Has Loyalty Disappeared From The Beautiful Game?

With the Luis Suarez fiasco comes this very big question, is there loyalty in the beautiful game anymore? Yes, but it is going quickly. While there still are many loyal players, money is changing that quicker than we might think.

Luis Suarez wants to leave the Anfield club because of the lack of premier league play, which is understandable, but with the young talent in Jordan Ibe and others, it might be worth sticking around. Suarez has done this to another club. A club called Groningen in Holland. Ajax sent a 3.5 million Euro offer for the striker and when Groningen rejected the offer, Suarez took them to court. Ridiculous, right? Suarez lost in court but Ajax then upped their offer to 7.5 million Euros which Groningen accepted.

Rodgers has a very opposite view then Suarez stating, "The Liverpool Way is all about a club with ambition, a club that strives to be the very best, a club that is about commitment. That means that everyone is committed to the cause of fighting for the shirt." That bold word is one that Suarez struggles with. Suarez, along with many others only want what is best for them at that moment.

One of the other people that comes to mind when I think about club jumping is Mario Balotelli. Mario has never been on my good side. My first experience with Balotelli was in the 2012 season. Mario was having a bad game and late in that game, Manchester City won a free-kick in a good area. City's manager told Mario to let someone else take the kick, and he did not take that well. He threw, for lack of a better explanation, a temper tantrum.

Balotelli has not only off the field problems but on field problems as well. His move to Milan was, in my opinion, a bad one for Milan. He cannot hold his temper in tense games which often sees him getting sent off for unnecessary reasons. His career was marred with drinking and a love for late nights, when that is the last thing you want from an athlete.

With all that being said, money definitely has changed the game we all know and love. The most important thing for clubs now is finding a loyal player with his priorities in tact. Which in this era, will be very difficult, be we do see it. Players like Messi, Gerrard, Terry and many more are still here and can be a good influence for the future generation of players.

Will Neymar And Messi Play Beaitiful Music?

With the huge signing of the Brazilian Wonderkid, Neymar, Barcelona look to make a huge push for the Champions League title. If Neymar and Messi get along that is. Neymar always likes to steal the show, but that won't work for him at FC Barcelona.

Just a few days ago, Barcelona destroyed a Brazilian team 8x0. That game showed the promising future of Alexis Sanchez, and was the debut of Neymar. Messi had one goal, Neymar had none. Now, Barca fans shouldn't be worried about Neymar not scoring in a goal fest like that game was. His thirst for goals is stronger than ever now that he's in Europe and we will surely see plenty of goals from him.

Messi had an amazing year last year scoring 91 goals. And my biggest fear is that bringing Neymar in will take away from Messi's scoring. But, as I really thought more about it, I realized how silly I was being. Neymar and Messi will both score a great amount of goals putting Barcelona in a great position next year.

Also, Neymar has amazing speed, vision, and can shoot and pass from anywhere on the field. We saw his full potential in the Confederations Cup where he not only scored but assisted also. So, he already has the skill set to play in Spain, but the biggest thing for him in these next couple of weeks is to adjust to Barcelona's style of play that is vastly different from the Brazilian style he's used to.

If he can nail that down, he'll be just fine for his first season in Europe. Neymar brings a lot of excitement to Barcelona and gives great hope for the future of this football club.

The video shows Neymar's top ten goals. He looks a lot like Messi in some of them!

Giroud: Superstar at the Emirates

Giroud's importance to the Gunners was once again brought up as Tomas Rosicky stated that he needed to up Arsenal's goal tally this coming season. With him netting 25 goals in 43 game last season, is that too much to ask? His former team mate Robin Van Persie was at the top of the table with 26 in only the Barclays Premier League.

Giroud brings quickness, clinical finishing and great runs to this motivated Arsenal team, but do the Gunners have anyone to set him up? Indeed he does! Arsenal has a midfield with a mix of experience and youth with Aaron Ramsey, Santi Corzola and Mikel Arteta all getting regular minutes in midfield.

If Arsenal can come out with a big midfielder or winger in this transfer window, you can expect to see a lot more of Oliver Giroud on the score sheet. If Giroud can score more than 20 goals in this next season you can expect to see the Gunners finish in a Champions Cup spot, but success lies heavy on Oliver Giroud just like Rosicky stated.

MLS v Europe for Our National Team

One thing that I have come to notice about our USA Men's National team is that very few of them play in a European league. Considering that any team in a top-flight Euro league could crush even our best MLS teams, shouldn't there be more concern that our men are still staying in the MLS? I say no after watching this Gold Cup and doing some research. 

On our current Gold Cup roster we have thirteen men playing in a league other than the MLS, seven in Europe and five in Mexico. However, we are missing Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard. Out of the five men in Mexico are Demarcus Beasley and Micheal Orozco who I think have a very good chance to go to Brazil as they are playing well. So, that gives good marks to our men in Mexico.

Now for Europe, we have one man in Sweden and two in Norway. Alejandro Bedoya plays in Sweden and Mix Diskerud and Joshua Gatt play in Norway. Now, I think I am safe to say that Sweden and Norway are not home to the most elite European leagues in the world and none of them are consistent starters.

We have two men in England, only one of which plays in the top division and that is Brek Shea, who just recently moved from FC Dallas to Stoke City and we have yet to see how that will affect his style and quality of play. 

Even though all of those men play in other leagues, our MLS boys are looking very good this Gold Cup with Beckerman hooking up well with Chris "Wondwoloski on multiple occasions. Also Nick Rimando has put in a very good showing between the sticks for us. With Wondo and Donovan doing most of the scoring and Rimando making solid saves I would say MLS is just fine to develop people who preform on the national level.