La Liga: The Case for Best League in the World
Building a case for La Liga being the best league in the world. Reviewing of the past, the present, the style of play and its influence around the world, the quality of life for the footballers and the passion of the fans. By the assortment of criteria one can only conclude that it is the best in the world. this was actually started sometime ago and the argument has been brought to a head by Sepp Blatter's recent comments
Sepp Gets Something Right!
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"It must be the strongest league in the world," he told CNN World Sport. "And when you see the starting XI of the Spanish national team, all of them play their football in Spain. The Spanish league also has the highest number of local players."
The World Team of the Year featured six players from Spanish champions Barcelona, two from Real Madrid and three from Champions League winners Inter Milan, but Blatter pointed to the absence of the usual English-based contingent.
"The Premier League is the best-marketed league in the world," he added. "It's a good league, with good players, but when you consider not one player made the best XI of the world, maybe they should think about whether something can be adapted."
I have to say on these points I whole heartedly agree with him. The reigning World cup and Euro Holders deserve their recognition! Full stop!
A Style That Defines an Era....
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Picking up from David Villa's comments here http://www.totalbarca.com/2011/news/villa-i-think-we-have-what-it-takes-to-define-an-era/ I think that Spanish football's style has already defined an era and will put it's stamp on the next era as well.It is a style that has conquered Europe and the World.
Globally everyone wants to play like Barcelonahttp://soccerlens.com/are-fc-barcelona-even-playing-the-same-sport-as-other-teams/62198/. Roma http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2010/11/18/2219863/claudio-ranieri-roma-want-to-play-like-barcelona and Lille http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story/_/id/877650/marshall:-lille---the-blaugrana-of-the-north?cc=5739 are two examples that spring to mind.
A style of attributed to the influence of Johan Cruyff and the Ajax systems he imparted, it is also akin to the play of Brazil. Holding the ball and playing short passes was a revolution to the sport when introduced by the Brazilians to the world scene in the 1958 World Cup. The Old world got its first chance to see what the new World had done with the sport. *1000 years of history faced 50-60 years of warm weather ;0) and that hallmark of new world life improvisation. Though the joy of playing has suggested to be the difference between styles of play it is really the short pass game that tore apart the European counterparts as Brazil stormed to the World cup title.Other improvisations including light weight boots, control with other parts of the body and the bent kick were revolutions that boggled the European mind and firmly entrenched Brazil as the premier football nation.
So enduring were these revolutions that the short pass game is still the perfect way to win a football match. Deny your opponents the ball and only your team has the chance to score. The ruling Euro and World Cup winners know it best!
(*information from Chris Taylor's A Beautiful Game; A journey through Latin football)
Need More Than Anecdotal Opinion? Lets Crunch Some Numbers....
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Lets look at trophies won and the rankings:
In the Uefa Cup winners cup Spanish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UEFA_Cup_Winners%27_Cup_winners#Winners_by_country teams posted 7 wins and 7 runners up bested only by England with 8 wins and 5 runners up
In the Uefa cup and Europa League Spanish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UEFA_Cup_and_Europa_League_winners teams have won respectively 6 and 4 placing 4th on list.
In the Champions league http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_Cup_and_UEFA_Champions_League_winners#By_country Spanish teams have 12 wins and 9 runner up, 2nd
In the UEFA country rankings, 2nd only to England
Best Title Race
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I know that alot of my comrades will feel that it always boils down to a Barca/Real title chase.They prefer The EPL. They say that the rest of the league is weak in comparison.
My response is that, like Sepp I feel that the EPL is the more heavily marketed league. To me there is no essential difference between the two leagues except that the EPL has more foreign investment and thus they have four or five big spenders as opposed to La Liga's two.
In my view La Liga it is the only title chase where legitimately every game has to be won in order to secure the title, also each team has a legitimate chance to knock off the top contenders. Barcelona has lost to Hercules and drawn with Sporting Gijon this term. It is only that they are in the midst of legendary form and setting records that the rest of the league seems paltry by comparison.
In England presently Chelsea were leading the title chase but lose 5-6 games in a row and were still in the title hunt. What does that say for the rest of the league? It says to me that the rest of the league is pretty weak and if not for Chelsea's annual mid-season slump they would be running away with the title.
The Media
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Again the EPL is the more heavily marketed league and as such has a higher profile only in this regard.
In England each game is heavily scrutinized and with each loss the media descends in an apocalyptic frenzy. They take their football seriously as well in Spain and there is some wonderfully partisan banter but not to the extent of the English media.
Win and the media pumps you up to be the best in the world.back to the media.
Take the sad case of Gareth Bale, Gareth scores a hat trick in the second half of a champions league tie that Inter had switched off in .i.e he scored goals at a point where the game was already beyond reach. Meaningless goals essentially but the media suddenly speak of him in the 40-50 million pound valuation for transfer to bigger teams.
Why?
Has he consistently proven himself on the biggest stages? How many trophies has he won? Golden boots? POY's? No he just got lucky at the end of a game where Inter was already thinking about the next game.
The media scrutiny is at such a high that the payers can't go out and enjoy themselves in peace. Roman Abramovich has to build a night club under Stamford Bridge in order for the players to enjoy themselves!
You never see that type of feeding frenzy surrounding players in La Liga. Even Cristiano Ronaldo's famous extra curricular activities are not fodder for tabloids in Spain. Meanwhile in England even the most marginal player's nightlife is firmly in the centre of the camera's lens.
Best Players League
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Being that it is a more technical league it has none of the superfluous physicality of the EPL. Football is a tough sport, no question, but it is the over the top physical nature that is the delimiter between the EPL and the other leagues.
None of the mindless running up and down the field chasing a ball with no purpose that is favored by the EPL fan and manager. How else do you think Dirk Kuyt has lasted as long as he has at Liverpool? (I like Dirk's game since Feyenoord days, but it is what it is)
Additionally you don't often hear about the the horror tackles that have become standard fare in the EPL. The threat of broken legs, ankles is very real each week in the EPL because the fans and managers don't seem to think you have done your job as a defender if the opposing player isn't writhing in agony after you hit him.
It is indeed a famous problem for English teams competing in Europe because they have to adjust for a continental type game and refereeing.
Spanish teams play that type of game year around and is has paid off in Euro and World Cup wins.
Overall, Simply The Best League
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So there you have it, in my opinion the best league in the world! Lots more I could talk about but I won't make it onerous, let me know what you think.
