Now Makalele, one of the world’s best defensive midfielders of the past decade, is returning to France to play for Paris St. Germain. Not a bad few days for PSG, which added Ludovic Giuly on Friday.
As for Chelsea, the move wasn’t a real surprise, not with Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel in the fold.
German clubs balk at Olympic call-ups
Just when you thought FIFA had cleared things up regarding whether clubs had to release age-eligible player for the Olympics comes the latest from Germany. Apparently, the German federation and the Germany Bundesliga are trying to prevent some top players from going. They key word is ‘trying’ because Rafinha and Diego appear headed to Olympic training camp in direct defiance of orders from their clubs.
So what in the world is going on? It seems that while FIFA did instruct clubs to release all age-eligible players, FIFA did not make any formal mandate. It seems to have been more of a stern suggestion. It remains unclear whether FIFA can or will take the next step and issue an officially binding mandate that forces teams to release age-eligible players for the Olympics. What’s interesting is that other leagues such as the EPL and Serie A haven’t had such public objections to Olympic call-ups.
I’ll be back soon with some MLS-related posts so be sure to check back in throughout the day. For now, share your thoughts on these stories in the comments section below.
@Posted by:Robert | July 21, 2008 at 12:52 PM
you did read that. FIFA has stated at least 3 times in the last month that clubs MUST release U-23 players to the Olympics per the arrangement between FIFA and the IOC, a simple Google search will give you almost 200K hits on the rule. FIFA has been very explicit that U-23 players MUST be released like any other international tournament.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/10/sports/EU-SOC-FIFA-Olympics.php
No problem…reading my post, I was shading on pompous myself. I have massive distaste for the classless hooliganism in some soccer settings and share your hope that we never get to the point you atlked about. I had to be honest, though, in saying that a part of me didn’t mind American soccer fans being passionate. Yeah sure, I could go for a fight..the weapon is paper for paper cuts
@ Scott A
“Pompous.” Well, that wasn’t intended (although I am aware that my writing style tends toward the formal). I did understand the gist of your argument, by the way. I merely embellished upon it and extrapolated out to the next (next, next, next) level. If I had actually suspected that you were really a rabid Crew fan advocating hooliganism, I would have gone in the other direction entirely. I love to take an extreme point of view, whether I actually believe it or not. It spurs an interesting discussion.
That being said, my offer to fight you still stands;)
William the Terror,
I started my comment with guessing that I’d get slammed and I expected that. What I didn’t expect was the tremendous show of self-righteous attempt at humor. If you read what I wrote, I never said I was proud of the Crew fans…I don’t know the chain of events. And I also said I never want anyone to get hurt; of course I don’t want the hooliganism seen in other parts of the world. I love that two opposing soccer teams in America can tailgage in good humor usually. I stand by my initial non-intellectual reaction that it may at least be a sign that teams have a foothold in the community enough where people care. Of course people shouldn’t take their pride in their team to violence. I had fun reading your pompous narrative by the way
Columbus fans need to chill out. Ever since TFC marched their hoards into Columbus, the Crew faithful have decided they need to show they’re real fans by throwing streamers (and now more violent projectiles), yelling racial slurs at opposing players, and brawling with West Ham fans. Lame. I’m sure it’s a case of a few bad apples spoiling the bunch, but come on–TFC fans are still the envy of the rest and taking the violent “hooligan” approach isn’t going to narrow the gap and certainly isn’t a way to win any respect.
(By the way, this isn’t coming from a TFC fan…I like the Wizards).
@ Scott A
Bravo, sir, I applaud your wisdom, because I too am proud of the Columbus fans.
Just as Christopher Columbus led 3 small ships to the new world. Columbus fans are leading the U.S. to a “new world” in soccer. I have long said that American soccer would never be respected in the rest of the world until American soccer FANS were respected. Now we’re starting to get there.
I long for the day when American soccer stadiums are partitioned off into different sections by chain-link fencing (or, I suppose this is too much to wish for, barbed wire). Then we can put all of the family-types into a protected area and the rest of us can support our teams in whatever way we see fit: taunts, insults, projectiles, fisticuffs and or open rioting.
At that point, anything will be fair game, and I would like to see rules implemented to require the rowdier fans among us (myself included) to indulge in massive substance abuse before kickoff. After all, if you’re going to be brawling with the fans of the opposing team, you want to have imbibed in something with a sufficient analgesic effect to take the sting out of a sucker punch.
And if any of you out there in SBI land are reading this and thinking to yourselves that I am being sarcastic, I have just one question for you. Do you want to fight me???
Eat. Sleep. Anarchy!!!!
As the Makalele move alleviates some of the crowding in the Chelsea midfield, I hope they’ll be able to retain Lampard. If they use a 4-5-1, they’ll essentially have to choose (for any particular game) three out of Lampard, Essien, Deco and Ballack.
Kaka would be a great replacement for Drogba (assuming he plays striker, although I don’t think that’s where he’s best), but what Chelsea still really need is a left-wing.
I thought I read that FIFA (UEFA?) would not allow Barca to field Messi in Champions League play if he was not allowed to attend the olympics.
I don’t know what is going on in Columbus these days. The fans seem very militant this year. I hope we can all just support our teams as soccer fans and not involve ourselves in the thuggery that stains soccer’s reputation in other countries. The brawl between Columbus fans and West Ham fans actually is pretty worrying.
I have to agree I struggle to watch an entire Serie A match. It’s the worst kind of football played by some of the best players. What a waste. Send Kaka to the EPL!!!
Everyone needs to remember that for many of the people going to the Olympics its a dream come true. And many of the brazilians want to get the country its first gold medal.
I don’t think the Crew/West Ham brawl was a good thing. It could have been prevented by having security not allow the fans in West Ham shirts to walk up through the supports area or at least not let them stop.
A couple times in the first half a few West Ham supporters had made passes to the concourse area by using the stairs right next to the supporters section. That was met with shouting back and forth.
During halftime the same thing happened with 3 or 4 West Ham supporters. Only this time Mr. buzzcut, cigar and glasses circulated into the empty seats at the back of the section, Mr. belligerent drunk wandered slowly up the stairs and stopped, and I think one or two others were trailing along behind. Mr. drunk stops and starts yelling, then a crew supporter runs up the stands to confront him. Words exchange. Other start yelling. Punch. Punch. West Hammie takes the punch like someone very drunk and the security moves the WH fans up to the concourse area. Two Columbus police officers run across the field, heading toward the section.
Seeing this, almost everybody in the supporters section all at once runs up the stands onto the concourse area.
At this point I’m watching from the top of the stage area and cannot see what is happening. Chants of USA, USA start and stop.
Luckily the section only had a third of the normal supporters in it or things could have been worse. Hopefully in Toronto they will be prepared.
Zee Germans need the players more than the other leagues.
I can’t stay away from this troll:
the Nick – if you consider defense as going after ankles and knees with sledge hammers then you can enjoy you Italian hackfest. That is quite possibly the least entertaining league in Europe. Not to mention it borders on professional wrestling for it’s match fixing and soap opera scripting.
Yeah, isn’t 4,738 a sellout at Titan Stadium? 😉
Well it was played at Titan Stadium in Fullerton whatever that is, that might explain some of it
mlsnet says that the attendance for the CUSA Revs Superliga match was 4,738. Is that right? I didn’t see the game on TV to see how the crowd was
I’m gonna get slammed for this…but deep down does anyone else kinda like seeing news like the brawl between the Crew and West Ham supporters? Now I never want to see anybody hurt. It’s just that it makes me think that passion for soccer may be rising in the States. It might be a bad reaction, but sometimes your emotional reaction is different from your intellectual one
Got to watch the Olympics so you can be the first on your block to find out who won the all-important Darling of the Olympics competition …
If FIFA says clubs must release U-23 players, and then doesn’t enforce it, then they are in trouble down the road. It sets a bad precedent.
It doesn’t matter if the tournament is stupid (which it isn’t, it’s the Olympics), the rules are the rules, and if FIFA lets clubs walk all over it, then they lose a lot of power.
“Admit it, you were hoping the deal would happen. Having Kaka in the Premier League would have been very intriguing, while it would also have been interesting to watch AC Milan spend the record transfer fee.”
No…I like to see the top players in the top leagues. Not top players in Mickey Mouse defenseless leagues. Kaka should wait until he is in his mid-30s to go to the Mickey Mouse EPL. For now, while in his prime, he should stay in Serie A where he can have some sort of challenge.
Ives any info on Bradley or Adu?
What would have been even better is if it happened in the pool-noodle “mosh pit” at last year’s all-star game …
Good for the clubs!
Good for the clubs for standing up against FIFA’s stupid rules and the Olympic silly useless tournament.
If the Olympics want soccer, tell them to move it to June/July, until then remove soccer from the Olympics or play Amateur sides.
I am definitely a club before country guy, but the Olympic tournament is just stupid.
1. It is at the worst time possible.
2. It’s format is ridiculous – U23 with 3 overage players!?!?!?! That can’t play in qualifying!?!?!?
3. We’ve got enough International tournaments already.
Hopefully other leagues and teams will follow suit in the future, if not at this Olympic tournament then the next one.
Ives, any further fallout from the West Ham-Crew brawl?
I need a YouTube on that. Nothing up yet. Unfortunate it did not happen during Garber’s all-star circle jerk …
PSG needed to do something…they weren’t very good last year. I say this while wearing my PSG jersey, it was a hard year backing them last year.
I think FIFA needs to clarify the status of the Olympics. Either everyone goes, or it’s totally optional. And if it’s optional, expect it to suck.