The CAS rules against the AFA; Messi to return to Barça?
By: Isaiah | August 6th, 2008Before I do a quick preview of the Red Bulls game, here is some stuff to mull over.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS in English, TAS in French) has declared that Leo Messi has to return to Barcelona rather than continue playing in the Olympics, which start tomorrow for men’s soccer. Argentina has a game against the Ivory Coast tomorrow morning at 7:45am EST. So, what does this mean? It means that all teams now have recourse to demand their players return rather than stay with their Olympic teams.
I have stated before that I do not like the Olympics, but if a player wishes to play in an international accepted (if not a FIFA accepted) tournament, why should clubs stop them at the very beginning of a year? It’s not like the Olympics are in April or May when championships are being decided.
Check out the NYTimes coverage of it here.
I think it is absurdly disrespectful of Barcelona to try to keep Messi — especially Messi — out of the Olympics. If we are unable to win CL qualifier games without him, how on earth do we expect to win the whole thing even with him? Why do this to the player you have declared as the centerpiece of your “rebuilding” effort? Keep him happy by not being a jackass, Laporta. Messi is a human being as well as an investment. At 21 he is not going to deteriorate as a player for several more years, so let him be happy and he’ll return that happiness in goals and more money for the club in sponsorships. Why alienate him? Why do that? He’s been nothing but loyal to the club and we repay him by demanding that he play against Wisla Krakow or Beitar Jerusalem instead of the Ivory Coast?
Pep Guardiola should understand what Messi is doing there, having won a gold medal in the Olympics, but maybe no one higher up is listening to him or maybe he’s not sympathetic for some reason. If it’s the former reason, then we’re in for a long, long season…
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I dont think Messi will be back, Laporta will appease him however he can.
Posted from
United States
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Let’s hope so, Corey.
Posted from
United States -
The best hing for Barca right now would be to let Messi stay in Beijing and “fulfill his dream.” Assert that this legal squabble was about not setting a bad precedent of breaking the FIFA calendar (or something like that). Messi’s happy, the club doesn’t look like the jerk it has looked like for the past week.. and everyone saves face.
I feel like this won’t matter too much for the next games. Hopefully FIFA settles this outright at some point in the next four years.
Posted from
Dominican Republic -
Can someone clarify this question, did Barca appeal to the CAS or was this matter brought forth by a third party?
The more pressing issue at hand is who will be attending tonight’s match? I will be there, tall, lanky kid with short blonde hair sporting last years home Ronnie kit. Don’t be shy, say hi (cheesy, I know).
Posted from
United States -
Hey does anybody know of good websites that sell Barca jerseys at discount prices?
Posted from
United States -
As I understand it, we appealed directly to the CAS, after not getting the answer we wanted from FIFA. I suspect they will let him stay, and claim victory/vindication from the courts, leaving it at that. It keeps the player happy, and the club saves face. Everybody’s happy. And Olympic success will only enhance the worldwide Messi brand which we need, to offset the losses from the Ronaldinho shirt sales, which will be significant.
Now, I hope everyone is ready to give Laporta/Txiki/Guardiola a pass if Messi gets injured at the Olympics and is out for a long time.
Just checking.
Posted from
United States -
I don’t, Larm. I always order from the club when the early, 20 or 25% off sale for socis comes up. I think prices are set by Nike and the club, and are the same all over the place.
You might try EBay, but beware of anything that ships from Asia. I once did a story comparing a real shirt to an Asian knockoff. Pretty appalling.
In the real world, Kitbag is the best place to get a shirt. They do servicing for the Barca store mail order. If you are in the U.S. and order on a Monday, you’ll have your shirt by Wednesday. Subside Sports is also good. I’d avoid UK SoccerShop, just because they take a long time to ship, and don’t have any express shipping options, so shirts take anywhere from 2-3 weeks to get to your door. Not cool.
Posted from
United States -
Kyle, nothing wrong with trying to get some Offside Barca-related connections going on. I’m going to start organizing meetups at Nevada Smiths for us during this coming season, if anyone is down with that.
Posted from
United States -
Also, Kyle, I’ll be there, section 214 row 1, white kid with a short growth beard, numberless home jersey from last year, glasses, red Jayhawks hat, probably jeans. Holla if you’re nearby.
Posted from
United States -
How Schalke and Werder did it:
In statements, Schalke and Werder Bremen said they would, respectively, let defender Rafinha and midfielder Diego stay on at the Olympics provided Brazilian soccer officials agree to providing insurance against injury and other conditions they didn’t specify.
Posted from
United States -
Lets hope Laporta does the right thing…What Barca don’t need is one unhappy Argentinean to replace an unhappy Brazilian…
Posted from
Qatar -
REPOST
agree that we should say that we respect Messi’s wishes to play. Pep himself said that he wants the lad to be happy. So do we, don’t we? But what pisses me off is that those AFA people, Batista and, specially, capo Grondona, have not even allowed us to be “magnanimous” with Leo, with the albiceleste, with the Olympic Spirit, and whatnot…
With their high-handed stance, they’ve also prevented -knowingly, I suspect- the possibitility of negotiating, in exchange for our generosity, the absence of Leo from those friendlies the albiceleste likes to play on the antipodes or, at least, that we don’t have to let him go a whole week before…
Mmmmrrggghhh…
Posted from BCN
PS.: BA, I can’t agree more with you about Arshavin… (See Malaria No More 4v4 Tournament comments)
PPS.: Next Wednesday, Barça vs Wisła Kraków (thanks for the proper spelling, Isaiah)Posted from
United States -
larm -
According to Tim Stannard and co., it was Laporta himself that went to the CAS. If this is the case, it would seem likely the hope is to put Lio back on the plane, Catalunya bound - unless they hope to pull off a ‘Well, he’s gotten away with it this time, but as for the rest of you - don’t even think about it.’ Which wouldn’t be entirely unreasonable. And THAT is why I doubt it’s what Laporta has in mind.
Posted from
United States -
I don’t get it. What was the best outcome of such an appeal? We win it and Messi is forced to return from the Olympics against his wishes when he is already there? We need to sort this and quickly before clubs start circling and unsettling him even more than he must be feeling just now. However, I haven’t a clue how we get ourselves out of it.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
(Sorry for the double post; by the way, what does “Your comment is awaiting moderation” mean, exactly? Thanks in advance).
Posted from
United States -
Jim, I would say “We applaud the board’s decision but at this late moment we must respect the spirit of the Games and the player’s wishes, as things are too far gone in preparations.”
Voila. We win, he stays, it’s all good in the ‘hood. That’s in effect what Schalke and Werder have done.
Posted from
United States -
Barca have agreed to let Messi stay in Beijing for as long as Argentina are in the competition.
In return, the AFA have agreed to take out insurance on him with Barca being the beneficiary and not to call him up for any friendlies this season.
An excellent compromise in my opinion.
Posted from
Italy
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