It’s Over

By: Brian | August 6th, 2008

Well, it’s over.

I’m referring to both my self imposed exile as well as the ridiculous, comical, drawn out farcical saga the latest Club vs. Country debate has become. Today the Court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS) put everyone out of their misery by ruling that clubs do in fact not need to release players for the Olympics, granting ultimate victory for Werder, Schalke and Barca.

And how do Klaus Allofs and Thomas Schaaf go and celebrate? A bottle of Sekt? Case of Beck’s? Pickled Herring? No, they go and let Diego play in the Olympics after all.

So who comes out of this thing smelling good? Who is to blame? Who is ready for some actual football to start?

Diego

Look, he really, really wants to play in the Olympics. There is no faulting him for a desire to win Brazil’s first Gold in history. Diego also felt that if he were to decline Dunga’s invitation this time around, it would make it extremely difficult to get called back into the team for WC qualifiers and future internationals. For a guy that’s just now getting noticed as an option in the Brazilian side, it was a chance he felt like he couldn’t take.

There was a bit of a discrepancy in the stories coming from Diego (and his father) and from the Werder front office about if they originally granted permission and if that permission was or was not revoked. But ultimately Werder said no and Diego went anyway. He effectively broke his contract and reported to Brazil’s camp without the blessing of Allofs and Schaaf. That’s where he was a very bad boy. Glad to see that Werder didn’t take the nasty, judical approach the Andreas Muller and Schalke took versus Rafinha.

Best case scenario is a Gold for Brazil, with Diego playing a prominent role in the proceedings. He arrives back in Bremen full of confidence from his play and gratitude for the opportunity. He’s in good shape and gets on a bus to ‘Gladbach with Werder on six points. Worst case scenario is an injury. And us being forced to think about all of this all over again.

Werder Bremen

So why’d they do it? Why fight the good fight against Blatter and his cronies, then effectively cave to pressure and allow Diego to stay in China after all? The argument and the subsequent appeal were founded primarily on principle rather than pragmatism. Frankly clubs are pissed and they’re not going to take it anymore. There’s too many fixtures, too many tournaments, too many commitments. And when those commitments not only don’t help to pay the bills, but could lead to the loss of your unquestionably most influential player, the risk is just too high. Someone was going to take a stand sometime and this was the opportunity. The ruling handed down by CAS was a victory for Werder, Schalke and Barca, but also any future clubs mystified by the shambolic and arrogant way that Blatter’s FIFA does business.

And allowing Diego to play in Beijing? A stroke of utter and complete genius. If they don’t, he comes back to Bremen devastated and resentful, plays poorly, and accelerates his ultimate departure. Now? He still misses two matches, but returns in good spirits with everyone’s relationships intact. Mostly.

I’ll take a happy, motivated Diego minus two matches over a bitter Diego on the pitch for Bielefeld and Schalke anyday.

FIFA

Should FIFA push for players to be released for the Olympics? Absolutely. Part of their job is to get the best players on the pitch under the best conditions possible and plenty of clubs were happy to oblige. The real disaster here is the unwillingness to get this issue dealt with long, long ago. The Club vs. Country debate has been around as long as there have been clubs and countries. The Olympics were awarded to Beijing years ago. They knew this situation was coming. And if they didn’t then they are more short sighted and out of touch than I thought.

Why wait until days before the games begin to get this resolved? It’s insane. What other organization or company would find that acceptable? The last few years could have consisted of a series of meetings between FIFA brass and representatives of clubs and leagues in an effort to resolve this headache. Would that have been all that difficult? Wouldn’t it have been much more civilized? Am I crazy? I think the presence of all these question marks is an indication that there is still a lot to be resolved.

So, as things are now, Werder are willing to allow Diego to compete, given that the “Brazilian Football Association establishes the basic conditions for his participation in the short term.” What we’re talking about here is insurance in the event of an injury. This will essentially be the next point of epic debate in this drama – financial recoupment for a club that loses a player to injury during international duty. It won’t be settled by kickoff today, but it will be brought forward by someone sometime.

Best of luck Diego. Come back soon.