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Keep Olympics for under-23 players
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Let me see if I've got this right. International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch says that FIFA president Sepp Blatter is willing to eliminate the under-23 age limit for the men's Olympic soccer tournament for the future. Are they nuts? When do the players get a rest? And what does that do to the vaunted World Cup, the world's greatest single sporting event and FIFA's big cash cow? "Football is very eager to protect its World Cup, but I have spoken to Mr. Blatter and his executive committee is ready to improve the quality of Olympic football," Samaranch said.
There is nothing wrong with the quality of Olympic football or soccer. The 1992 and 1996 Games had some classic finishes and confrontations and there are some strong early hints the 2000 version will be just as good, if not better. Blatter keeps talking about the importance of having an international calendar and fewer competitions for the top players so they won't burn out, and he supposedly shelves his idea of having a World Cup every two years, then he comes up with this bit of stunning bit of information. Well, what do you want from a lame duck and a sitting duck? Samaranch retires next July and Blatter, under increased criticism and pressure over the process in which his executive committee awarded the 2006 World Cup to Germany rather than his preferred South Africa, may turn into a one-term president if he continues to think this way. In fact, I want the tournament to go the other way: Turn the Summer Games into an Under-23 tournament only. It just doesn't make sense for teams to qualify under one set of rules (under-23 players only) and then all of a sudden to compete under another set (three over-age players allowed). Many of the teams didn't send an over-age player to Australia. Others, such as Nigeria, lost one key over-age player, striker Nwankwo Kanu, one of the heroes of the Africans' stunning gold-medal triumph in 1996. Cameroon had six defections a week prior to the tournament. U-23? The soccer tournament is fine that way. There are plenty of players 23 and under who are in the midst of forging their reputation in Europe, South America and even in the United States. The '96 Summer Games had several up-and-coming names that might ring a bell -- Brazil's Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, Argentina's Hernan Crespo and Ariel Ortega, Spain's Raul and Nigeria's Kanu just to name a few. The U-23 restriction gives this tournament its own personality and doesn't tread on directly on the World Cup, which already has been watered down with the increase of teams from 24 to 32.
Unless there is some sort of great financial gain for FIFA, which, by the way, doesn't make a penny off the Olympics, I am astonished why soccer's world governing would want to give away the store. If Blatter and FIFA are committed to developing players, not burning out the best ones and not further devaluing the World Cup, they'll not only trash the idea of having the Olympics as an open tournament, but make the Summer Games a U-23 only tournament. About the U.S. women's team
In the book Soccer For Dummies, Milbrett addressed the size of a soccer player. "This amazes me that I even need to talk about it," she said. "People come up to me and say, 'Oh my gosh, you're not very big. You're so teeny. How are you so good out there against them all?' I never even thought about it until people said it. Yeah, I'm a short person. In all my years of soccer I have never thought that it's amazing that I can go out there and do so well. It never occurred to me it was any different. "Because people in this country aren't big soccer fanatics, they don't realize you don't have to be big to be the best athlete. When they think of the best athlete, they think of 7-foot-2 and 6-foot-8 -- those basketball guys or football guys, the 300-pounders. "Soccer is completely different. Sure, you're going to have the taller people, the 6-foot-4s who might be goalkeepers. People who are on the soccer field tend to be quicker, smaller, agile. You have to be. That's the kind of player soccer recruits -- somebody who is able to move any direction in any given second."
"Those two goals from Mia Hamm did something to our team," he said. I guess the rest of the world is mesmerized by or has great expectations of Hamm, whether she scores or not. Hamm, as it was pointed out in this column, has struggled scoring goals beyond the opening round. Asked what she would do to ensure Hamm has energy for later in the tournament, U.S. coach April Heinrichs replied, "We're not going to feed her for the next two days."
The last goal? Let's go back to a first-round game in the 1996 Olympics, a 2-1 win over Sweden. The Swedes were awarded an own goal in the 64th minute. Kristin Bengtsson curved a 19-yard free kick from the left side into the penalty area, where sweeper Carla Overbeck, trying to clear the ball while going up with Lena Videkull, knocked the ball past goalkeeper Briana Scurry and into her own net.
About the U.S. men's team
About the Olympic tournament
"We do this all the time in Italy," coach Marco Tardelli said. "It's a bit of fun. The players were excited about the victory and they reacted exuberantly."
"They talk about the Olympic experience, but we're not going to get any of it," a team source told The Age newspaper. "The rest of the team will have their barbecues and their entertainment, and we're stuck miles away. It's a joke."
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News. His third book, Soccer For Dummies, was published this spring.
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