World Cup 2010 Blog: “European Club Association Threatens FIFA” plus 1 more |  |
| European Club Association Threatens FIFA Posted: 07 Sep 2010 08:45 AM PDT
The European Club Association is basically a pressure group representing Europe’s biggest teams. And no big European team currently has a bigger beef with international football than Bayern Munich, where – ever so slightly co-incidentally – Rummenigge is also chairman. For those with short memories, Bayern’s Dutch winger Arjen Robben played for the Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup while carrying a thigh injury, which had become a two-inch hole in his muscle by the time he got back to Bayern. Robben will be out for the rest of 2010 and Bayern are understandably miffed. FIFA currently shares $40 million of its World Cup profits with clubs of the players called up for duty, but Rummenigge pointed out that the payment Bayern received for Robben covered more or less one week’s pay. In the club vs country debate, I usually side with country. If only because the clubs usually hold all the cards. And by cards I mean players. But I think some sort of compromise can be reached here. I don’t necessarily agree with Rumenigge that FIFA should be paying out every time a player gets injured on international duty. Can you imagine insuring every international footballer in the world? Covering the big boys like Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo alone would put a hole in FIFA’s fundage. And it’s unfair to expect that no player can get injured on international duty. You can’t player a competitive international covered in bubble wrap (although… write that down and pitch it to Sky Sports for Summer 2013). Maybe some sort of compromise can be reached for situations like Robben’s where the national team has pushed a player to his limits and caused damage in doing so. (I’m not saying the Netherlands were 100% wrong to do so by the way, the World Cup is worth the risk and Robben came thisclose to winning it for them.) So FIFA should give in, and insure players for exceptional circumstances. But don’t give too much, because the European clubs will be back for more before you know it.
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| Andres Iniesta Has Seen World Cup Winning Goal “A Thousand Times” Posted: 07 Sep 2010 07:27 AM PDT
Have you ever wondered why Barcelona and Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta is so pale? Well apparently he spends a lot of time indoors watching video of his own games, and as a result has seen his World Cup final winning goal 1,000 times.
My guess is that Iniesta is exaggerating, so let’s not take that four figure number too literally. But I’m genuinely fascinated to learn that Iniesta rewatches his games in order to improve. Just last week I was complaining that Iniesta makes football look too easy. Now I realize that it only looks easy because he puts so much effort in. So, if you’re reading Andres, here’s that goal one more time:
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European Club Association chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had some 
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