As an American living in Europe for the past 27 years, I am forced to watch football (soccer), as 80-90% of all media coverage here (print and TV) of sport revolves around soccer, all year round....
Right now I'm watching the round to 16 in UEFA's Europe 2016, and several aspects of how the "beautiful game" is played over here are anathema to me, and probably to most American sports afficionados, specifically:Â Shirt grabbing, Holding, Choking, Elbowing, Diving, Subtle "hand balls"; Verbal and physical intimidation of referees; Kicking and stomping on the ankles of other players; Moaning when caught red-handed; etc., etc., etc........
Referees have given up (or been told to give up) most non-lethal infractions of this "non-contact" game. As a result, it is not a game for young men (unless you are a Messi or Bale or Ronaldo--and/or have grown up trained in this cynical structure, as most non-American players have not). As talented he is, Morris would have been eaten alive (or languished in reserve squad matches) if he had signed for Werder Bremen, and he probably realised that after a few weeks in training. My guess is that Klinsmann understood well that Jordan needed to be toughened up in order to reach higher levels of performance, in world-class terms, but Jordan didn't want to make the mental and physical sacrifices which were entailed in the WB opportunity.
PS-as many of you may know, Klinsmann was a world-class diver. When he went to Spurs in the EPL, opposing fans would hold up cards with 5.8, 5.7, 6.0, 5.5 etc. every time he dived. JK got back a bit by adopting the dive as his goal scoring celebration. See below, and don't skip to the end of the video as it shows some of the great talent that existed 20+ years ago in the EPL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luHMIIM8Sys
Stymie
Right now I'm watching the round to 16 in UEFA's Europe 2016, and several aspects of how the "beautiful game" is played over here are anathema to me, and probably to most American sports afficionados, specifically:Â Shirt grabbing, Holding, Choking, Elbowing, Diving, Subtle "hand balls"; Verbal and physical intimidation of referees; Kicking and stomping on the ankles of other players; Moaning when caught red-handed; etc., etc., etc........
Referees have given up (or been told to give up) most non-lethal infractions of this "non-contact" game. As a result, it is not a game for young men (unless you are a Messi or Bale or Ronaldo--and/or have grown up trained in this cynical structure, as most non-American players have not). As talented he is, Morris would have been eaten alive (or languished in reserve squad matches) if he had signed for Werder Bremen, and he probably realised that after a few weeks in training. My guess is that Klinsmann understood well that Jordan needed to be toughened up in order to reach higher levels of performance, in world-class terms, but Jordan didn't want to make the mental and physical sacrifices which were entailed in the WB opportunity.
PS-as many of you may know, Klinsmann was a world-class diver. When he went to Spurs in the EPL, opposing fans would hold up cards with 5.8, 5.7, 6.0, 5.5 etc. every time he dived. JK got back a bit by adopting the dive as his goal scoring celebration. See below, and don't skip to the end of the video as it shows some of the great talent that existed 20+ years ago in the EPL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luHMIIM8Sys
Stymie
All models are wrong; some models are useful......
George Box