Is football going downhill?

Question

Or it is only this World cup?
This world broadcasted contest in diving, cheating and walking around the pitch definitely is not worth the time I have spent watching it. But however when I remember some recent games like Champions league final year ago, with Liverpool beating Milan or even euro 2004 and recent Copa America, I recall much better football and entertainment. So may be there is something wrong with a world cup model itself? To much marketing and not so much football?

To Zindine Viera-no my problem is not that "my team" was knocked out but with a fact that football is becoming more of the pass time for people who care only about final result so they can use it for flag waving and excise for getting drunk.
Fair enough, if it will become something like that so be it, but what is a point of watching it on TV or stadium then-it is possible to simply install an internet match cast and folow he game while doing other staff, and flag waving each time your team scores.
But if football will take that shift I guess Les and less people will watch it, pay for tickets and TV rights.. And what will be left from the Zidane's and Vieira's money then? Not to talk that after football will finally lose the popularity no one will understand why someone would run around the street waving flag because some one miles away kicked a ball.
Total nigilism and cynicism like you display is not an solution it is part of the problem

Witty Kitty I see that "make money by all costs forget about the side effect" mentality si alive and kicking. Ok fair enough-I guess if World Cup of the future will be just a wave of commercials ,interrupted by few highlight to let people know who scored the goal(if goals will be scored of course) or missed a penalty shoot out then so be it. After all those who don't like it will always have right to switch their attention to something else-even so less commercial but more sports alike and hence entertaining events like a premiership game or even amatur football.
The idea of creating some alternative FIFA ccomes in mind-one for the money making and national pride pomping machine and another for people who actually want to watch a football game and not what Coca Cola and McDonalds have came out with.
In that way both:real football funs and TV addicted flag wavers will be happy.
However those who are happy enough to remember REAL world cups with unforgettable atmosphere will miss it

Answer 1

I remember WC since '78. Maybe you can't recall '94 or 2002 WC, THEY were more boring than this one.
Need to say:
1. The world best club teams are better then their own Federation teams. Barcelona, Real Madrid, MU, Milan, Juventus, as many other, have impressive line-ups.
2. Players spend something as 200 days in a year in training and playing together in official match with their club. A club has better movement, tactics, playings than a Fed team, in which players spend 20-30 days in a year (60 if continental cups as UEFA, CONMEBOL ... cups or World Cup happens).
3. A Fed coach vary his line-up more often than club coaches, due to injuries, fitness, performance, crowd and press claims. A club is likely to have the same line-up (almost in some roles) for years.
4. A club has its own youth championship. They can raise youngster step by step from this one to their premier league. Fed departments follow different rules and aren't so co-ordinated.
5. A club has the chance to allow its players to play temporarily in other clubs (usually in minor league) with loans (don't know if it's the right term). So, a young player who hasn't a sure role in the line-up, get his chances to play a whole championship showing his worth.
6. Continental / World championship are more demanding. Crowd and press reach an exaggerate pressure in one month only. A team who hasn't the same movement and organization than a club is now facing 7 match (3 out of 7 are must-win match) against world best fed teams. Every mistake they make could be deadly. A single injury in a key role could break coach plannings, because players aren't trained in various tactics, roles, as they're in their club. A WC is played every 4 years. Preliminaries start 2 year before, so a WC is a sum of 2 full years of work done by coach - and it will be judged in one month only. A club has every year its chanches and judgements.
8. Diving, cheating, faking, walking players are the same who play in the clubs. In WC they are playing slower, with a more defensive attitude, without any chance to do a single mistake and recover... so, it's more likely to have a match unbalanced by ref's decisions, and diving, cheating seem outnumbering than in clubs.

Answer 2

Marketing, and the corporations who sponsor teams and players, is what helps to pay for transmission of the games over the airwaves. So while the "model" seems flawed, the great thing is that games are now being seen around the world, around the clock. National Public Radio did a story recently about the increase in interest in soccer....right down to the little recreation leagues for the kids and the increased sales of soccer paraphenalia--shirts, balls, etc.

Is it annoying? Yes, to some people. Does it diminish the "fun" of the games? That depends on you. Marketing, commercials and logos plastered all over everything during the NFL season used to be annoying, but look at games now...look at the Super Bowl! People can't wait to see what Coke, Pepsi, Coors and Busch are going to come up with in their next ad campaign.

Soccer is going through some growing pains right now....and I'll bet in a couple years, when the sponsors figure out exactly how to appeal to wider audiences, you'll not only LOVE watching the games, but you'll look forward to the entertainment and marketing as much as some folks do the Super Bowl!

Answer 3

I kow, that for me, it isn't fun to watch football anymore. I watched every game, and out of 64 games, about 5 were good games. Fans mistake the drama of their team playing with a good game, but to the impartial eye, it is obvious how boring these games are. Out of about 400 players, how many are above average? Very, very few. Used to be that every team had at least, 2 or 3. And it is not just this cup, 2002 was bad and 1994 was horrible. Now kids learn to play watching so called "stars", like Ronaldinho, Rooney, C.Ronaldo, Beckan, Crespo , etc, and think that the way they act and behave is the way to stardom, and copy them. Referees were always bad, but the level of incompetence now it is incredible. Coachs had become tyrants, and while their influence in the outcome of a game is minimal, the talents of the really good players is curtailed by their egos. How to change all this? I don't see a way, without everybody getting involve.

Answer 4

Football has evolved to what you have correctly described and this will be the 'state-of-the-art', no turning back, from now on. Where it goes from here depends on the world's governing body, FIFA, who I believe is not entirely "for the good of the game". It has become billion-dollar business with corporate sponsor forking out some US125 million each to be able to use their brandname: The FIFA World Cup - a registered trademark.

Playing for country demands a totally different mindset, approach to winning - coaches know it fully well - the WC format is unforgiving that's why the overall quality of play is different to that from European club tournaments which is chiefly mercenary.

Answer 5

the inconsistant refereeing has been a problem and i sometime wonder exactly what is keeping fifa from having a video umpire especially when a player dives in the box, i'd say that a lot of the big players just failed to step up in the tournament brazil never got going and that makes the tourney seem a bit flat but i'm sure it's just this tournament.

Answer 6

I would blame FIFA itself, as they are not trying to adjust the errors of the referees and also the diving and acting of certain players, which makes people (intelligent people) to ask why certain decisions (the italian penalty, the c ronaldo drama, the game germany vs argentina and also other things that will take long to list) are being taken, maybe they (FIFA) were bribed as well? Is the scandal involving the 4 italian teams only on italy or did they also bring it abroad? That makes me seriously think.....

Answer 7

No it is not going downhill.I blame it on poor refreeing and it seems most of the countries chose players who are good at diving and acting hurt!! More like Hollywood meets football!!

Answer 8

Hi Nick... Save the drama for your momma.. I'd say so..
Your problem is your team got kicked out, am i rite?

Answer 9

yes it is ever since england got knocked out, who needsit

Answer 10

haha a imaginative person