Antonio Conte had strong words for schedule makers today at his presser. He expressed hesitancy to call player commitment into question when they are being forced to play fixtures at a pace of which can only be described as “England’s Christmas Period but For a Calendar Year”.
I know it’s difficult because fans see the player’s faces and feel attached to them but they shouldn’t blame players for managing their health. The system created by FIFA has put them in an impossible spot.
That being said; how do we stop this? In American sport, there are unions that, to varying degrees, deal with things like this. However, unionizing players across FIFA feels impossible and probably deadly. There’s a lot of people making money off this corrupt system and heads would definitely roll if anyone challenged the status quo, and I mean that literally.
The answer, obviously, is for players to decide they don't care about their national teams or their countries as a whole and simply play for their clubs that pay them enormous sums. I'm betting you could put together a solid 11 made of only THE TROOPS. Leave patriotism to the patriots.
I'm 90% kidding.
This world cup is a grotesque money grab and shows just how soulless FIFA is in their quest for (petro)dollars.
I don't think players think this way. Players want to play for their national teams really badly.
The schedule has been bad before this World Cup; this world cup has just taken it to we "might break them all" levels. FIFA has been and will continue to be corrupt after this World Cup.
The answer, obviously, is for players to decide they don't care about their national teams or their countries as a whole and simply play for their clubs that pay them enormous sums. I'm betting you could put together a solid 11 made of only THE TROOPS. Leave patriotism to the patriots.
I'm 90% kidding.
This world cup is a grotesque money grab and shows just how soulless FIFA is in their quest for (petro)dollars.
I don't think players think this way. Players want to play for their national teams really badly.
The schedule has been bad before this World Cup; this world cup has just taken it to we "might break them all" levels. FIFA has been and will continue to be corrupt after this World Cup.