The former Liverpool manager attacks Infantino for his choice to interrupt matches by inserting commercials (with the excuse of football). This is how football resembles basketball…
Players forced to remain still on the pitch waiting for the green light from the FIFA man. Not the referee or the fourth official, but the person on the sidelines checking that everything is ready because the TVs are connected again. A surreal scene that spectators of the World Cup are learning to know and which is not accidental but the product of a strategic choice by FIFA: institutionalizing the cooling break, the pause to rehydrate, giving broadcasters the opportunity to fill the space with advertising.
Therefore, in the World Cup a different sport is played from the traditionally known football because it is played on four halves and not on two halves. A bit like basketball and the novelty is causing discussion also because, as widely expected, the forced breaks break the rhythm of the matches, they are disconnected from the real climatic necessity (there is no need for extreme conditions to have been created) and the coaches themselves are demonstrating more than a doubt about their impact on performances.
Do you like Infantino’s football which resembles basketball or not? While waiting to be able to draw conclusions at the end of the World Cup, he has signed the toughest stance Jurgen Kloppformer Liverpool manager who today works as Head of Global Soccer for the Red Bull group and is a commentator in the States. His was a real j’accuse against FIFA. There he is:
“Football is taken hostage by managers closed in air-conditioned offices. The novelty of the break to hydrate was presented as a shield for the well-being of the players, a noble sword against the heat but in reality it is a golden cage built for sponsors.”
“When I saw the players remain immobile during a break in the extreme heat while the television downtime dictated the pace of the match, he says, I couldn’t help but wonder: who really needs the World Cup? The fans? The players? Or the advertisers?”
A World Cup match should flow like a river. Instead, let’s build dams in the middle of the field so the ads can get through. It’s dangerous to the spirit of the game. Football was once the main event, but it now risks becoming the background music of an advertising show. The ball must be the star.”
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