With the World Cup due to start in just a few days time, why are the world's best being asked to play pointless matches that could potentially end their dreams of lifting the Jules Rimet?
You could be naive and say that it's so the locals get a chance to see the best players in the world taking on their teams, or that it gives the International squads a chance to bond and get used to each others skills, which is true enough I suppose. But the world's greatest players are almost certainly going to be on the bench or not even in the squad, simply because there's barely any time to recover from scrapes and knocks before the opening game of this huge spectacle.
As I write this, England are taking on the Platinum Stars, a team who finished 14th in their domestic league and Wayne Rooney is on the bench. Surely the locals had hoped to see England's most in-form player try his luck against their team, but Managers aren't going to risk their most valuable assets in a pointless game designed to please a small minority.
How do you think Rooney, Gerrard, Messi, Ronaldo, Torres or Kaka would feel if their managers were to play them in one of these friendly matches four day's before the event starts and they were to get injured? And do you think the supporters of England wouldn't mind if one of the team's stars got injured for no other reason than simply to please the South African locals? I don' think so!
My view, and you can call me a cynic if you want (I won't be offended), is that FIFA are trying to prove that when the 2010 World Cup is over, they provided for the people of South Africa, in that they were able to take part and watch the greatest show on Earth. In reality, what has really happened is that FIFA have over-priced the tickets, which a high volume of South African residents simply cannot afford.
So instead of us watching the best players in the world battle it out at full fitness, FIFA have decided that it's best that their figures tot up with the fact they have provided plenty of opportunity for South African residents to see some of the World Cup, only these friendlies aren't the World Cup 2010 are they? Instead they are simply a side show that has plenty of potential to ruin some footballer's dreams this summer.
You could be naive and say that it's so the locals get a chance to see the best players in the world taking on their teams, or that it gives the International squads a chance to bond and get used to each others skills, which is true enough I suppose. But the world's greatest players are almost certainly going to be on the bench or not even in the squad, simply because there's barely any time to recover from scrapes and knocks before the opening game of this huge spectacle.
As I write this, England are taking on the Platinum Stars, a team who finished 14th in their domestic league and Wayne Rooney is on the bench. Surely the locals had hoped to see England's most in-form player try his luck against their team, but Managers aren't going to risk their most valuable assets in a pointless game designed to please a small minority.
How do you think Rooney, Gerrard, Messi, Ronaldo, Torres or Kaka would feel if their managers were to play them in one of these friendly matches four day's before the event starts and they were to get injured? And do you think the supporters of England wouldn't mind if one of the team's stars got injured for no other reason than simply to please the South African locals? I don' think so!
My view, and you can call me a cynic if you want (I won't be offended), is that FIFA are trying to prove that when the 2010 World Cup is over, they provided for the people of South Africa, in that they were able to take part and watch the greatest show on Earth. In reality, what has really happened is that FIFA have over-priced the tickets, which a high volume of South African residents simply cannot afford.
So instead of us watching the best players in the world battle it out at full fitness, FIFA have decided that it's best that their figures tot up with the fact they have provided plenty of opportunity for South African residents to see some of the World Cup, only these friendlies aren't the World Cup 2010 are they? Instead they are simply a side show that has plenty of potential to ruin some footballer's dreams this summer.
