Football?

Man oh man the Giants are going to be a tough watch this season. WOOF!! They hosted the Vikings on Sunday afternoon and it was basically like watching a high school JV football team vs a varsity football team. The Giants lost 28-6 and the score is flattering for them. And of course…..OF COURSE Saquon Barkley scored three touchdowns for the Eagles on Friday night in Brazil (Why are we doing games in Brazil?). Oh….and screw the Cowboys….just because.

So let’s get to the real issue in the football world. The English Premier League (EPL), like many other leagues around the world started their seasons in the last couple weeks of August. Three matches into the EPL season, Manchester City and Liverpool top the table with nine points each. But I don’t even want to talk about how Liverpool is doing under new boss Arne Slot (Which is awesome by the way!). No, I actually want to review the comments that Manchester City star, Kevin De Bruyne made while away with the Belgian National Team on the current international break.

First, some background. I mentioned that the EPL is only three matches into the season and all of sudden, there is an international break. What does that even mean? All leagues around the world, except for a handful (MLS), stop playing to accommodate national team fixtures around the world. In Europe, there is the Nations League, which was introduced by FIFA several years ago, “replacing” friendly matches. Really, this is just a way for FIFA to use a competition as another way to qualify for a World Cup for teams that sucked ass during normal qualification……and to make money. What it has created is additional matches for players to participate in. In addition to that competition, in 2025, the United States will be hosting the first ever FIFA Club World Cup (see where I’m going with this). This competition consists of club teams from all around the world in a World Cup style tournament. This is in addition to the domestic cup competitions, the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League. And that is just in Europe! Don’t forget the African Champions League, Asian Champions League, Caribbean and CONCACAF Champions League, Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sud Americana.

So back to Kevin De Bruyne’s comments. These are some of his quotes courtesy of the UK Mirror, “The real problem will emerge after the Club World Cup. We know there will be only three weeks between the Club World Cup final and the first Premier League match. So, we have three weeks to rest and prepare for another 80 matches.”

De Bruyne continued, "Maybe this year things will be OK, but next year could be problematic. The Professional Footballers' Association in England and other player associations have tried to find solutions. The issue is that UEFA and FIFA keep adding extra matches, and we can raise concerns, but no solutions have been found. It seems that money speaks louder than the players' voices."

Let’s just be honest here. FIFA and UEFA are simply money grubbing, greedy bastards. There is always talk, not only in the world’s game, but sports domestically here in the U.S. about player safety. They don’t actually give a shit. Let’s be honest. It’s all about the bottom line.

While I love watching Liverpool, USMNT and Greek NT matches, it’s gone a bit overboard with matches. You can’t expect players, even at the highest levels, play 80 matches in less than a year and only give three weeks between seasons. It’s just absurd. I dislike City with a passion, but De Bruyne’s quotes are shared by many other players. Scale back!!