Accidents of birth rob the World Cup of many of the world’s very best players
Ian Ridley
World governing body Fifa must have been cold-sweating in Switzerland but in the end it turned out nice again: all seven of the previous World Cup winners through to the finals after convincing last-gasp wins. Once the relief has subsided, though, do not put it past world football’s governing body to devise a way that means giants such as Brazil and Germany and their gargantuan television markets never again so labour.
Already the talk is that next time’s South American qualifying will be divided into two groups and seeded, so that Argentina and Brazil are kept apart and do not take points off each other. Loss of big games and revenue will be a problem, mind. Perhaps, in view of the calendar becoming so crowded and the club-vs-country debate growing more clamorous, the Copa America will serve as a qualifying competition itself, in line with a plan for the African Nations Cup.
The Fifa delegates are in South Korea this weekend for Saturday’s World Cup. If they can tear themselves away from the intrigue surrounding Sepp Blatter, and the question of whether there will soon be a challenge to his controversial presidency, they might also like to consider a revolutionary idea for their global showpiece. It is one that would maximise interest and excitement for the quadrennial event. (Or will they also be discussing, informally at least, the prospects for every three years?) Or if interest and excitement don’t count for enough, maybe the idea of increasing income might appeal to them. How about, for 2006, keeping the 32nd place open for a Rest of the World selection?
Australia’s loss to Uruguay in last week’s play-off meant that a clutch of world-class players will not be going to the finals, including Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell.
With Holland and Ukraine also having failed to make it, such world figures, who would surely have graced the tournament, as Ruud van Nistelrooy and the especially deserving Andrei Shevchenko, will not be going. Add to them such names as Sammy Kuffour, Jaap Stam, Pavel Nedved and Edgar Davids and it becomes clear just what we will be missing.
It is not a new problem, of course. Some of the greatest players in the game have never appeared on the biggest of stages, due largely to the small size and consequent comparative footballing weakness of their country. The British Isles have suffered more than most, the most glaring example being George Best. In that way at least, Ryan Giggs has fulfilled his early billing as the new Best and has seemed destined to go ultimately unfulfilled ever since Wales so narrowly failed to beat Romania at Cardiff Arms Park in 1993.
His compatriots Mark Hughes and Ian Rush also fall into the category of world-class but confined to summers at home. Born ahead of his time, Liam Brady has been left to envy all the inferior Republic of Ireland players who have gone and will go again after their own play-off win over Iran. A generation of great Scots failed to make it as the country failed to qualify for 1962, 1966 and 1970, the name of Jim Baxter springing to mind.
It has been the same the world over. In the late 1950s there was the Argentine precursor to Diego Maradona, the gifted left-footer Omar Sivori, who was spirited away to Italy, changed nationality as players were allowed to in those days, and never played in the finals. If that was an unhappy accident, other notable accidents of birth have included the Dane Allan Simonsen, like Brady born ahead of his country’s time.
Another world footballer of the year, George Weah, has had to endure the anti-climax that his greatness did not deserve. Liberia were so close this time but at 35 his chance has sadly now disappeared. It would have been spectacular to see him at the peak of his powers in the mid-1990s. So too another African, the Ghanaian Abedi Pele.
We could go on, but how much longer do we have to? And how much longer will Fifa tolerate the absence of so much talent from its extravaganza? Think of the advantages of a Rest of the World XI. For a start, we the watching public would be guaranteed the very best at every finals.
We would have firmer evidence of whether Best really was the best, more fuel for those debates that spice up the game. Would we have regarded Pele with such awe had he had the same talent but had been born in, say, Venezuela?
In addition, the injustice of the accident of birth is redressed and such as Giggs and Weah have a safety net. Then we would all have a second team to support once our own is eliminated. How cool would a Rest of the World replica shirt be? Form a queue there, Nike, Adidas et al , to supply them.
It would also be fascinating to see a manager chosen to assemble the squad and then analyse his selections, the only limitation on him being that he should not be allowed more than three from any one of the nations who have failed to qualify. Naturally television would love it, with maybe another dozen countries represented. It might even stop Fifa bloating the tournament beyond 32 countries, as they will surely come under pressure to do. Well, for a while at least.
There are arguments against, it has to be admitted. It would indeed dilute the national purity of the tournament, though the words purity and Fifa have not often belonged in the same sentence. Their seedings for the World Cup draw, designed to get the biggest TV countries, plus the two host countries, into the second phase, will undoubtedly reflect that.
Besides it may be no bad thing at a time when nationalism is far less fashionable than it used to be for a team to appear under a united world banner rather than a national flag.
We have also had years of the tournament being expanded to accommodate more developing nations and it will be difficult to turn back the tide. Which continent will lose a place? Probably the one to kick up the least stink. Probably the one that can be persuaded to accept compensation, either financial or political. There is a way these things are done in hotel rooms and conference suites, as South Africa found out in the process to decide the 2006 hosts.
Watching key games recently, notably Brazil’s when an accommodating Venezuelan goalkeeper waved in Luizao’s crucial second goal, may well have concentrated Fifa’s minds. The prospect of the four-times champions and Germany almost failing to qualify, and the finals being without the Brazilians Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos and the Germans well, you get the drift did not bear thinking about.
Certainly not for O Globo, the Brazilian media network first to stump up the huge sums being demanded as television rights by Fifa’s licensing agents this time.
For all the drawbacks, this could be an idea whose time has come. It certainly appealed to Grard Houllier when I mentioned it to him in the summer. The Liverpool manager, who as technical director was instrumental in France winning the World Cup four years ago, smiled at the thought, then whistled as he contemplated the prospect.
“I would like to manage that team,” he said.