This is going to be a weird series as each post will have an idea that is completely different from the other in terms of theme and even target audience and criticism. This post is going to be all about the possibility of whether the World Cup was rigged so Lionel Messi would win. What I ask of everyone reading this is to wait until the series is complete before making an overall judgement.
In the first post of this series I proposed that FIFA handing Messi the World Cup can be a valid theory to which I have no way to disprove. Why would I say that? Well...
It's Very Possible That It Is True
Simple as that. FIFA has a history of corruption that extends way beyond the last few years, or even the years that I have been alive. The World Cup was never a clean tournament. I can't recall a World Cup version that didn't have controversy. Not only on the pitch but off it. Even when I defended Wenger's World Cup Idea of a World Cup every two years, I did so while admitting that FIFA's intentions weren't clean.
Like, when did we have a clean World Cup? 1986? In the World Cup Argentina beat England thanks to Maradona scoring with his hand. 1990? Where Maradona drugged Brazilian players' drinks. 1994? Where Maradona was invited to participate with the promise that he wouldn't get drug tested? 1998? Platini himself admitted to manipulating the draw to have France face off against Brazil in the final. 2002? I remember well cheering for South Korea at the time actually, and even as a kid who's not turned 10 yet, I was able to see the referee corruption allowing South Korea to beat Spain and Italy. 2006? The Zidane headbutt red was actually the result of the referee going to the replay cameras which he wasn't allowed to do. 2010? I think @blanchy can tell you that France wasn't even supposed to be in that World Cup. 2014? That World Cup itself was hiding Brazil's government corruption. 2018? The host was fucking Russia for God's sake.
This comes off before mentioning the shady circumstances where many hosts were given the World Cup. I stand behind Qatar's ability to host the World Cup and believe that Qatar did a great job, but I think we all know by now the dark side behind that. The same thing with South Africa, Korea and Japan, I already mentioned what happened in France, Russia had a drugging scandal right before hosting the World Cup. We all saw the protests and how they were shut down during the 2014 World Cup. What I am saying is that The World Cup isn't beyond sportwashing.
I already stated I have no direct indication that Van Gaal's statement is true. But, there are many signs that it could be. FIFA and UEFA's history of manipulation, playing under the table, bribes, corruption, "aids", and just a long history of being a disgusting side of humanity says it is too much to ignore. Theoretically, and practically, pick whatever word you want, there's nothing in FIFA's history that says that institution is beyond doing such a thing.
We don't have theories of past corruption, we have admissions from Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter. We probably all remember headlines during the 2015 FIFA Corruption Cast where 14 people were arrested, 12 of whom were convicted, and those 12 had two organisations indicted.
Cheap Reasons
I mentioned Maradona and 1994 already, but let's dive into that one as it is the one where João Havelange justified the deal he made with Maradona so the latter would play in the 1994 World Cup. João Havelange is a Brazilian and overlooked the previous drugging in the 1990 World Cup of his national team players to make such a deal. He justified it by saying that "Americans don't watch football" and that he needed them to be invested in it.
And that's what it is, Blatter just wanted a host nation to go through to advanced stages in the 2002 World Cup, and Platini wanted a strong final to the 1998 World Cup. These are reasons enough for these people to be corrupt. This is the level of justification these people need to excuse their actions. All those reasons really seem to pale when you consider a final between the past and future like Messi vs. Mbappe, don't they? Obviously, that's not a good reason, but the bar is set very low as well.
It's like Walter White using his cancer as an excuse to cook meth, or a thief using hunger as an excuse to rob a store. Just excuses to explain heinous acts. I find those similies fitting because we are talking about uncaught criminals here. The extension itself of World Cup participation, in terms of number of teams and attempt to make it twice every four years, and despite me standing behind it, is designed to include the highest number of famous players despite their nations not doing so well.
There's no proof that Messi was handed the World Cup and I find it very unlikely. But, I also found it very unlikely that FIFA would work so hard to make sure South Korea remain in the knockout stages, beating Spain and Italy in the process until both referees were forced to retire due to their actions.
Bleacher Report has a list of the 10 highest ranked football scandals, 8 of those are World Cup-related. The other two were Calciopoli and Marseille's 1993 match-fixing scandal, which are too big to miss out, otherwise, we'd probably have the entire 10 events be about the World Cup.
Is all that was mentioned above plus probably 100 more scandals and shady behaviour enough to prove the claim that FIFA handed the World Cup to Messi? No. Then, why mention it? Because this is not about proving a certain event or agreement took place.
This Is About The Characteristics of FIFA
I am Jack's Complete Lack of Surprise when it comes to FIFA's corruption, there's nothing that anyone could say that FIFA did that could surprise me. I wouldn't be surprised if people died thanks to FIFA's actions as we have already seen sports washing at display in the last 4 World Cup hosts. Since its inception, there have been countless shady actions. Mosoulini, Hitler, and many more shady figures hid behind FIFA and the World Cup.
None of this qualifies as evidence, but it's like if you are certain something got stolen with a known thief in front of you. Would you really be surprised if the known thief stole it?
This organization have never cared about fairness or sportsmanship and it's the strongest organization in the Football World. Cristiano and Madrid fans rejuvenated with Van Gaal's comments as it "confirmed" something they want to be true, however, if fixing the World Cup is possible what does it say about other tournaments, many of which Real Madrid and Cristiano have won in circumstances that are much more damning and blatant if what happened at the 2022 World Cup is considered evidence of World Cup corruption. That's what I will get into in the next post of this series.
I am not closing this article with a quote of mine, but one given by Michel Platini in his admission to fixing the draw in the 1998 World Cup.