Bloody Football!

[Prospero]

What a bore. They only just finished the season. Now our trains and streets will again be full of dullards bellowing like idiot and generally acting like hobbledehoys

[robertlouis]

What a bore. They only just finished the season. Now our trains and streets will again be full of dullards bellowing like idiot and generally acting like hobbledehoys

Umm, no they won't, you incorrigible snob.

The tournament under discussion is taking place in Brazil and the games are shown live late at night on BBC3.

There are no major tournaments this summer, with the honourable exception of the Women's World Cup, where players don't fake and are paid a mere pittance if anything. The women's game is far more representative of the original principles than the bloated mess of FIFA and the Premiership.

[Prospero]

When it comes to soccer and the behaviour of fans on the streets, yes i am a snob.... i once had to physically attack some of these people to protect two frail elderly relatives from being trampled on.

Didn't notice it was in Brazil i confess.

[Stavros]

That is quite a remark given that the money spent on the Confederations Cup as well as the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics are part of the eruptions taking place in Brazil which I assume you have seen on tv and read about in the papers.
Whatever, I barely knew what this competition is all about and had to Google it -as it happens there have been some amazing games, Italy and Japan slugged it out and as usual Italy scraped through with an unconvincing performance when the Japan team was scintillating but just lacked that 1% which can sometimes win a game. Spain look to me like they are easily capable of beating Brazil, who only managed a draw with England. On the other hand, Italy, like Germany have a habit of doing the right thing at the right time, often getting dubious penalties or not getting players sent off for blatantly gruesome fouls.

Confederations Cup this time is a qualified success (Tahiti were never going to get far and it exposes the weakness in the competition); but perhaps the glittering prizes that Brazil acquired in quick succession -Confederation Cup,World Cup, Olympics, has begged the question of how rapid economic growth in a country affects 'the masses' even when it concerns something -Sport- which most Brazilians are lovers of. Brazil as a shop window for success...cue another thread methinks.

[JenniferParisHusband]

That is quite a remark given that the money spent on the Confederations Cup as well as the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics are part of the eruptions taking place in Brazil which I assume you have seen on tv and read about in the papers.
Whatever, I barely knew what this competition is all about and had to Google it -as it happens there have been some amazing games, Italy and Japan slugged it out and as usual Italy scraped through with an unconvincing performance when the Japan team was scintillating but just lacked that 1% which can sometimes win a game. Spain look to me like they are easily capable of beating Brazil, who only managed a draw with England. On the other hand, Italy, like Germany have a habit of doing the right thing at the right time, often getting dubious penalties or not getting players sent off for blatantly gruesome fouls.

Confederations Cup this time is a qualified success (Tahiti were never going to get far and it exposes the weakness in the competition); but perhaps the glittering prizes that Brazil acquired in quick succession -Confederation Cup,World Cup, Olympics, has begged the question of how rapid economic growth in a country affects 'the masses' even when it concerns something -Sport- which most Brazilians are lovers of. Brazil as a shop window for success...cue another thread methinks.

Tahiti never should have been in the competition to begin with. And I hate the mounting yellow cards. What a stupid way to handle penalties.

I think it's a catch 22. If you are Brazil, and your nation is looking for investment from abroad, you really do need to raise your profile by hosting these kinds of things. Atlanta Georgia was just a little redneck town until it had the Olympics, it's grown by leaps and bounds since then. I think the investment in the tournement, if it is treated as an investment, could be good for the people. They've obviously had to upgrade power lines, transit, and other infrastructure ahead of the games, and that could, along with other investment at a more populous level, do something for the population in general. Especially if it can lead to foreign investment and jobs in Brazil. But if they muck it up, then I'm with the people, waste of money.

[Stavros]

A few days after my post there was a feature on the protests in Brazil in which it claimed only 5% of the protestors were complaining about the money spent on football, the two biggest grievances were the rise in transport costs, mostly buses, and corruption, particularly among the police. I think that the economic growth in Brazil enables fluid and fast moving change, whereas politics doesn't move that fast, so there is a mismatch between a political system that hasn't changed since the end of the miiitary rule which is as recently as 1985. The money Petrobras has been making in the last 10 years is absolutely staggering on top of the minerals wealth -the aggregate wealth of Brazil is handsome indeed, but doesn't get shared around much and while Brazil looks for foreign investment, there was a placard which showed the populations of the cities and their subway networks -Sao Paulo with a population of around 11 million has a subway network barely a third of London with 8 million although it may be that extensions to these networks are not complete yet. I don't know Brazil so I can't comment on the cost of living, I think the key dislocation is between a rapidly growing economy and an outdated political system -what Brazil has in common with the Middle East, Turkey and the Occupy movement is a belief that the great mass of people are not being included in the decisions that affect them every day. And after all, although Brazil can be beaten in football, it is one of the best things they do that most Brazilians seem to be passionate about.

On another note, I don't think you can have a Confederations Cup without useless teams, same as with the second-rate European club teams in the Europa Cup or the small local teams in the FA Cup. I thought Australia was the big team in that region, they must have declined in recent years.

[up_for_it]

I think it's a catch 22. If you are Brazil, and your nation is looking for investment from abroad, you really do need to raise your profile by hosting these kinds of things. Atlanta Georgia was just a little redneck town until it had the Olympics, it's grown by leaps and bounds since then. I think the investment in the tournement, if it is treated as an investment, could be good for the people. They've obviously had to upgrade power lines, transit, and other infrastructure ahead of the games, and that could, along with other investment at a more populous level, do something for the population in general. Especially if it can lead to foreign investment and jobs in Brazil. But if they muck it up, then I'm with the people, waste of money.

I agree, I didn't know too much about the Confed. Cup and also had to google it, revealing my American ignorance. It's a shame it took a riot to bring it to my attention- it adds another dimension to the off season.

While I also agree with you and Stavros that the problems in Brazil are the result of a widening gap between a fast growing economy and an outmoded technocratic system of government (the 20th vs. 21 centuries), I disagree that Brazil needed these types of competitions to boost their profile. Brazil's economy was already growing and strong before they landed the WC et. al. I think the Brazilian protests expose exactly what is wrong with the investment from these competitions. Brazil is having to foot part of the bill, which is why many people are so frustrated, especially when the infrastructural improvements aren't trickling down to the neighborhood level. Transit, power, sanitation, etc. are only good if you've got them, and the improvements have been localized around the stadiums. Meanwhile, favela residents have been either relocated by force or paid off to leave areas where developers are forecasting rising property values due to the tournaments.At any rate, the fact that Brazil's middle class, who have these amenities, are taking to the streets, really says something about the disconnect between the needs of the people and the government's capacity to meet them.

In my opinion, the pitch that growing cities or countries need to build stadiums and conference centers is an old one here in the States, one which unfortunately has been followed far too often. Atlanta, for example, was already growing well before the Olympics-Hartsfield International was the cornerstone of that development and boosted Atlanta far and above any other city in the south east, and arguably, the entire east coast. A lot of southern cities have tried to go the stadium route and have ended up paying from already thin budgets for not only stadiums but the teams that play in them.

The reason I mention this is because this is the emerging global trend in sports business. I think Brazilians got this one right. It's interesting to think about how sports, and football in particular, are becoming global businesses, and what that means in terms of social and economic impact.

There is more to life than football...

[dderek123]

Here's some great football action!

[JenniferParisHusband]

The transfer window started off so well for Liverpool. Now Henrich is off to Dortmund, Norwich appears to be outbidding for Eriksen, even Xabi Alonso doesn't want to come back. What the hell, man? We're not making the Champions league with this crew. Can't a brother get some defense in this window? (I mean, more than Toure.)

[JenniferParisHusband]

This season can't start soon enough. Gold Cup just ended here (USA! USA! USA!), and the little Brazilian tournement has been over for a while. Nothing but awful cricket, rugby, and baseball for a few more weeks. Plus, the Liverpool fans with the constant transfer speculation are driving me insane!!!!!