London — There is no getting away from it: This year the Beautiful Game has been tarnished — not so much by those who play it, but by the dubious men who have appointed themselves soccer’s rule makers and enforcers.
On the field, though, beauty did flicker. It always will while there is a Lionel Messi, a Neymar, a Luis Suárez.
Off the field, the United States Justice Department’s investigation into suspected FIFA corruption, which prompted a wave of arrests that started in May, has rounded up so many insiders that the sport’s governing body is now virtually dysfunctional.