A Tribute to Messi: The Great Man-Dog

After watching this video a thousand times or so over the past week, I felt that I could no longer keep from sharing it with those still ignorant of its existence.

Hernán Casciari, an Argentine journalist living in Catalunya, Spain, published the poem read in the video above in 2012.

The man is obviously a massive fan of compatriot Lionel Messi. But, it is the manner in which he describes Barcelona’s record-shattering goalscorer that puts your heart up into your mouth.

On the back of masterful phraseology and deft allusions to his childhood dog, Totín, Casciari explains with great emotion how he would give anything to remain in Barcelona to watch Messi play; the footballer who by the end of the poem he declares to be the most imaginative and gifted to have ever strapped on a pair of cleats.

The theory that Casciari proposes about the Rosario-born forward is that he, in fact, is not human; no, he is a hombre-perro or man-dog. He doesn’t play football like most others in the world. It’s quite noticeable, actually, in any game. Although Messi may occasionally hit the floor after a particularly rough foul, his primary goal is always to remain standing, with the ball at his feet, moving toward goal.

That is the point of the game, some would say, no? Nonetheless, at this very moment, I am watching a match between Everton and Norwich City and every slight touch from a defender — foul or otherwise — has resulted in a fall. Every perceived foul or handball is shouted about furiously; eyes turn toward the referee constantly to voice dissatisfaction, question a call, or give a nod of approval. Football has become less and less about the ball and the path toward goal and more about strategy, tactics, gamesmanship.

For as good as Cristiano Ronaldo is, that is his one true fault. Personal bias aside, the largest  stain on the Portuguese magician’s game is his theatrics, whether tumbling, arguing, or scoring goals and pointing to his name to remind everyone that he is the most superior specimen on the planet.

Messi is awkward; socially inept, some would say. He appears to be less about the headlines than any other player so dominant in a particular sport. Even Roger Federer, in his time at the top of the tennis world, found a way to remain eloquent and chatty despite his humility.

In Casciari’s view, Messi resembles his childhood dog, obsessive in his desire to possess and keep hold of one thing; in Totín’s case it was a sponge, in Messi’s a football. The comparison makes sense. Watch any compilation of his clips and you’ll see the diminutive playmaker with his eyes glued to the ball. If it is not in his grasp, he does everything to possess it. If he loses it, he does everything to retrieve it, often chasing opponents half the length of the field.

When the ball is at Messi’s feet, however, is when magic happens, when the impossible becomes realized. He treats it better than most men do their wives, caressing it, keeping it safe from the villains that seek to steal it from him. Antonella, his wife, must often question to whom Messi is more dedicated.

That makes him quite unique. And, it makes sense to call the four-time Balon d’Or winner a man-dog; a man alone cannot remain so faithful to one object. For those of us in the age of television and YouTube, we should consider ourselves almost as fortunate as Casciari that we get to see Messi, rewind and fast-forward through his jukes, assists, and goals on a regular basis. It is like a personal gift that God has given all of us who love sport.

So, Cheers to Messi — perhaps the first and potentially the last hombre-perro.

The Importance of Soccer in the Words of Albert Camus

The quote lives long in the minds of most soccer fans in Europe and the United States. It is not just a phrase mumbled by a great former manager like Bill Shankly — who himself has a few notable sayings to his credit — or a legend like Pele or Maradona. Instead, it is one dictated by Albert Camus, the famous French writer and philosopher who died tragically in a car crash over half a century ago.

“Everything I know about morality and the obligations of men, I owe it to football,” said Camus.

Brilliantly succinct and direct, the line rises out of the Algerian-born writer’s musings on the value of camaraderie, bravery, and fair-play — the qualities evident in football that the political and religious authorities of his time and ours have so muddled.

Of course, there can be a case made that FIFA,  the professionalization of the sport at varying times in the 1900s,  and the corporatization of teams in recent decades, has done severe damage to the innate values that were more obvious in the time of Camus’ writing, prior to the 1950s. But, the simple beauty of football remains, resonating across dirt fields and schoolyards all over the world from its inception until this very moment.

Camus’ words, like many famous others, can be tossed into the memory bank as merely another chic football saying. However, I think they provide insight into why the sport is so dearly important to us.

The Nobel Prize winning thinker was born desperately poor to a single-mother in Algiers in 1913. His father was killed in the early exchanges of World War I, and he suffered harsh discipline under the rule of his mother and grandmother.

Camus began playing as a goalkeeper in his school days and eventually joined the Racing Universitaire Algerios junior team while studying at the university. His choice of the position has been analyzed by some as being ironic for a man who would later become known for his fascination with the absurd and the individual conscience. Between the posts, Camus was utterly alone, as any goalkeeper. If his team scored, he knew it was of no contribution of his own. Yet, any goal conceded would fall heavily on his shoulders, and not those of his teammates. Absurdity, some would say, at its finest.

After contracting tuberculosis at the age of 18, the pied-noir Frenchman retired from the game; though he would continue to be fascinated by it until his untimely death in 1960. In fact, it was in the alumni magazine of RUA in 1950 that his famous saying was first written, as he was asked to contribute an essay.

Camus never talked much about football in his work, which included renowned absurdist novels The Stranger (1942), The Plague (1947), and The Fall (1956), and the essay that won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, “Reflections on the Guillotine” — a brilliant piece lambasting the death penalty and suggesting alternate methods for personal reform in France.

When he did consider the sport, it proved a source for much of his contemplation on the nature of fairness, individual effort, collective responsibility, and morality.

That doesn’t sound far from what the game represents to many of the football fans that I know. Certainly, what has drawn my gang of ragged aficionados to stadium and game-day parties, crummy pitches and indoor arenas over the years has been the sensation the game provides for us all.

My teammates, for the moment, are my brothers. I know that everything I do affects them and vice versa — that is why we fight for one another.

Likewise, when I need inspiration I hit the field or turn on the highlight reel in my head: Landon Donovan’s last-gasp winner against Algeria, Maxi’s stunner against Mexico, the “goal of the century” replication by Leo Messi.

There’s something remarkably beautiful about football at its rawest level. That is the reason why there is so much anger about the money that is now involved in the game and the way it more and more resembles a business, thanks to FIFA, greedy players, corporate clubs, foreign owners, etc.

I certainly owe a lot to football. My father used it to teach me how to become a man and balance my own self-expression with the well-being and success of my teammates. The game is now embedded deep inside my being, and I carry what I’ve learned and experienced into the other areas of my life, as well. On the most basic level, that is the reason why I run this blog.

Outside of providing us with a memorable quotation, Camus forces us to look deeper into the game we love than simply what we see on this screen. Words are very powerful.  So is this game we cherish.

Athletic Bilbao Continue to Run Against the Trends of Modern Football

On Monday night, Athletic Bilbao played their first match at their new stadium, defeating Galician club Celta Vigo in an exhilarating encounter that ended at 3-2, but could have easily finished by a much higher scoreline thanks to some lackadaisical defending and thrilling attacking play by both teams.

The match was the club’s first in the “new” San Mames, which replaced the 99-year-old stadium of the same name that closed and was then demolished at the end of last season.

An account by acclaimed British sports journalist Sid Lowe from the night, describes the spectacular aura around the stadium, the overwhelming passion of the local fans, and the mystical team that to this days features only Basque-born or ethnically Basque players.

That policy has brought Athletic both a number of critics and admirers over the years. But, it has also served to make the club unique in a sport where more and more big name players are transferring regularly between a handful of major sides, and loyalty to clubs has been flushed virtually down the drain.

Of course, defection still happens at Athletic, too. Over recent seasons, Javi Martinez and Fernando Llorente, now with Bayern Munich and Juventus, respectively, have left and faced demonization by the club’s fans. Yet, this seems to happen on a much smaller scale than in other teams with the kind of history that Athletic boast: 8 La Liga titles, 24 Copa del Reys, and the honor of never having been relegated in their 115-year history.

The last of their major honors came in 1984 (the league, cup, and Supercup titles), although the side did finish runners-up in the Copa del Rey and Europa League in 2011-12, playing some of the most exhilarating football across the continent before imploding due to a mixture of exhaustion and a lack of depth in the squad.

The failure to attain more titles or  glory in recent seasons, however, has still not convinced the majority of the club hierarchy or fanbase that Athletic should look outside of the approximately 3 million Basque in their country for potential recruits, as neighbors Real Sociedad decided to do when they abandoned their cantera-only policy in 1989. In 2007, amid a relegation battle the club only escaped on the last day of the season, then-president Fernando Garcia Macua, said plainly, “We’d rather go down than change our habits. I know the supporters feel the same,” citing the club constitution from 1898 where the philosophy of Basque-only was first mentioned.

Sociedad claimed problems with maintaining two major clubs in La Liga on such a small player pool when they opened up their doors to foreigners. Athletic have remained stubborn, only loosening up slightly in recent years, making small modifications to keep them competitive among teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, and to a smaller scale Malaga, Atletico Madrid, and Valencia, who regularly spend millions on improving their squads with a mix of Spanish-born, South American, and African players, among others.

It is said that the original implementation of the policy was to recruit only those born in Vizcaya, one of the seven Basque provinces and where Bilbao is located, and raised up through Athletic’s youth teams. At times, though, the club has allowed players from other provinces, including those of Basque affiliation in France, to play for the team, as well as those who may not have been born in the region, such as Venezuela international Fernando Amorebieta, but have Basque parentage and were raised near Bilbao at some time.

The most shocking inclusion into the senior side over the past years — although it has proven more controversial for the media than actual fans of Athletic — has been Jonas Ramalho. The Basque-born, half-Angolan defender is the first black player to suit up for the club, and has featured just under 10 times in the league before going on loan to Girona FC this season. At 20 years old, and with several caps for Spain’s youth teams, he looks like becoming a permanent feature for the club in years to come.

Despite the broad brush the club have used recently for players like Ramalho, Amorebieta (now with Fulham in England), and a handful of others currently at the Lezama training facility, the fact remains that Athletic and their fans prefer to use their own players, trained in-house or native to Basconia, to represent the club. And, that is unique among almost all modern, professional football — at least when it comes to clubs that remain competitive in the top flights of their country’s leagues.

The summer’s key signing, Beñat Etxebarria, who began with the club and was released before returning from Real Betis for €8 million, touched on an aspect of this Monday, dedicating the goal he scored to his grandparents. Teammates shared similar sentiments, as it is natural at a club like Athletic for national heritage, family, and sport to combine in a way that most fans dream would happen at their own clubs, but rarely does.

Before the match, the 14 captains of the clubs various teams helped christen their new home, and as always deafening cries of “Athleeeeeeeetic!” rang out among fans draped in the club’s colors and those of their region.

Nationalistic fervor is not uncommon in the crowd as almost everyone is united by their origin, the oppression their people and team suffered for so long under the Franco regime in Spain, and a joy for seeing new players come or return who they have seen play football since they were youngsters. While there is a Basque national team, that like the Catalan version, will sporadically host friendly games, for many Bilbao is seen as the unanimous representative of Basconia in Europe.

The cantera policy at the club has also allowed it to maintain a very healthy financial state that most others in Spain, which are crumbling in debt and at constant risk of liquidation, undoubtedly envy. Usually, the only transfer expenses are for returning players like the aforementioned Beñat, Aritz Aduriz, Kike Sola, Ander Herrera, and Mikel San Jose. The rest of the club’s income can thus be spread across administration, player development, stadium expenses, etc., without the need to worry about attracting the Gareth Bales, Neymars, and Gonzalo Higuains of world football.

Athletic may not return to the glory days of Pichichi or Telmo Zarra anytime soon. But, the senior side should remain competitive in Spain and a constant presence in the race for the Copa del Rey or European qualification.  The losses to Real Madrid and Barcelona, with their unbelievable expenditures on players every summer, may continue. But, the pride embodied in the unofficial motto, “Con cantera y afición, no hace falta importación” still resounds.

The Lions, as they are own, are one of the most unique teams in professional football. It’s what makes their people embrace them and outsiders fall in love with the mysterious beauty of the club and its philosophy. And, after victories like the one against Celta, where even the opposing coach Luis Enrique stopped to take pictures of the new stadium and the field for memory’s sake, it makes sense to keep tuning in to see what’s in store for Athletic in their little corner of Basconia.

Peach of the Week #11: Marco Fabian Rescues Chivas with Unstoppable Free-kick

It took a piece of magic to rescue suffering Chivas Guadalajara from another disappointing defeat, after having led early against Club Tijuana in their Liga MX encounter on Sunday.

The wizard on this occasion was none other than ever-reliable Mexico international Marco Fabian, who clawed the team back from 2-1, despite having taken an early lead at home, via an unstoppable free kick in the 82nd minute.

Fabian is not typically known as a goalscorer at club level, although he did lead Mexico in scoring during qualifiers for the 2012 Olympics and registered for the nation as they won the tournament in London two summers ago.

The diminutive attacking midfielder boasts over 150 appearances for Chivas, and has remained faithful to the historic team even after collecting only a single trophy (2009 InterLiga) as the club have ridden a downward slope over recent seasons.

The 24-year-old holds a ton of promise for both the club and national team as he has still not hit his prime in terms of age. Fabian’s confidence and class were clearly on display as he rifled past Cirilo Saucedo to provide Chivas a glimmer of hope as they continue in the bottom three for the ongoing Apertura tournament.

Is Women’s Soccer on an Equal Playing Field with the Men’s Game?

Abby Wambach and Megan Rapinoe celebrate a goal for the USWNT

Sitting in my professor’s office the other day, discussing my interest in covering local soccer in Knoxville and scanning the internet for boys and girls high school schedules, I noticed something on the screen that immediately stuck out as strange. At least here in the state of Tennessee, the sport’s governing body divides the game up based on sex as “soccer” and “girl’s soccer”. The former, although using the general name for the sport, is obviously the men’s version of the game.

Now, I certainly don’t want to get in some kind of feminist debate or even discuss semantics, as it could have been just a blip by the person working the TSSAA website. But, it did get me thinking as to how we differentiate between genders when it comes to sports in general, and particularly soccer. Of course, this isn’t restricted to just fans, but also advertisers, game promoters, journalists, other athletes, etc.

I’m about to start covering University of Tennessee women’s soccer and as I’ve started to learn about the players, I’ve found it intriguing that even the best on the team have little chance or expectation of going on to support themselves via the avenue of professional soccer.

This isn’t because they aren’t good enough. For the most part, it’s due to the lack of significant, sustainable leagues worldwide that could support such players; the polar opposite of what the situation is in regards to men’s soccer, where sometimes even third or fourth division teams are still entirely professional.

Earlier this week, the National Women’s Soccer League — the third attempt at launching a professional women’s league here in the United States — celebrated the culmination of its first season. Already, however, there are questions as to whether the eight-team league will survive, with a number of teams failing to draw much interest from crowds or sponsors.

The title-winning Portland Thorns have been the most successful team off the pitch, averaging an attendance of over 13,000 at all of their home matches (not surprising, considering how popular soccer is in the Pacific Northwest, with the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers consistently drawing big numbers to MLS games). But, gameday numbers quickly fizzle as you go down the chart, with every other team averaging under 5,000 fans and Sky Blue FC bringing in just over 1,600 per game.

It’s a sad state of affairs, especially considering how popular the US women’s national team has been, with star players like Megan Rapinoe and Abby Wambach replacing the Brandi Chastains and Mia Hamms of yesteryear in American soccer folklore. Although the team did not win the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, they provided some of the tournament’s greatest drama, coming from behind to beat Brazil after a last-minute Wambach header, and then losing in penalty kicks to Cinderella story Japan in the final.

The United States has remained one of the major focal point of women’s soccer worldwide, even though popularity and participation is growing in places as unique as Iran, where women compete and have fought intensely for the right to do so after initially being barred from competition due to their wearing of hijabs or head coverings in games.

Aside from the NWSL, there are other domestic leagues across the globe, with Europe and South America even boasting female versions of the Champions League and Copa Libertadores. But there are only a small number of players who can earn their living from the game. In the NWSL, where pay would be expected to be most generous, players made only between $6,000 to $30,000 during the five-month season. On some of the world’s best teams, such as Lyon in France, pay is better for star performers; though, this is only typical on occasions where the women’s team is connected to a successful men’s team at the same club.

When I was much younger, I remember commercials that depicted Michael Jordan and the aforementioned Hamm competing with each other at a number of tasks. Their Gatorade ads popularized the phrase, “Anything you can do, I can do better”, and applied it to men’s and women’s sports.

But, it doesn’t seem like women soccer players will ever get the chance to prove or disprove the veracity of that statement. While the quality that women’s teams produce may not be same as the best men’s teams on the planet, their is still much in the way preventing the women’s game from developing to the point where it might ever be a level playing field professionally.

Any change will only start by recognizing the sport of soccer is the same for both sexes. There are not specific versions for men and women, and the same rules apply across the board. Everyone has their preference and can choose what to or what not to watch. Yet, let’s not further cripple the women’s soccer by separating it, even when it comes to our language, from the “real” soccer.

The sport is authentic regardless of who is kicking the ball or swatting down the shots, and it is for everyone. The beautiful game, the world’s game, cannot be restricted. It belongs to us all — men and women alike.

A Brief History of the Transfer Window

Manchester United has been hot in pursuit of acclaimed Everton duo Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini

With the transfer deadline coming up on Monday, there is much in the way of the stress for both club managers and football fans all across Europe.

The transfer window has already seen some ridiculous, big-money transfers in the cases of Neymar, Edinson Cavani, Willian, and Radamel Falcao, among others. Even more so, there have been rumors and lengthy transfer sagas throughout recent months that have simultaneously invigorated and depressed parties on both ends of the spectrum (the buyers and sellers in the transaction). Particularly, when it comes to Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, and Everton, who have seen the headlines spin with speculation regarding Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney, and the duo of Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines.

Of course, no club has been innocent in the melee, as much as some would like to lay the blame on elitist, billionaire teams like Chelsea, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayern Munich for stirring up the most trouble and handicapping their rivals. The transfer window by its very nature allows wealthier institutions to poach talent from smaller ones; whether that be Madrid trying to pry Bale from Spurs, Newcastle United picking up all the homegrown French talent in Ligue 1, or recently promoted Premier League clubs like Crystal Palace and Cardiff City buying promising youngsters from the lower leagues in England.

But, even for those who profit from it, there has still been considerable frustration at the existence, and particularly the duration of the summer window, regardless of whether the clubs in question are trying to buy trophies, avoid relegation, or simply finish as high up the table as possible. It has gotten to the point that even Jose Mourinho, a traditional villain during most transfer cycles (just ask Spurs’ fans what they think about his recent stealing of Willian from right under their noses), has been critical of the window, claiming that it “goes too far, [all the way] into the the third or fourth fixture of the season.”

New Everton manager Roberto Martinez has delved into even more detail, reiterating comments he made while Wigan Athletic boss in 2010, by calling the window “a footballing circus” and stating that it is “farcical” and “against the values…trying to [be presented] in the Premier League.” In other words, he finds it absurd that while squads are preparing for important games there is still movement of players and unsettling going on with bids and speculation (as in the recent situation with Arsenal’s bid for Yohan Cabaye, who then  wouldn’t feature for the Toon because his head was “not in the right place”).

The calls to end the summer and winter transfer windows, or to at least cut the summer window back a few weeks have been so vocal this month that its important for us to consider what brought about such transfer periods in the first place.

For younger football fans such as myself, it might be hard to remember a time when transfer windows didn’t exist. But, most did not officially come into being until 2002, when FIFA, in conjunction with UEFA and the European Commission, made them compulsory for all recognized football leagues across the globe.

Before that time, transfers were allowed to happen throughout the course of a season and there were very limited restrictions on what kind of transfer activity could take place. FIFA, assumed that by implementing two set transfer periods (they vary depending on the leagues, as the MLS, as well as Nordic and Latin American countries play their seasons on a different calendar), it would put less stress on clubs and disrupt agents from maneuvering for deals all-year long.

Yet, the stability it was supposed to bring has been overshadowed by the chaos that exists around the final week of each transfer cycle, and particularly on transfer deadline days, when there is an absolute flurry of activity as clubs try to push in deals and not be left in the dust, as Everton were in 2011, when they lost key playmaker Mikel Arteta to Arsenal and had no time to bring in a replacement.

The Premier League has been the most vocal arena for criticism of the transfer windows, as it is typically where the most money is spent and where there are a larger number of wealthy, typically foreign owners bankrolling their clubs (as opposed to La Liga, where the riches are concentrated between 3-4 clubs, and unlike the MLS where finances and most spending are controlled by the league). Still, nothing has changed, as universal condemnation has still not been vocalized by the entirety of the league.

And, while there may be adjustments made to the transfer window’s make-up in coming years, as bad publicity from managers like Mourinho, Wenger, and Alan Pardew, will only continue to pile up, it is unlikely that either the summer or winter windows entirely will go away anytime soon.

As has been evidenced in the past and is currently being illustrated by FIFA’s unwillingness to renege on their 2022 Qatar World Cup decision, the “Big Brother”-like organization is quite stubborn and rarely bows to public pressure. For optimists, however, there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Goal-line technology has finally been implemented in Europe this season after a decade of discussion on the topic and Sepp Blatter’s refusal for so long to give the go-ahead on such an action.

So, what do you think about the summer and winter transfer windows? Should they be nixed completely? Do they just need to be shortened to not interfere with the actual playing season? Or do clubs and managers just need to buck up and deal with it?

Leave your comments below.

How Much Do You Earn Compared to Premier League Footballers?

Everton captain Phil Jagielka earns roughly my yearly salary in the span of 4 days.

Want to feel terrible about yourself, furious at the business of modern football, and envious of the professionals the game employs all at once? Well, internet marketing expert Paul Gailey Alburquerque has created this website to give you the opportunity to do just that.

Simply plug in your salary and find who you compare to in terms of earnings. If you’re a blue-collar bill collector like me, don’t expect that you’ll make much more in a year than what the average Premier League player makes in a week.

The tool itself is quite cheeky during a transfer window that looks to once again shatter spending records. Clubs like Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have already dished out around £90m and £60m, respectively, with Spurs possibly spending another big chunk if Gareth Bale — soon to surpass Cristiano Ronaldo as the most expensive transfer in history — leaves for Real Madrid and Willian arrives in his place from Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia.

Gailey’s site also sheds further light on the money that clubs generate in England’s top flight and a host of other statistics one can scour over to learn a little bit more about how football works from a financial perspective.

What it seems to all point to, however, is that more so than ever, both clubs and players are drifting  further than ever from the reality of the everyday working person. Footballers especially appear increasingly isolated from the fans that watch them often religiously every weekend. To me, it’s become absolutely ridiculous, to the point that if I weren’t already so deep into it I’d probably just find a good amateur club to support stateside, rather than watch the bigger leagues on television or in the stadium.

And, to make somewhat of an endorsement for the MLS (though I must admit that I am a supporter of the big-spending NY Red Bulls, as their former guise the Metrostars were my local team growing up), the kind of spending we’re seeing overseas should at least make American fans consider investing further time and money into our domestic game.

While there are players stateside like Tim Cahill, Thierry Henry, Robbie Keane, and now Clint Dempsey, that earn absurd multi-million dollar salaries, the majority are on more reasonable wages that aren’t too different from what those in the US workforce make.

The MLS Player’s Union releases the salaries of every player in the league in a yearly report, so you can check and see what you make compared to your favorite players, as well as do some compare and contrast with the rest by clicking here.

Personally, I make just about as much as Ruben Bover on the Red Bulls, which is kind of a nice feeling considering the guy is getting some decent playing time and looks a splendid little winger.

What do you think about player’s wages in the top leagues in Europe (and across professional football, considering the money that clubs in China and the Middle East are offering foreigners)? Leave some comments below and let’s discuss it!

Draining of Talent in Argentina

Napoli and Albiceleste striker Gonzalo Higuain left River Plate for Real Madrid at 18 years old

As an Argentine-American, I may sound biased when I say this; but, I consider it an indisputable face that when it comes to the world’s greatest footballing talents there is only one country — which shall remain nameless — that can rival Argentina in terms of production and exportation.

The presence of a number of Argentines on the world’s most successful teams reinforces this fact. For instance, Inter Milan, Champions League winners in 2010 and one of the top dogs in Italy despite recent struggles, have the largest contingent in Europe with 10 players, including captain Javier Zanetti and vice-captain Esteban Cambiasso.

Another historic team, Benfica, who lost three titles at the last gasp in 2012-13, boast six players, while rivals and Portuguese champions Porto have three in their first team. Other important Argentine players at title-winning or title-challengings clubs include Sergio Aguero and Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City), Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano (Barcelona), Carlos Tevez (Juventus), Angel di Maria (Real Madrid), Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli) and Javier Pastore and Ezequiel Lavezzi (PSG).

Three of the aforementioned — Messi, Tevez, and Aguero — rank within the top 15 best-paid players in the world. Two other attacking players, Dario Conca and Lucas Barrios, who are less well-known to those outside of Germany and Brazil, have also staked their place among the heavyweights of Argentine exportation by successively breaking Chinese transfer records with their arrivals back in 2011 and 2012, respectively. They were by far the most expensive and well-paid footballers in Asia (Barrios has since left for Spartak Moscow).

Although the majority of these talents have made their fame abroad, they all started in Argentine football and are the products of a transfer model that has sadly left every domestic club in the top flight drained of their prime assets. Simply imagine what the Copa Libertadores and Club World Cup would look like every year if national team players such as Higuain, (ex-River Plate), Messi (ex-Newells Old Boys), Aguero (ex-Independiente), Zabaleta (ex-San Lorenzo), and countless others were still plying their trade in their homeland — pretty frightening, right?

This “sell your best” model practiced by many Argentine clubs has been in place since the rise of European football in the eighties and nineties, and became even more widespread with the corporatization of the professional game, as wealthy owners in England, Spain, and Italy, became more willing to pay massive salaries to and transfer fees for desirable players. As a result, clubs struggling with  a mix of debts, poor ticket sales, and corruption in countries like Argentina and Brazil, have been able to capitalize on the trend and sell important players abroad to rake in enough money to keep themselves afloat.

In 2010, Argentina officially usurped Brazil as the world’s biggest exporters of soccer talent, having sold 1,800 players to their neighbor’s 1,400 during the 2009-10 season. The ratio has remained roughly the same in the proceeding years, with reports from the first part of 2013 showing Argentina exported $228 million worth of soccer players — more than the worth of their live animal exports.

This has left the domestic game suffering to the point that Argentina international and former Atletico Madrid captain Maxi Rodriguez, upon his return to hometown club Newells Old Boys in 2012, claimed “Argentine football is worse than it was 10 years ago”, in reference to the quality drain that has left teams looking like skeletons of their former selves.

This has especially proven true for Boca Juniors and River Plate, the two richest and most successful clubs in Argentine football. The former have won only two league titles and a domestic cup since 2008, while the latter (known as the “millionaires”), have one first division and one second division title in that time span, having suffered a historic relegation in 2011 that shook much of the football world.

Although River have gone to lengths to bring in popular players such as David Trezeguet, Fernando Cavenaghi, and Leonardo Ponzio (who is the only one still at the club at this moment) to improve the side during their period of struggle, they have also probably suffered more than Boca in terms of transfers to Europe. Over the last five years, among the promising local players sold abroad have been Lucas Ocampos, Diego Buonanotte, and Erik Lamela, in addition to foreigners developed by the club such as Alexis Sanchez and Radamel Falcao, who have gone onto major fame and fortune on the old continent.

Clubs are now competing with player agents who are trying to discover talent even younger, so that they can nurture them and get them on small contracts prior to selling them to Europe. For those who move abroad, the results are mixed, although clubs care little as long as they are getting paid for the transfers.

For every Aguero, who was sold for €20 million to Atletico Madrid in 2006 and has since become an emblem of the national team and one of the most recognizable players in world football, there are your Cristian Colussos, who left Argentina for Sevilla at the age of 19 and suffered severely in his short career due to agent-related fraud, lack of playing time, and pressured contract signings. His story cannot be uncommon with thousands of players leaving the country every season, most of whom remain unknown to your everyday soccer fan.

Even the two league winners from the 2012-13 season, Velez Sarsfield and Newells Old Boys, have seen themselves lose their key players over the summer. The former first sold top marksmen Facundo Fereyra to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukraine, then tried desperately to sell 21-year-old left-back Gino Peruzzi,  who looks set for €3.4 million transfer to Catania in Serie A. Newells, who lost coach Gerardo Martino to Barcelona after he decided to not renew his contract, also saw leading goalscorer Ignacio Scocco move to Internacional of Brazil after a season on loan with club.

Although clubs are a big factor, with their ridiculous corruption, powerful agents in Argentina and Brazil especially are the reason so many youngsters move abroad, after selling their brand to foreign clubs willing to pay out partial transfer fees to the player’s handler. This unfortunate reality was made famous in the media during the Carlos Tevez transfer saga that saw him leave Corinthians for West Ham United and then Manchester United, all the while causing issues because of his third-party ownership by Iranian businessman Kia Joorabchian.

There is no easy solution to this draining of talent in Argentine football, although the AFA and the government have made an effort recently to put a halt to it. This year the nation’s tax chief ordered greater transparency in professional football, requiring clubs to bank the cash made from player transfers in special bank accounts, for player contracts and profits to be recorded properly, and for player agents to be officially registered. These efforts seek to stomp out the hidden interests in the game and allow clubs to run more efficiently and young, promising players to be afforded greater protection.

But, who knows if anything will change? As soccer continues to grow in popularity in places like the United States, where there is still a good bit of ground to gain, and money continues to flow from wealthy owners, television deals, and merchandise sales, the demand for the type of players only South America can produce will remain massive. There could be shifts, as seen in Brazil where the league has exploded in popularity and despite it’s complicated structure has seen a number of very important players return home, including national team players Ronaldinho and Fred. However, that doesn’t remain likely in Argentina, where there is less money on offer and the hooliganism and corruption is more rampant.

It would be amazing to consider an alternate reality where the best players did remain in the country. The changes it could make in the top flight and the national team, which typically sees up to 90% of its players travel from Europe to train before international matches, could be drastic.

Youth scout Daniel Herrerra has some interesting things to say about the topic, and I leave you with a quote of his to consider. Critical of Argentina’s failures at recent World Cup tournaments, he declares confidently, “If all the Argentines and Brazilians playing in Europe were in leagues here, the World Cup every time would only be between Brazil and Argentina. This is guaranteed.”

It might be an exaggeration. But, with what Argentine players contribute to clubs all over the world, it might not be too far from the truth.

A Tribute to Christian “Chucho” Benitez

When he arrived at Birmingham City in 2009, no one really knew what to think about the man known as “Chucho” Benitez. Now, after his heartbreaking death at the age of only 27, there will be few in England, Mexico, or Ecuador who will have anything but fond memories of the pesky, barrel-chested striker.

With a nickname that translates from Spanish as “annoying little dog”, Chucho made his name by not only scoring wonderful goals — something he did a lot of during his nine-year career — but also irritating opposing defenses into literal submission with his fluid movement and absurd strength.

After three seasons with El Nacional in his homeland of Ecuador, then 21-year-old Chucho left for Mexico after collecting a league Player of the Year award in 2006 and two league titles with the Quito-based club. Already a proven goalscorer and quickly becoming a staple on the national team, his career truly took off during his three seasons at Santos Laguna.

In his first year with the club, Benitez picked up the league’s Best Player award for his efforts in their 2008 Clausura triumph. Overall, he managed 31 goals in his first two seasons with Santos, while adding four in the 2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League, where the team were eliminated in the semifinals by fellow Mexican side and eventual winners Atlante.

A complicated move to Birmingham City, that initially looked like a record outlay of £7.7m by the club, followed. In what became merely a one-year loan move, Benitez drew almost immediate controversy by featuring, against his new club’s wishes, in an all-star match in Ecuador while he was supposed to be recovering from shoulder surgery.

Despite only scoring four times overall for Birmingham in the 2009-10 season, he became a fan favorite for his industry and likability. Former teammate Lee Carsley, after hearing of Benitez’s death, remarked on their time together, stating, “He was a popular player in the changing room, he got a grasp of the Brummie accent quite quickly and he was popular with everyone.” He also reminisced on the problems Chucho caused Man United when coming on in a league match soon after arriving, and lauded his speed and technical ability. The midfielder felt the Ecuadorean probably suffered in his play because of the side’s style at the time, and feels that his lack of goals shouldn’t take away from his overall contribution in that one campaign.

Once back in Mexico, Chucho returned to his scoring ways for Santos and picked up the Gold Boot award for his 16 goals in the 2008 Apertura. That earned him a move to Club America, arguably Mexico’s most successful team with eleven national and eight international titles to their credit.  In his two seasons with America, he scored 52 league goals in 79 appearances, collecting another Best Player award (2012 Apertura), three Golden Boots (2012 Apertura, 2012 Clausura, 2013 Apertura), and winning his second league title in Mexico (2013 Clausura) as the undisputed pinnacle of the team and one of the most fearsome strikers in the Americas.

During this time, the 5’6” striker was also implanting himself as a staple in the Ecuador team that is currently third place in the CONMEBOL qualifying table for next year’s World Cup. His four goals have helped the side’s push for an automatic place at the tournament, and his strike in the 1-0 home win against Colombia last summer has kept them within a point of their Andean neighbors in second place. Chucho is third all-time in goals scored for the nation with 24 in 58 appearances; his last effort coming in the 4-1 triumph against Paraguay in March.

So, as can be inferred from these statistics and the significance that Benitez has held for every one of the teams on which he’s played, it is obvious that he will be sad loss to the world of football. After arriving at new club El Jaish in Qatar only three weeks ago, he died of cardiac arrest earlier today after complaining of abdominal pains only one day after debuting for the club.

Chucho leaves behind a wife and two children, who can at least be comforted by the fact that he was a man who loved them, and has been similarly loved by the countless people that he has encountered along his journey in professional football.

Enjoy a few peaches from the late Ecuadorean below. RIP Chucho — te queremos todos.

 

A Deserved Congratulations to Panama

After beating Mexico for the first time in 15 Gold Cup attempts during group play, Panama did what many assumed impossible and eliminated the six-time winners of the tournament yesterday to clinch their place against the USA in Sunday afternoon’s final.

Panama were deserved winners, with goals from veteran Blas Perez and Roman Torres enough to sink a meek, but very expectant Mexico. The victory proved especially gratifying in front of another sell-out crowd of over 80,000 mostly Mexico fans, who were as boisterous and aggressive as usual when playing in their “second home” (El Tri regularly draw more spectators to matches in the US than even our own national team).

Charismatic Panama coach Julio Dely Valdés stated in his typically cool and collected manner after the match,

This party is ours…and we’ve earned it by the merit. We hope that we haven’t ruined [CONCACAF]’s celebration, but if we have then lo siento (the Spanish equivalent of “that sucks”)

Obviously, he wasn’t the only one that knew CONCACAF were both hoping and expecting a fourth consecutive USA vs. Mexico final; a major reason why the match is set to be played in a fortress like Chicago — a city with more Mexican nationals than Veracruz.

Now, the underdog Panamanians, led by all-time leading scorer and FC Dallas striker Blas “Super Ratón” Perez, have a chance at revenge for their penalty shootout loss to the Americans in the 2005 final. And, I must admit that it certainly would be nice to see the country making a mark on the world stage for once, with their relatively small presence abroad and delightful style of football.

But, as a US fan equally elated to see our national team playing well under Jurgen Klinsmann and on a record 10-game winning streak, I’d have to say the party ends here for lively Panama.

Nevertheless, congratulations. Perhaps there might still be a place left for the country in next year’s World Cup, with this revival just enough to get them past Honduras and Mexico into one of the final qualifying spots for CONCACAF when things start up again in September.