Now this whole European clubs non-sense is really getting to my nerves.
We all know about the dictatorship that's going on at Bayern Munich and they refusal to release MartÃn DEMICHELIS for the Olympics. They say they are not forced by the rules and they can decide to keep him in Germany while the clear desire of the player is to compete at the Olympics.
Now there are rumours suggesting Lionel MESSI could also be missing the Olympics because Barcelona have to play the UEFA Champions League qualifying stages in August.
What? They can't be serious.
Earlier this week, the player himself announced his desire to play in Beijing and confirmed his presence. Now we see this rumour and I can't believe it.
Barcelona will probably face a weak rival and they have more than enough guns to beat any of the teams that will be playing in that stage of the competition.
MESSI says "I would like to play both things (Olympics and UCL Qualy) but I can only do one of those.
"Therefore" he added, "I'm going to have to sit down with the Barcelona board and reach an agreement".
This smells horribly and I'm already mad at the way FIFA, UEFA and basically every association, federation or confederation, minimize the importance of the Olympic tournament. It's time for the IOC to get serious with FIFA and agree on giving priority to that tournament that is played only once every 4 years and gives international football fans a great ocassion to look forward to. It doesn't matter if it's U23, U20 or U5! It's the pride of the shirt and the importance of the Olympic medals! Ask around in Brazil or in Argentina and you'll see how much people care about it.
Fans will never give the Olympic tournament enough importance if the entities that organize these events don't give a damn about it.
He is going to go, I have no doubt. It is going to be a CL qualifers they will be playing some no name teams. He will be in China.
ReplyDeleteJack!
The thing is that FIFA has always protected it's interest when it comes to dealing with the IOC.
ReplyDeleteLets face it, in sports in the Olympics (except football), you will get biggest names involved. FIFA will not allowed the Olympics to overshadow the World Cup.
The fact is, other sports depends on the Olympic to raise it's platform but not football.