On Foe: Proving Wenger Right

[GeoffWessel]

Hey Sepp. Yeah, you, Sepp Blatter.

You remember Arsene Wenger, right? French guy, manages Arsenal? He kinda got under your skin, didn't he, a while back, dissing your baby the Confederation's Cup? Said he was tired of all these "Mickey Mouse" tournaments happening in the month of June, saying "all football should be banned in June?"

Well, for your baby, Marc-Vivien Foe has died. And now you're not even going to let Cameroon mourn their teammate properly? "The football must go on?" For what? To protect your baby?

It's not as if France were jumping for joy either. Maybe you didn't bother to watch France v. Turkey. You were too busy trying to put on the concerned, caring face of FIFA whilst making sure your investment could be protected. That France v. Turkey went on schedule caused some concern, but that's almost understandable. Failing to allow Cameroon to postpone, or forfeit, the Confederation's Cup Final is nasty at best, ghoulish at worst.

Blatter, it's a damn shame you weren't voted out last year. I bet the African candidate would have allowed Cameroon to mourn Foe. So while you shake hands and offer condolensces in the same breath as insisting "the football must go on," take a look at Maine Road. Go on. It looks like a funeral parlor tonight, all the flowers. I'm sure Lyon and Cameroon are in no mood to celebrate either.

So yuk it up, Mr. Sepp. Just know Wenger had your number all along, and it's a damn shame Marc-Vivien Foe had to be the most horrifying example of it.

RIP MVF.

--- Geoff

[Brushes Sand]

I offer Condolences on behalf of myself and
Dallas Burn Inferno supporters.

-bs

[phishy]

listen... point well taken.. was a freak accident IMO and really didnt have to do with extra games (if that was your point) BUT~~~~~ having camaroon play the final is rediculous at best, if they decided as a team to play.. then fine.. but i dont think FIFA made them play.. hank gathers, reggie lewis, mark vivien-foe.. just horrific to see~

[dwinkler]

Originally posted by GeoffWessel
Hey Sepp. Yeah, you, Sepp Blatter.

<snip> Interesting, passionate thoughts, Geoff. Blatter's a pompous ass, and the sooner he's done with soccer the better, but I'm not so sure the Confed Cup games affected Foe. The Telegraph speculates that his bout with malaria a few years ago might have had something to do with his death.

I watched the tape delay of the France game and saw the video of what happened. My heart dropped watching it.

[CrazyDCFan]

blatter needs to suck it up and cancel the game.

[Neville2]

Originally posted by GeoffWessel
Hey Sepp. Yeah, you, Sepp Blatter.

You remember Arsene Wenger, right? French guy, manages Arsenal? He kinda got under your skin, didn't he, a while back, dissing your baby the Confederation's Cup? Said he was tired of all these "Mickey Mouse" tournaments happening in the month of June, saying "all football should be banned in June?"

Well, for your baby, Marc-Vivien Foe has died. And now you're not even going to let Cameroon mourn their teammate properly? "The football must go on?" For what? To protect your baby?

It's not as if France were jumping for joy either. Maybe you didn't bother to watch France v. Turkey. You were too busy trying to put on the concerned, caring face of FIFA whilst making sure your investment could be protected. That France v. Turkey went on schedule caused some concern, but that's almost understandable. Failing to allow Cameroon to postpone, or forfeit, the Confederation's Cup Final is nasty at best, ghoulish at worst.

Blatter, it's a damn shame you weren't voted out last year. I bet the African candidate would have allowed Cameroon to mourn Foe. So while you shake hands and offer condolensces in the same breath as insisting "the football must go on," take a look at Maine Road. Go on. It looks like a funeral parlor tonight, all the flowers. I'm sure Lyon and Cameroon are in no mood to celebrate either.

So yuk it up, Mr. Sepp. Just know Wenger had your number all along, and it's a damn shame Marc-Vivien Foe had to be the most horrifying example of it.

RIP MVF.

--- Geoff






I won't disagree with your feelings about Blatter or the Confed's cup. But I also think that Foe's death is not a result of a fixture pile up, but simply a twist of fate. I believe on Fox Sports World report they said Foe had played a total of 154 minutes in the Confeds Cup. Not exactly a taxing schedule. I'm sure some point last season with Man City he played more minutes with less rest than he did during the Confed's Cup.

Secondly, while I believe that something has to be done to reduce the number of games played by top flight players, I think managers and big clubs are being somewhat hypocritcial when it comes to summer games. They don't want international frendlies or tourneys scheduled, but instead take promotional tours around the world during July which rake in massive amounts of cash. I believe I saw where Real Madrid were going to make around $15 million in appearance fees for their games in Asia next month.

I'm not casting judgement on Wenger, but at times his comments can be quite self serving. I think if it were England that was playing in the Confeds Cup and not France he might not object so much. Just a thought.

[dwinkler]

Originally posted by Neville2
Secondly, while I believe that something has to be done to reduce the number of games played by top flight players, I think managers and big clubs are being somewhat hypocritcial when it comes to summer games. They don't want international frendlies or tourneys scheduled, but instead take promotional tours around the world during July which rake in massive amounts of cash. I believe I saw where Real Madrid were going to make around $15 million in appearance fees for their games in Asia next month.

I'm not casting judgement on Wenger, but at times his comments can be quite self serving. I think if it were England that was playing in the Confeds Cup and not France he might not object so much. Just a thought. Good post until the end. When's the last off-season Arsenal went on some worldwide money-spinning tour? When's the last time your favorite club *didn't*?

And, seriously, isn't it part of a manager's job to be self-serving? When Sir Red Nose launches on some profanity-filled tirade defending the wasteful acquisition of Juan Veron, do you really think he's telling the media exactly how he feels? Of course not, he's defending the purchase he and his club made, despite the fact that they overpaid for a player who really hasn't contributed much to his team.

Plenty of ManUre fans have come in here accusing Wenger of the same stuff that their own manager does. If you want to criticize someone for being self-serving, you don't have to look any farther than SRN.

[Neville2]

Originally posted by dwinkler
Good post until the end. When's the last off-season Arsenal went on some worldwide money-spinning tour? When's the last time your favorite club *didn't*?

And, seriously, isn't it part of a manager's job to be self-serving? When Sir Red Nose launches on some profanity-filled tirade defending the wasteful acquisition of Juan Veron, do you really think he's telling the media exactly how he feels? Of course not, he's defending the purchase he and his club made, despite the fact that they overpaid for a player who really hasn't contributed much to his team.

Plenty of ManUre fans have come in here accusing Wenger of the same stuff that their own manager does. If you want to criticize someone for being self-serving, you don't have to look any farther than SRN.




I wasn't claiming that Arsenal are a club that uses the off-season to go on tours of world to build their "global brand". I was just stating that many clubs, including Man United, and managers, including Sir Alex, are being somewhat hypocritical when they slam on international friendlies and tourneys.

Furthermore, I totally agree that Sir Alex is a huge hypocrite on this and other matters. His positive statements about Roy Keane retiring from international football when he was critical of Alan Hansen and Kenny Dalglish committment to the Scottish cause as oppossed to Liverpool when he was manager of Scotland.

As for Wenger I still hold the opinion that if the situation was reversed he would not be so vocal in his opposition to the Confed's Cup. And I agree with your assesment as well that his job is to be self serving in the interests of Arsenal.

[442]

The cause of M-VF's death isn't the point in my mind. If he had died slipping in the shower I still wouldn't want to play, at least not right away. It's a tough call though. Not playing won't bring him back.

[PeterJBL]

Originally posted by GeoffWessel
Hey Sepp. Yeah, you, Sepp Blatter.

You remember Arsene Wenger, right? French guy, manages Arsenal? He kinda got under your skin, didn't he, a while back, dissing your baby the Confederation's Cup? Said he was tired of all these "Mickey Mouse" tournaments happening in the month of June, saying "all football should be banned in June?"

Well, for your baby, Marc-Vivien Foe has died. And now you're not even going to let Cameroon mourn their teammate properly? "The football must go on?" For what? To protect your baby?

It's not as if France were jumping for joy either. Maybe you didn't bother to watch France v. Turkey. You were too busy trying to put on the concerned, caring face of FIFA whilst making sure your investment could be protected. That France v. Turkey went on schedule caused some concern, but that's almost understandable. Failing to allow Cameroon to postpone, or forfeit, the Confederation's Cup Final is nasty at best, ghoulish at worst.

Blatter, it's a damn shame you weren't voted out last year. I bet the African candidate would have allowed Cameroon to mourn Foe. So while you shake hands and offer condolensces in the same breath as insisting "the football must go on," take a look at Maine Road. Go on. It looks like a funeral parlor tonight, all the flowers. I'm sure Lyon and Cameroon are in no mood to celebrate either.

So yuk it up, Mr. Sepp. Just know Wenger had your number all along, and it's a damn shame Marc-Vivien Foe had to be the most horrifying example of it.

RIP MVF.

--- Geoff

Have a bit of respect that this could happen in any game.

[Morpheus1271]

I agree with the portion of your post pertaining to cancelling the final. No game should be more important than one player and paying respect.

HOWEVER, it is a mistake, and a big one, to suggest that he died *because* of playing in the Confed Cup. It could have happened anywhere, anytime. Stop trying to assign blame and be respectful and honor him by not trivializing his death as "meaningless". He died doing what he loves. How many people can you say that about?

Would it have been better if he died in a tragic car accident hit by a drunk driver?

Honor the guy for his passion.

[martymarts]

My condolenses to Marc Foe and his family. His death probably had little to do with playing too much football, but it is natural for such an event to make us re-evaluate our priorities.

They say we get the leaders we deserve. Blatter appears to be a devious, self-serving and possibly corrupt official. Doesn't that make him one of many?

[Coach_McGuirk]

I know that France wants no part of the final, either. Why not walk out for the kickoff, and whichever team has the opening kick, just tap the ball forward and walk off the field, together? It would be an excellent show of solidarity by the players. I know some fans might be upset, but the majority would probably applaud their "statement"

[Redfoot]

Personally if I died playing and my team made it to the final I would want everyone to play. What better way to be honored than having your teammates do what you loved to do.

[GeoffWessel]

OK, let's get some things straight here:

1) Anyone who thinks I'm dishonoring or trivializing Marc-Vivien Foe is a pure natural dolt, frankly. I wrote that piece last night in a pure state of being P!SSED OFF because Sepp Blatter's actions, to me, were doing just that.

2) If I ever gave the impression that Foe's death was CAUSED by the Confed's Cup per se, then no, that's not what I meant, and I apologize for the implication. Obviously it was a freak occurance. No question. The statements I made were, again, in reference to Blatter's insistence the game go on despite having the spectre of Foe's death hanging over it. The nearest example I can think of offhand would be the WWF continuing to do a live RAW broadcast the night after Owen Hart died in the ring. The difference here was that the entire show was a tribute to him, and their soap operatics were suspended for that night (also, the rebroadcast of the PPV that Hart died at was summarily cancelled, and indeed I don't think it ever made it to video either). But despite going out of his way to make the show a tribute to Hart, Vince still got blasted. I disagreed with them, but in this case I disagree with Blatter.

3) So far, nobody's been able to disagree with me that Wenger was completey correct in calling the Confed's Cup a "Mickey Mouse" affair, and putting the game before a death on the pitch only proves its worthlessness.

Some individual responses:

Martymarts wrote: > They say we get the leaders we deserve. Blatter appears to be a devious, self-serving and possibly corrupt official. Doesn't that make him one of many?

POSSIBLY corrupt?! There was a full-blown investigation of his sorry arse last summer with undeniable PROOF of his corruption! That he survived the election only proves to ME that too many in FIFA are on the take!

Coach McGuirk wrote: > I know that France wants no part of the final, either. Why not walk out for the kickoff, and whichever team has the opening kick, just tap the ball forward and walk off the field, together? It would be an excellent show of solidarity by the players. I know some fans might be upset, but the majority would probably applaud their "statement"

That....is an awesome idea.

Redfoot wrote: > Personally if I died playing and my team made it to the final I would want everyone to play. What better way to be honored than having your teammates do what you loved to do.

You know....I really hate that reasoning. Let's face it: if Cliff Burton were alive today he'd want to die knowing what Metallica had become since his death. For all we know Burton, or Foe, are human too, and with that, I think they would like to be honored in some way.

Personally speakin'.

--- Geoff

[GeoffWessel]

Oh dear me, it looks like someone HAS suggested the Cup schedule is what did him in -- Bruce Arena!

http://foxsportsworld.lycos.com/content/view?contentId=1493220

--- Geoff