For four years now I have believed soccer to be the end all be all in sporting competition. It has the speed of hockey, technique of basketball and violence of football (sometimes) all rolled into two 45 minute halfs with no commercials or breaks. Every country in the world with the exception of the U.S. and probably Canada is in love with the game. Thus, while in the NBA nine out of the ten best players are American (Dirk), the ten best players in the world could represent eight different countries. As a result, soccer showcases talent,skills and styles of various kinds. Ronaldo step-overs don't make him better than Steven Gerrard, but it certainly makes for an entertaining match when two players of such high caliber play each other and exhibit such a wide discrepancy in style.

Ronaldo and Gerrard

For four years there has been another side of the beautiful game that has always seemed to slap me in the face when I was not ready, corruption. Last week Police arrested 15 people who allegedly were part of a 200-member match fixing ring. Three of the matches that were believed to have been fixed were matches played in Europe's Champions League. For those that don't know, the Champions League is reserved for the best three or four club teams from England, Spain, and Italy. The best one or two club teams from other European countries are also admitted, making it the premier club competition in the world.

Corruption in soccer has seemingly never been more rampant. Three years ago, the Italian giants Juventus were found guilty of match fixing multiple games and were punished by being banned from the Champions League and being demoted a division in their league.

Now, although whenever I hear news of another scandal it makes my love for soccer dwindle a little bit, it also boosts the notion that I believe that soccer is more than a sport. Juventus, for example was and still is one of the most successful teams in the history of soccer. Players like Zidane, Buffon and Ibrahimovic have all played there and yet they thought it necessary to make it even more likely that they will win the game. It is sad, but like I said, it makes a little more sense when one realizes that the average soccer fan from any country but the U.S. would make "Raider Nation" seem like a group of posers.


In the second part of this blog I am going to switch topics and try to explain my theory on why soccer is so popular in every other country but not so here in the U.S. I would really like to hear what others think because like every great question there is probably not just one or two good answers.

Americans need to be the best or at the very least, employ the best. Our four major professional sport leagues clearly feature the best of the best from around the world. Americans are proud of that, even if, as in hockey and baseball, we do not feature the best athletes. In soccer, not only do we not feature the best athletes, but our league is far from being competitive to the European leagues. We want to see our athletes out there dominating, but the most dominating American soccer player of the last ten years is 5 ft 8 in Landon Donovan,, who could not even start for an average German league team.

Donovan's stature brings me to another point. I believe that in America we love to see uber-athletes like Adrian Peterson and Kevin Garnet. Guys who are freakishly athletic and unnaturally fast, strong, etc. Soccer players look like average men and women when compared to athletes of other sports. The things is, soccer requires a different body type than the other sports. In his current shape, Adrian Peterson would probably not be able to run for 90 minutes with one break in between because he is accustomed to plays lasting a few seconds with breaks in between them. I am not saying soccer is any harder than football physically, but running for that long requires a person to get rid of any excess mass.

Discussions of this kind could go on for hours, so I will end here with what I would consider America's starting XI.

Goalie
Kevin Garnett

Goalies have to not only display great anticipation and skill, but the best bring a certain demeanor that intimidates the other side. No one would do that better than Garnett.



Defense




Adrian Peterson Ed Reed Oguchi Onyewu Champ Bailey



Defense needs to be manned by fast guys on the outside and bigger, smarter guys on the inside. Ed Reed would make anyone afraid of even running to his side of the field. Onyewu already plays soccer for the U.S. and is the only player I would keep from the team.

Curtis Granderson Chris Paul
Allen Iverson Brandon Jennings

On the wing players like Iverson and Jennings would be an absolute nightmare to match up with because of their blend of size and speed. Remember, both are small NBA players but would at least be average sized soccer player. Granderson would never stop running and would be able save the defense when they collapse. Paul would be the team's play-maker.

Kobe Calvin Johnson

Nobody in the world would be able to deal with two players as freakish as Kobe and Megatron at the top. Kobe is perhaps the most technical of any athlete in the world and his height would make him near impossible to stop. And Megatron is well, Megatron.

This week in soccer

This week there was no action in the Premier League as World Cup Qualifiers took precedence. I think people care more about this anyways because while not everyone has a favorite Premier League team, everyone has a country or two that they root for. Yesterday, France beat Ireland to keep the Irishmen out of yet another World Cup. This is important for two reasons. The first is the controversy that resulted when the playoffs were made for the remaining eight European teams to get into the World Cup.

France, Portugal, Slovenia, Russia, Greece, Ireland, Ukraine and Bosnia-Herzegovina were the final eight European teams playing for four spots. The controversy resulted when Fifa "randomly" placed traditional powers France, Portugal, Russia and Greece in different games. The point is that if it were really random, then there probably would have been at least one matchup between the traditional powers and one of them would go home. The Irish, who were the most vocal concerning the controversy, ended up drawing France in the playoff.

France won the first game 1-0. The Irish tied the aggregate score by scoring first in the second game. What then resulted was possibly the worst no-call this year in sports. Thierry Henry, France's captain, so blatantly used his hand to stop a ball that it looked like he tried to catch it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oBtyriW5-M. Henry even admitted after the game that he used his hand to guide the ball.

There are two reasons I am sad about Ireland not making the cup. The first is that they have not made it in so long that it would be great to see the way their fans react. The second is that it would be quite a sight to see the Irish pack the bars around the local area come World Cup time. Many fans revert back to cheering for their ancestral countries in the tournament and I cannot think of a country that more people would root for in the area than Ireland.

Portugal ended qualifying, erasing the fears, and hopes, of people around the world that Cristiano Ronaldo would not perform in the tournament. I can probably think of five people that I know that are fans of soccer because of Ronaldo alone.

There is no sporting event like the world cup, even for those not really fans of the game. The entire world is transformed for the month or so that the event goes on. The world cup is a place when war torn countries can actually have a month or so of pure and simple joy. Historic rivalries are played out when the games truly mean more than bragging rights for a year. You think Ohio State-Michigan is a rivalry with passion. A little more than 50 years ago, Germany invaded Poland and murdered millions of its citizens. They played each other in the World Cup in 2006. There is no joy like the joy of scoring a goal in soccer, especially for one's country. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc1JcYQvrZo&feature=related

Plus, having Shakira perform the opening song beats anything the Super Bowl has done for years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpr6ylT109I

The premier league's most famous manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, stated the obvious concerning the first place Chelsea FC when he said that they are "the team to beat". Chelsea absolutely thrashed Bolton over the weekend to keep the first place side, beating the Wanderers 4-0 with which Didier Drogba capped with a delicately superb goal. Drogba also was able to get his feet back on European ground as he finished the term of his three match ban from the Champions League for improper conduct after last year's loss to Barcelona (http://tinyurl.com/yfo5wv8). Drogba scored both goals for Chelsea in the Champions league match but Atletico Madrid tied the game in the 90 minute (http://tinyurl.com/yb9p92r). Chelsea still advances to the next round though with the one point they got from the draw.
The Red Devils also won in their league game over the weekend, 2-0 over Blackburn, and got a remarkable goal from their $30 million striker, Dimitar Berbatov (http://tinyurl.com/yj3of9d).
United advanced past the first round of the Champions League in the same way that Chelsea did, tying the game but advancing on points. United received one of the worst calls of the year as Darren Fletcher went down in the penalty box and the ref gave the Moscow player a red card, but did not award the Devils a penalty kick. United did get their share of luck though, as their last goal by Antonio Valencia came via deflection off of one of the CSKA players. Sir Alex had some interesting comments on the call, or lack there of (http://tinyurl.com/ye3ftyl).
The two point leaders will meet this Sunday at Stamford Bride, Chelsea's home field.