A failure told with swear words

BarcelonaIt's always necessary to look on the bright side of things. The football league will no longer have to perform acrobatics with the television signal to avoid showing the 15-second strike for tired legs of their footballers, who were protesting the decision to hold a match in Miami. Until now, they've shown us plans of the stadium using a drone, or statistics, or a laughing fan in the stands.

There's something of a burlesque comedy in this matter concerning Villarreal - Barça. If he were alive, Lope de Vega would make a good play in three acts. In the first, Javier Tebas tries to convince everyone to take a match to Miami, pressuring, arguing, and seducing football people with money. It would have touches of Welcome Mister Marshall, with the promise of dollars making more than one person change their minds. The second act would be Tebas's triumph in obtaining the permit. A memorable scene would be the one where the trip of Villarreal's most veteran fans to Miami is planned, people from La Plana who have worked in the fields and in the ceramic factories, without going too far, who suddenly imagine themselves making it to the Americas. And the third act would see the whole house of cards fall, with a statement issued just as Villarreal is playing. With the president of the yellow club swearing in the box, Laporta trying to understand what's going on coming down Montjuïc, and Florentino Pérez stroking a black cat, satisfied.

What an image, after all. Many of those who claim the league needs to be modernized and improved are part of the problem. People with such intolerance toward criticism that they hide player protests and fan banners against schedules, trying to avoid talk of criticism of the game's managers. People who already saw themselves having a game in Miami, but now have to deal with a failure that, let's be honest, most of the football world has applauded. Because in general, few liked the proposal. It's true that it could make money, but breaking the symmetry of the schedule, leaving home fans unable to go to the stadium, and selling out everything doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

It's about running the risk of losing and angering loyal fans, with the promise of gaining more customers and distant viewers. You had to sell that game as a success, and suddenly you have a comedy with a late-night press release. And a slap on the nose. Rather than seeking money abroad, perhaps they should consider how to reshape local football from within, without upsetting all the fans.