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I often look back on my life thus far and say to myself, "I've had a great life." Yet, there are other times when I ask myself, "What would have happened if I had stayed in the States when my ...

Five "What Would Have Happened If" Questions to Ask Yourself

by Thomas (Senior Writer)

52

1,301 reads

Opinion

September 22, 2008


I often look back on my life thus far and say to myself, "I've had a great life." Yet, there are other times when I ask myself, "What would have happened if I had stayed in the States when my parents went to Thailand?" or "What would have happened if that girl I had a crush on in middle school had not moved to Germany?" Wait, how'd that get there...

The point is, there's a lot of "what if" or "what would have" questions in life. We all have them. Here's some of the "what would have happened" questions from the world of soccer.

 

1. What would have happened if David Beckham had never gone to Real Madrid?

 

David Beckham left for Real Madrid back in 2003, after spending much time on the bench because of injury. Now, imagine if he had not gotten that injury in 2002. Most likely, he would have stayed at United and Cristiano Ronaldo would never have come to Old Trafford and he would have never gone to LA. Instead, Becks would still be at United and Ronaldo would probably be at Sporting Lisbon or some other club.

 

2. What would have happened if the 1994 World Cup was never held in the USA?

The 1994 FIFA World Cup was one of the most successful World Cups in history. It had world record attendance and Brazil won the World Cup for the 4th time in history. Well, if that never happened in the USA, there might have never been an MLS.

Let's face it, Americans love to play soccer but they hate watching it. In the words of my dad, "What good is a sport where you just kick a ball and almost never score?" If there was no USA 1994, then soccer would not be as big in the USA as it is. Sure, it's not as big as the NFL or NBA, but it's big. I imagine that no USA 1994, no MLS, and soccer in America would be relegated to nonexistence.

 

3. What would have happened if Roman Abramovich had never bought Chelsea?

Chelsea fans, I am apologizing in advance for saying what I'm about to say.

Before Abramovich bought Chelsea FC in 2003, the club was in a bit of a tangle. Not winning the league, not winning much at all. Sure they had great players and managed to make it into the top 4 of the league, but they could never quite beat off Manchester United and Liverpool.

After the rich Russian took over, Chelsea looked like a new team almost. They started winning and winning and bringing in great players. If he hadn't of done that though, is it fair to say that Chelsea might not be the successful club they are right now? They might have still been that club that only makes it to third or fourth on the league table.

 

4. What would have happened if Steven Gerrard had decided to join Chelsea?

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52 comments Last one added 2 months ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Michelle Alves 9 months ago

    Nice one, Thomas :P
    its scary even thinking about Gerrard moving to chelsea, thank god that didnt' happen

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    • Thomas 9 months ago

      haha, thought u'd say that bout Gerrard.

      Thanks.

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    • Brad Simkulet 9 months ago

      I don't think anything big would have happened if Stevie G moved to Chelsea. We all know that he and Frank can't work together in the midfield. Unless...if Stevie had moved maybe he and Frank would have figured it out and they could have just beat Spain in the Euro. Maybe.

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  2. Joe G 9 months ago

    Some great questions.

    The US would have never been given World Cup 1994 if they hadn't promised the creation of a new domestic soccer league. FIFA was upset that a country the size of the US couldn't sustain the NASL depsite all the talent, and desperately wanted a league in the US. If the USSF wanted WC, they had to give FIFA MLS.

    The Beckham question is interesting too. Ronaldo might be at Madrid if Beckham was still at Old Trafford. A player with his talents would have been poached out of Portugal by somebody big.

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    • Thomas 9 months ago

      true that.

      it's amazing that the USA didnt have a league yet. Although, they werent all that interested until the World Cup came. It's good to see that it's working out.

      and Ronaldo would definately be at a bigger club.

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    • Joe G 9 months ago

      Technically the US did have a league, the USL, but back in 1994 it was tiny and called the "United States Interregional Soccer League." It had teams like the Permian Basin Mirage. Most of the teams from that era aren't around anymore (but the San Francisco Seals are, thanks Wikipedia!) Basically, it was a league similar in stature to the Isthmian League Premier Divison. The US needed more than that.

      It's kind of funny that a nation as small as Scotland is compared to the US could support a multi-tiered league, but the US couldn't even manage a single-tiered top flight league back then.

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    • Thomas 9 months ago

      funny yes. but i understand why.

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    • Brad Simkulet 9 months ago

      Actually, according to Arsene Wenger and Ronbaldo's manager he almost wound up at Arsenal, but Fergie poached him. So my guess is a spell at Arsenal linking up with Cesc, and then he'd have ended up at Madrid already as Joe said.

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  3. Bela Trimmel 9 months ago

    Some good writing there, Thomas.

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  4. Miah D. 9 months ago

    Gerrard with Chelsea ... oh dear lord ... might have switched teams! lol

    great read, I might steal ur concept here for my hockey section if u dont mind! ;)

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  5. Samrat Nigam 9 months ago

    Am pretty happy that Gerrard didn't end up joining Chelsea...'A case of what might have been'

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  6. Dev Ashish 9 months ago

    Nice questions ... gerrard at chelsea ?? that wud have been a disaster for him :P

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  7. Saraswathi Siriginia 9 months ago

    Master Leemon or is that Mister Leemon, you gotta be one of tho most prolific, emerging talents on Planet B/R and your repertoire includes so many constellations of sports... good job!

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  8. Ankit Munjal 9 months ago

    Really good read mate. Nice idea with the whole what if. Gerrard at Chelsea aye... that's something i hate to think about.

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  9. Karen Patel 9 months ago

    The thought of Gerrard in blue makes me want to throw up!

    Great article though, very thought-provoking.

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  10. Maire Ofeire 9 months ago

    Arsenal without the Professor.......NEVER AGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

    Seriously great article Thomas and some really interesting questions raised, good stuff!!

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  11. Anthony Sanchez 9 months ago

    David Beckham didn't leave United because of any Injury. He left because he was more interested in attending Movie premieres and flying round the world with his wife. Fergie had had enough of him.They were also tracking Ronaldo for years before Beckham left. Nice article though Thomas. I think we can safely say Chelsea would have won nothing if Abramovich hadn't come in.

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  12. Rahul Basu 9 months ago

    And what if the Abu Dhabi United Group hadn't taken over Manchester City? A certain diabolical red club wouldn't have been reduced to the Everton of Merseyside :P

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  13. Rahul Basu 9 months ago

    or the Everton of Manchester, rather..

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  14. Benjamin Rogers 9 months ago

    Great article mate, and i agree with you about chelsea, no Abramavich = no Premier league titles and i think they would also struggle to get forth place in nower days football.

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  15. Ryan Lynch 9 months ago

    Great work, Thomas. You highlighted some very interesting issues; the only thing (as has been mentioned) that I wouldn't agree with is that Ronaldo would certainly not still be at Sporting, he would have definitely gone somewhere else. Makes you wonder though; would he be the "wonderkid" he is still if didn't go to OT, though?

    5 star, mate.

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    • Thomas 9 months ago

      i'm sure that he wouldnt be at Sporting. I think he would still be a star, unless he somehow made it to the boonies of some league.

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  1. Tahira Adams 9 months ago

    I like Articles like this. It's very interesting. You can have a good laugh and a good cry and a good long time to contemplate on what could have been by reading this stuff. Arsenal with no Arsene! That can't happen, his name says it all : )

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  2. Dave Harris 9 months ago

    The Freddy Adu question is quite a contentious one. Aged 14, he was drafted into the MLS, and questions were raised about exposing him at such a young age. On the other hand, pundits like Tony Kornheiser moaned that Adu wasn't playing a full game, and that if he was so good and people were paying their money to see him play he should be given the full 90 minutes.

    Overall, although he did reasonably well in US Football, he never kept the sort of high profile that stars in traditional American sports achieved, and a move to Europe was probably the only way that he was going to reach his potential.

    To say he's "fairly successful" at Monaco is a little presumptuous given the early stage of the season and that he's only there on loan from Benfica, for whom he made 11 appearances last season.

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    • Thomas 9 months ago

      ok, he's decent. i remember all the hype bout him in MLS, decent kid back then.

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    • J.C. Ayvazi 9 months ago

      Dave -

      Seeing you are over in England, I'd like to point out just because a Kornheiser is employed by ESPN, that doesn't qualify him as a pundit. More like overpaid gas bag.

      Of course, your mileage may vary (meterage?) 8^D

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    • Dave Harris 9 months ago

      JC - I find Kornheiser OK in small doses. PTI is good entertainment, but he's horrific on MNF! Always bringing up totally irrelevant stuff just too be controversial.

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  3. Yoosof Farah 9 months ago

    good idea for an article thomas, and simply a good article. i have a question you could use for part two. what if mike ashley never took over newcastle? apparently before ashley stepped in the club were in so much debt they were close to meltdown. just an idea, only trying to help!

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  4. Zahi Sahli 9 months ago

    nice article... big questions there! I liked Chelsea before Abramovich with Zola, Wise, Poyet and co. But then came Abramovich and now they can challenge.

    Had he not bought Chelsea, some other billionaire would have bought them? Maybe, but maybe Abramovich started this whole idea of foreign billionaires buying EPL clubs.

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  5. Alan McGuinness 9 months ago

    We probably would have remained a top four club even if Abramovich hadn't taken over. We'd won trophies before him (especially in the late 1990s) and could attract good players.

    Berni Ecclestone (or some F1 bigwig) has said that he was close to taking over Chelsea in the summer of 2003, so who knows.

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  6. David James 9 months ago

    Ronaldo would always have gone to United, as the friendly, by which he was signed from would have always happened and he would have shone and won a place. David Beckham was going to Barca anyway, until Madrid got him at the last minute - so he would have left. It should have been if Beckham hadn't got so damn famous.

    MLS is always on the cards, as a new league was needed and because of the power of the media it was always going to cause the inevitable league, including immigration from the south.

    Chelsea were always a 4th place team - people fail to realise chelsea weren't that bad even without Abramovich, but no it would have been a United half a decade, so thanks Roman.

    Adu was always the perfect american dream that never came true. I'll do an article on him this weekend.

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    • Thomas 9 months ago

      so ur saying that even if Becks had stayed, Ronaldo was already coming?

      I cant see Beckham in Barca colors...good thing he went to Madrid.

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  7. J.C. Ayvazi 9 months ago

    Good concept delivered in a quality manner Thomas. Rather thought provoking.

    1 - Seeing how Fergie often clashes with his star players, Becks would have moved on somewhere else, possibly to Italy.

    2 - Had to happen, too many paydays for too many bigwigs demanded it.

    3- Relegation! (just kidding)

    4 - Dogs and cats living together, French waiters become multilingual (still kidding)

    5 - Run into the ground as to lack of size and strength to play in Premiership at that age.

    6 - If successful, maybe poached by a Spanish side.

    Since Miah is a friend of mine, hope you don't mind if I snake this concept for a baseball group too.

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  8. kwame manu 2 months ago

    Freddy Adu is not successful at all at AS Monaco. He has started less than 10 games and is yet to score a goal.

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