Without playing well, looking more swollen than playing, doing the minimum, but minimum, River beat Colo Colo 1 to 0 and went to the semifinals of the Libertadores. Before they had tied 1 to 1 in Chile and Gallardo’s team had not shown anything either.. This motivated many neutrals to reflect, without criticism, just as a bitter reflection: “How easy the Cup is now…!” Indeed, before you had to win twelve or thirteen battles to achieve glory. And have a poker of aces. Now a full house is enough. And with two pairs too.
According to the criteria of
Scoring a goal is virtually the ticket to the next phase. A little goal in two games and that’s it. The same as Peñarol, they scored one against a soft Flamengo, full of names and with Tite on the bench, and they are in the semifinals as well. Flamengo is the perfect example of rich football, poor football: a group of millionaires who play with a terrifying languor. Peñarol is not superior in terms of football, although at least it has hunger and thirst for triumphs.
Due to their string of five titles won recently, a phrase went viral: “Brazilians play another sport.”. False: they play this same game, and quite ugly, by the way. It was also said that “they do poorly in national teams and well in clubs.” The first is true, the second is relative: it is due to the increasingly declining level of the rest. Peñarol has shown that only with attitude can they compete head to head. In this Cup they have defeated Atlético Mineiro and Flamengo with a budget twenty times smaller. And less staff.
Go ahead and say that River, even without showing anything, is undefeated in the Cup, with 8 wins and 2 draws, it has scored 17 goals and conceded only 5. In other words, it presents an impeccable record. If we stone River, what is left for those who were eliminated four or five months ago, in the group stage or even before. However, one has the Spartan claim to see something more brilliant, to see something. It is required twice as much for being a glorious shirt. We’re not watching any football. It is not River alone, it is not the Libertadores, it is world football.
ANDIn these Cup quarterfinals, 9 goals were scored in 8 games, at an average of 1.1 goal per game. And not only are there no goals, there are no scoring situations, there are no plays that generate exclamations or that get the audience out of their seats. Everyone sitting still, quiet… They go crazy on the TV broadcast to find the figure, to give the play of the game. There is no. “And now, the best moments of the first half…!” And they repeat a center that passed them by. Horrible what is happening with the game. All very boring, without ingenuity, without daring. The bookshelf fell suddenly.
River raised more than 4 million dollars at the box office by selling, as always, the 84,567 tickets put on sale. Another paradigm of rich football, poor football. Peñarol also took over its stadium. We are witnessing a football of fans, not of teams. Of fans and results. “How did Botafogo come out? Did it go through penalties…?” Well, that’s enough, having seen the game or not doesn’t matter.
What is the cause of so much football tedium…? Possibly the pressure. 100% of technicians demand pressure, pressure, pressure. Because he knows that without harassing the opponent you can’t even enter the field. The result is that they cancel each other out with the same formula. The preaching is accompanied by “let’s not lose the ball”, which generates hundreds of backward passes and very few forward passes. Nobody risks because whoever loses the ball can even pay with the position.
There is also the topic of “defending yourself with the ball”, that is, possession to avoid being attacked. Cool whoever is wrong…! So we see mountains of side touches. And then there are memes and social networks to ridicule anyone who makes a mistake. This leads to excess care. When Ricardo Bochini was coach, he started as his substitute with shirt number 10 Daniel Garnero. He told him: “Of every five times you go into the area, four times they take it from you, you lose it, it goes long… but in the fifth you pass and it’s a goal.” I was telling him: take risks. That’s what 10 is for. They are in others to defend. It’s like when journalism demanded of Messi the stupid leadership of going to fight for awards with the leaders. That’s what the logs are for, he who leads in the field. That’s what 10 is for. Will there be a coach who asks you to take risks…?
Another evil that afflicts football lies in the inferiors. The teachers shout from the outside: “One touch, one touch, one touch…!” The result is that the boy does not try anything with the ball, nor does he stop it, he plays first. This cuts off his free will, his inspiration, his dribbling. If the boy tries to avoid a rival and loses it, well, well… let’s take a shower.
But we are facing a curious scenario: poverty of spectacle, wealth of business. A footballer who barely stands out is a nouveau riche. Endrick has 26 goals between Palmeiras, Real Madrid and the National Team. Between contracts and sponsorships, he already earns more than the president of any bank or company in Brazil.
This means that more and more resources are needed to pay protagonists who give less. Bland matches with very expensive tickets, as seen in the Copa América in the United States. The Peruvian Federation has just announced the values of the tickets for its home game against Uruguay for the Qualifiers. They range from $27 for the cheapest to $216 for the most expensive, in a country where the minimum wage is $277. Globetrotters prices to see the bottom of the qualifiers, who did not win a game in eight games. In its last 11 official matches, between the Qualifiers and the Copa América, Peru scored 2 goals. This exempts any additional comments.
Fifa is in serious trouble with its latest invention: the 32-team Club World Cup, a seven-headed monster. It will take a month and 63 games at a time when clubs and footballers ask that they no longer organize anything else. Enough of matches…!, they shout. But Infantino’s voracity is unstoppable. La Gazzetta dello Sport reported on Thursday that Fifa faces a drama: last Tuesday the deadline to submit offers for television rights expired, but no one showed up. No potential buyer. The cost of the tournament is 2,000 million dollars, so Infantino hoped to sell the TV for 4,000 and earn 2,000 for Fifa. There are no interested parties in this monstrosity in which not even the clubs wish to participate. Apple, which negotiated with Messi’s arrival in Miami, multiplying its turnover several times, agreed to negotiate, they say, on the basis of 1 billion as the sole owner of the tournament. There was no agreement, it is of no use to Fifa. But he is the only one who showed any interest and there are only nine months left. Infantino called on the world’s television stations to meet to try to convince.
Carlo Ancelotti, an able declarer, said last week: “The player has no problem lowering salaries if he plays less.” A fallacy, he himself knows it, he was a footballer. The player does not give up a cent, he even charges for the greeting. And their outlandish contracts will not go down, they will continue to go up. So we will have to continue inventing tournaments and selling rights and tickets at ridiculous prices. To see this diet football.
‘Last tango…
JORGE BARRAZA
For TIME
@JorgeBarrazaOK
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