Gimme a Break

The national team coaches of Sweden, Norway and Denmark "warned" their respective countries that the growing number of "ordinary" foreign players in domestic club sides shut out local talent and could damage the game at national level.

"In the last few years we have seen the number of, at best, ordinary foreign players rising in Scandinavian clubs," Lars Lagerback of Sweden, Aage Hareide of Norway and Morten Olsen of Denmark said in a statement. "If foreign players do not raise sporting levels in the three countries then they just take up places in squads that would otherwise go to domestic talent and this has a negative impact on the development of Scandinavian talent."

Here's the best part: the note said that in the Swedish premier league alone the number of foreign players almost doubled between 2002 and 2005 to 21 percent. Wait, what? Let's say it again: 21 percent of domestic players are foreign nationals, of which only some are "ordinary." And this is, apparently, threatening domestic talent.

Point #1: This argument would be lame even if it came from, say, McClaren or Aragones (who I still hate), both of whom coach national teams with a significant number of foreign players (how many Spanish players play for Barça anyway? Two?) in domestic leagues. But less than 21 percent can hardly be considered a threat of any sort.

Point #2: Unlike national teams, clubs are only about talent, not about the best talent they are allowed to use. Clubs want, and get, the best talent they can afford -- so even if some foreign players are "ordinary," they are clearly still better than whatever the clubs can find at home.

By the way, the photo is of the 1958 World Cup final, Sweden v. Brazil, before the vast influx of foreign players ruined their national teams. Appropriately enough, Brazil won 5-2 (that's Pele on the right, waving his arms).