Soccer in America Series Pt. 1 of 2: State of the Game and Culture in the United States.
Our guest Gabriel M. rants and raves with Mark about ESPN's coverage, his non-sexual man-crush on Derek Rae, the emergence of the European-style team cultures in the MLS as well as what would happen if Leo Messi was born in the United States.
As always, the podcast is available on iTunes (search The True Football) and here.
hosted by Mark Stevens with guest Gabriel Monthan, of thetruefootball.com
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Back in 2006, Operación Puerto was ripping the cycling world a new arse through Jesus Manzano’s testimony to doping. At the center of the controversy was Eufemiano Fuentes, a gynecologist and expert in the drug EPO, which promotes the formation of red-blood cells in turn increasing the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. Cycling’s top names were dropping like flies. Basso, Ullrich and Hamilton were all suspended. Lost in the downpour, however, was a comment made by Manzano in an interview with cyclingnews.com. A seemingly subtle admittance to seeing other athletes and some soccer players in his dealings with Fuentes. Obviously, the implications of this claim could be disastrous. What happened to it? Why was it not followed up? Why have most footy fans not heard of this?
Let’s take a look at the facts. The Manzano interview was dated June 10, 2006. A month later, on July 5th, Fuentes himself admitted giving treatments and advice to football teams and tennis players. The next day, however, the International Tennis Federation cleared all of its players from links to the case, although rumorsManzano reiterated his claim for France 3 TV, this time saying it was “well-known footballers” that he saw in his dealings with Fuentes. Soon after that, in December of ’06, the French newspaper Le Mondeclaimed to have possession of certain documents that linked several of La Liga’s top teams to Operacion Puerto. Which teams? Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla. Allegedly on the handwritten documents were the training regimens and objectives of the teams, including the ’05-06 Barcelona team which won the Champions League. Sketches similar to those Fuentes used with the cyclists were also present, thereby furthering the claim. persisted. In September of that year,
It took FIFA almost five months to respond to the allegations of the article in Le Monde. In May of 2007, Sepp Blatter declared that he wants to see the Le Monde documents in the “highest interest” of the sport itself. However, not only did he follow up on those comments, but here the trail dries up and dies. While the cycling world was turned on its head, the most famous athletes in the world’s most popular sport remained protected. What happened?
After two years of silence, a piece of the answer has come to us on May 15th of this year from IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch, jr. He recently voiced his frustration at Spanish judge Antonio Serrano’s handling of this case. Samaranch, the IOC’s only Spanish member, is worried that the impotency that has become the Operacion Puerto case has affected Madrid’s chances of landing the 2016 Olympics. In addition to calling Serrano’s judiciary procession “sheer stupidity,” he also declared about the case:
“I don’t understand it, I really don’t understand it! Take all those bags, turn the lights on and call the typists, and get all the dirty laundry out onto the street!”
The bags that he refers to are the over two-hundred bags of blood that the Spanish Civil Guard took into evidence from Fuentes’ house during one of the initial raids. What Samarach may or may not have known is that just two months prior, the Italian newspaper La Repubbilca published a quiet article that was yet disturbing and brandishing. It also revealed a huge piece of the puzzle.
Back to early 2006, the Spanish Civil Guard was conducting perhaps the biggest investigation of sports doping in history under the direction of Lieutenant Enrique Gonzalez. As the article indicates, Gonzalez’s team had amassed a mountain of evidence against Fuentes. Articles about French rock star Jonny Hallyday going to a Fuentes clinic on advice from Zidane as well as Zidane’s past doping admissions only infuriated the process. Through leads, wire taps and confessions of athletes such as Manzano, the Civil Guard had what they thought was enough to raid the remainder of Fuentes’ residences, including one in particular in the Canary Islands which was to contain more bags of blood as well as a PC containing clients’ data. However, when they turned to judge Serrano for a warrant to raid the house, he replied “We can’t, we don’t have the money.” While the article subjects a bit about the motivations for such a response (too much national pride, an “insurmountable” legal problem), one thing remains clear: the Spanish Judiciary system and judge Serrano, despite the potential for sufficient evidence, DID NOT WANT TO TAKE ON DOPING IN LA LIGA.
As one can insinuate, since 2006, Operacion Puerto as it pertains to football has been a vegetable. The investigation closes and reopens with no results. Evidence goes un-inventoried and winds up missing. Even if they had properly cataloged it, by now the deconstruction of organic material in the blood would prove it useless for testing. That’s assuming if they had managed to ascertain the data files from the computer on the Canaries, which were necessary to match the blood to a specific client. Gonzalez and his team were reassigned to other cases. The investigation is so kaput that it is known in the court system as “El Cadaver, the dead body”.
Who is at fault? One can easily point the finger at the Serrano (who refuses to allow the case to be heard) and the Spanish Judiciary system, and they are partly at fault. Although, what happened to FIFA’s interest in the affair after May 15th, 2006? In the world of cycling, International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid was on a Arlan Spectre-esque mission, at the expense of his sport's biggest event, to expose cycling’s dopers. Even though he suggested that Fuentes was so sophisticated that “it was certain” he was working with athlete’s of other sports, he remained focused on purging cycling. Where was FIFA in all this? While McQuaid was demanding information from the Spanish Government, all Blatter did was make an inquiry. There is no doubt that it takes two to tango, and between FIFA’s fear or lack of interest and Spain’s fear or lack of interest, no answers were provided.
There is little doubt that had a proper investigation been completed, the ending result would have shaken the global sporting community and the fallout would have been catastrophic. The biggest stars on the planet would have shot down like Halley’s comet. One can only speculate at this time, which is why we will not name names in this space. The rosters from the mid-decade teams of Spain should speak for themselves. Without proper evidence, this can't be an absolute conviction. That the evidence was purposefully disregarded, nevertheless, is something that should be in the consciousness of all fans of the world’s game.
I have put together this timeline to help better understand the ridiculous events that have taken place:
March 24, 2004; In a series of interviews, cyclist Jesus Manzano blows the cover off one of the largest doping rings in sports history. It's called Opercion Puerto.
June 10, 2006; Manzano admits to seeing other athletes, including footballers, in his dealings with Fuentes.
June 30, 2006; UCI President Pat McQuaid says that they got the list of dopers from the authorities in Spain because they "pushed the issue" and that other sports are probably involved in this.
July 5, 2006; Eufemiano Fuentes admits to giving advice on treatments to football teams and tennis athletes.
September 24, 2006; Manzano reiterates to France 3 TV that he saw "well-known footballers" during his visits to Fuentes' offices.
December 8, 2006; French newspaper Le Monde claims to have handwritten documents that show the involvement of La Liga's top clubs: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla.
May 15, 2007; FIFA president Sepp Blatter states he wants to know "what was in the Puerto file."
March 6, 2009; Italian sporting newspaper La Repubblica reports that the Spanish Civil Guard wanted to go on with investigation but were stopped by some of the highest levels of government. (Translated)
May 15, 2009; Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch, jr. blasts the Spanish judge in charge of Opercion Puerto, Antonio Serrano, for his handling of the case.
written by Mark Stevens of the thetruefootball.com
Our cycling expert Mike D. joins the show to discuss this year's Tour de France; Lance vs. Contador, rise of the journeymen and the doping scandal that hasn't been (which NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT).
hosted by Mark Stevens with guest Mike De La Viña, of thetruefootball.com
On June, 17th at least four members of Iran’s national football team, known as Team Melli, decided to wear green wristbands during one of the team’s final World Cup Qualification matches against South Korea. Seemingly subtle, the act had global implications. It was an act of support for opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, the loser in Iran’s bitterly contested recent presidential election.
Many are giving credit to the act as bringing Iran’s political plight into global consciousness. But more than just wearing green wristbands, was WHO was wearing green wristbands. Mehdi Mahdavikia, national hero and team captain, was one of the few who came out in the second half still wearing his band. One might remember Mahdavikia from when he scored the game winner against the US team in the 1998 World Cup, launching him into national glory. On June 17th, Mahdavikia became a national hero for a different reason.
The world governing football body, FIFA, of course has a strict zero tolerance policy regarding political intervention in football.
“The team of a player whose basic compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements will be sanctioned by the competition organizer or by FIFA.”
However, after the Iranian government forced into retirement four of the players without penalty, one has to question the legitimacy of their rules. After reviewing match reports on July 2nd, FIFA determined there was nothing in the reports about wristbands and “no further action” will be taken to discipline the Iranian national team. This ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ stance FIFA has taken on the match is certainly contemptible. But after the players were 'banned' by the national team, it may have become dangerous.
The players have no doubt put themselves in a precarious position, which makes their actions all that more remarkable. First, if FIFA recognizes the original band wearing act as a political statement, they would have to punish the players and/or the team. They didn’t, however, and then the Iranian government interfered and forced the players into retirement. Now, if FIFA decides to punish the Iranian government, they would be forced to admit that the act of symbolism was a political statement to begin with, and admit their mistake. Because FIFA did not take swift action, they have tied their own hands and put the Iranian players in jeopardy, as well as future players for all national teams whose countries are going through political turmoil. Like a parent protecting a child from itself at times, and as the governor of the game as a peaceful and intrinsically independent practice, it is FIFA’s responsibility to protect the integrity of international football. Personally, I feel, the Iranian players are a shining, astonishing example of the reach of peaceful protest, and I commend them. However, objectively, they knew the potential consequences of their actions and such consequences should have been exacted by the governing football body, not their government. One might ask: “Why punish a national team for displays of the players?” The power to ban teams from tournaments like the World Cup is the only power FIFA truly wields. In the past they have used it to remove political institutions from meddling in their country’s football associations, as was the case recently with Peru and Ethiopia. By doing nothing, FIFA has empowered the Iranian government to interfere in the future.
The players forced into retirement were Ali Karimi, 31; Hosein Ka'abi, 24; Vahid Hashemian, 32; and Mahdvakia, 32.
written by Mark Stevens of the thetruefootball.com
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