Here in London, epicenter of the soccer world (sorry), USA v Mexico has not made the news pages. Brazil v Italy, playing here tonight, made few waves and nor has any World Cup qualifier for that matter, as the Premier League is shedding coaches like Autumn leaves.
World Cup Winner Big 'Fail' Scolari, despite keeping Chelsea in the Champions League qualifying places, this season's Champions League and FA Cup, faced a firing squad yesterday of owner Roman Abramovich, Canadian director Eugene Tenenbaum and American Chel$ki chairman Bruce Buck, though it was the Russian assassin who pulled the trigger at the training ground.
New Jersey-born Buck worked with Abramovich before the oligarch moved to England. In Russia, Roman began selling toys before dating the daughter of the drunkard President Yeltsin and muscling in on his 'sale of the century' sell-off of the nation's assets. Fortune has smiled on Abramovich as he has avoided assassination and prosecution, despite being accused of bribery, fraud, intimidation and even train robbery over the years.
Buck of course has nothing but praise for his paymaster. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 2006, he said of Abramovich - "He has a very good business sense, a very good feel for people."
Would this be the same Roman Abramovich who guided Chelsea to a record loss of $200m and who is on his fourth coach in under a year and a half? According to rumors, the Russian has lost $20 billion in the recent economic slump, which could explain the club's sale of Wayne Bridge and Carlo Cudicini, failure to win Robinho's signature or buy anyone in the January transfer window and subsequent travails.
Of course, it's much easier to blame a guy following a tough act (Jose Mourinho) with only seven months to impress and almost no money to spend.
-Sean O'Conor
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2 comments:
When they raise the World Cup or celebrate a European Championship in the streets of London, give me a call. Epicenter? Football (soccer) has no epicenter. It's the world's game.
Adam - You could argue that since England invented the game in the 19th Century and it spread outwards from the Freemasons Tavern in London, and today has the richest and most followed league in the world, it qualifies as the epicenter. But I added "sorry" after that quip to show it was dramatic licence. I'm sorry that nuance washed over your head.
By the way, the World Cup has been raised in the streets of London. I'll tell you about it some day ;)
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