Fighting for Promotion

Lionel Messi, not even 28 years old yet, had an incredible season, as we have all come to expect (he is pictured below with his adorable son, Thiago, and the Champions League trophy). Gerard Pique, somehow not getting distracted by his gorgeous wife and kids, led the Barça defense to its best season in a decade. Last but not least, Luis Suarez had an immaculate first season at the Camp Nou, and teamed up brilliantly with Neymar and Messi to form an attack that could even scare Chuck Norris.

But here's my question: Supreme talent level aside, did Barcelona truly deserve the title?

I would have to say no. In the same way that FIFA has tarnished the sport, Barça's antics have tarnished the sport. Growing up in a country where even a young boy crying for too long is frowned upon, maybe I don't truly understand why these grown men insist on constantly whining and complaining, but for me, it reflects badly on the entire game of soccer. Any time this season I had the displeasure of watching a Barcelona game in which they were in the lead, the last 15 minutes were always an absolute struggle to watch. With every little contact, the Barça players would fall down screaming and rolling around. With every opportunity, they would all circle around the referee like sharks who smelled blood, sometimes even bumping him or putting their hands on him (if you want to nit-pick, the team captain is technically the only one that's allowed to speak to the referee, but I digress). In general, it is just embarrassing to watch as a die-hard supporter of the sport.

Don't get me wrong, I completely understand the importance of diving to the ground and how it can be used as a legitimate strategy to draw fouls, but the rolling, arm flailing, begging, and verbal abuse is an absolute disgrace. 

And the Champions League final showcased more of these Catalonian catastrophes. Imagine you are a huge baseball fan. You've never watched a game of soccer in your life, and you think it's such a stupid, girly sport. Now imagine you tune into Barcelona/Juventus at about the 70-minute mark. What do you see? Aside from Neymar's late goal, there is no beautiful soccer being played while you're watching. All you see is Dani Alves, Luis Suarez and co. rolling around on the ground, and you're thinking to yourself "No wonder this sport sucks, all these idiots do is waste time."

Again, I truly understand why the players are doing what they doing. They have the lead, and they want to make sure the game slows down and that Juventus doesn't have a chance to equalize. But just because I understand why, doesn't mean I have to support it. What kind of self-respecting player would voluntarily morph into a fish out of water when he knows that literally one billion people are watching him?

Barcelona is the most talented team the footballing world has seen in years, but I am absolutely sick of their players embarrassing themselves and the sport as a whole. Even if you are a Barcelona supporter, you must recognize that the behavior of your players is a large source of this embarrassment, and stop encouraging it. 

By now, I think we've all heard the news about FIFA, soccer's main governing body. 

Corruption that has been ongoing for decades has finally been brought to light by the United States Department of Justice and the FBI. High-ranking executives in the organization have taken millions of dollars in bribes for multiple reasons, which is absolutely ludicrous. 

For me, the beauty of soccer is the fact that it's such a democratic game - there is no required body type, size, strength, gender, or anything; all you have to do is train both your skills and your mind for the game and you can become a top player. But where is the democracy when countries are being awarded World Cups and sponsors are being awarded contracts all through bribery? That does not provide for a level playing field. The democracy of the game is slowly being destroyed by FIFA, especially by its president, Sepp Blatter, who was re-elected to a fifth term on Friday. 

Now, some of you may be wondering exactly how Blatter was re-elected even after the wire fraud, money laundering, and racketeering charges were brought up against some of his staffmates. Basically, the reasoning is this: Blatter requires that the proceeds of each World Cup tournament are distributed equally to all member nations of FIFA. In other words, the United States will receive the same amount of money as, for example, Mali or Uzbekistan. These smaller African and Asian nations are incredibly happy with this process and don't want it to change, and it just so happens that they make up 100 of the 209 votes in the FIFA presidential election. Therefore, Blatter really only had to 'win over' a minimum of five other nations to go along with the 100 votes he was already guaranteed.

So that's why he won again. But how will FIFA progress?

The beautiful game is walking down a dark alley that needs to be lit up immediately. It is clear that the organization needs to be reformed, but that really can't be done with a leader as corrupt as Blatter in charge. All high-ranking executives of FIFA need to be removed and replaced with men and women that would look to solve things democratically, with no interference of bribery. Not only that, but countries are going to have to be willing to withdraw from FIFA, boycott its events, and stop voting in its elections. With some of the most powerful footballing nations out of the picture, sponsors will be discouraged from participating in the World Cup or European Championship; this disappearance of money is what would certainly let FIFA know that things have to be changed, even if the disappearance of member nations doesn't.

It may take some scare tactics, or some United States meddling, but something must be done immediately about FIFA. The little integrity our game has remaining depends on it. 

Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think in the comments below, and follow both @camtotheyams and @FightingBlog on Twitter!

Alejandro Bedoya:

There's a reason Bedoya is the name I got on the back of my new USMNT away jersey. This player continues to start regularly for Nantes in Ligue 1, a feat even more impressive when considering that he wasn't even making the 18 about a year ago. While he still finds himself getting replaced around the 70th minute of games from time to time, he is a vital contributor for the mid-table French side, and has even contributed with two goals in the past month. As Clint Dempsey ages, Klinsmann will be looking to Bedoya to fill that attacking midfielder role, and he will certainly be prepared for that duty by 2018 if not much sooner.

Rating: B

                                                     

Timothy Chandler:

Chandler is both an underrated player and a conundrum for me. He has developed into easily one of the top ten right backs in the Bundesliga and even scored a goal for Eintracht Frankfurt this past weekend, yet I don't think I've even seen him play well in a US jersey. I don't want to judge him too much by his international performance, though; he is improving every week and has played the full 90 minutes for Frankfurt each of the past 15 league games. What Chandler lacks going forward compared to Yedlin, he more than makes up for in playing time and defensive ability. The right back battle for the USMNT will certainly be one to look at before 2018, but I have Chandler in the lead right now, based on current form alone.

Rating: B+