This week The Champions League has started again. Last night I saw a very boring match between Inter and Manchester and right now I’m watch my favourite team Real Madrid against Liverpool. And because I’m watching football I’m also being informed that some rules might change real soon. As I’ve been hearing it seems that they’re talking about a 20 minutes half break, an orange card and 4 replacements instead of 3. And since there is an obvious change that is made from other interest than football and since advertising is one of those interests I had to have something to say about that.
What is it about this 20 minutes break? Some might think that this is because the players need to rest more. Well, they’re wrong. Football has been played with a 15 minutes break since like forever and no one had a problem with that. Why should anyone ask for a longer break since players are now more fit than ever, since the game is no longer about technique but about force. More than that, any athlet needs to stay in shape during the break otherwise his muscles might cool down and the play wouldn’t be that interesting in the first 5-10 minutes from the second half.
But they don’t care about that. The real reason is advertising. More advertising airing space for major sponsors that would bring more money into football. This is inevitable and I think soon enough we’ll have more and more advertising breaks just like in all american sports. Huge amounts of money will invade football and this, they say, will make the competition more and more interesting. True that! I couldn’t agree more but aren’t we forgeting something? Where is the show? Where is the fun in football? Where are the goals? Would it be nicer if you saw matches with an average of 3+ goals? Of course it would. Who likes null matches … I think nobody. But this huge amount of money tends to make teams struggle more to tacticicize the game. We will all have favourite teams that play catenaccio. I watching right now an english fooball team that plays an ermetic defence with a few counterstrike schemes. Isn’t this weird? What happened to the memorable match that made Abramovici invest in football … that Manchester – Real Madrid when we saw the true beauty of the game … Well, I guess it’s gone now because now there are and will be more money in football and therefore higher stakes!
The +5 minutes is about advertising, thats crystal clear. About the 4th replacement I think it s good for the refresh of the game, but the orange card is nonsense. Two mistakes is enough for 90 minutes.
We need official video replay for referres and ( maybe ) timing like basketball matches.
Real Madrid sucks!!
Da’ parca erai cu baschetul mai Mono…
I am indeed into basketball but I have been in love with football since 1986 when Steaua won the CL. I am one of the happy guys who lived that crazy moment and I remember it very clear even if I was a little over six years old. 🙂 Basketball has always been my second love.
Adrian : „the game is no longer about technique but about force.” ,
You are obviously wrong. The force was at the 300 SPARTANS. Real managers don’t train players to strike the ball extremly hard and tackle their opponents with force. It’s all about technique, take your opponent out off the game. This is the players job.
The manager’s duty is to make the tactics. This is the difference.
„Would it be nicer if you saw matches with an average of 3+ goals?” Solution? To make the goalpost wider. More space to shoot the ball in.
Otherwise, the 5 minutes in plus break is indeed about advertising.