Football, for a change!

Four years ago in a bit to cleanse footballrsquos rotting heart an organisation called ChangeFIFA looked to a former Chilean defender for guidance and leadership Elias Figueroa played three World Cups 1966 rsquo74 and rsquo82 and was feted as one of the most accomplished centrebacks of his generation His elegant composed playing style meant that comparisons with Franz Beckenbauer were frequent though Nelson Rodrigues the celebrated Brazilian playwright was one of those that thought the Chilean was even betterChilersquos players Arturo Vidal centre and Marcelo Diaz right take part in a training session in Santiago during the Copa America on Saturday PicAFPIn the 1970s when Figueroa was playing for Internacional in Brazil Rodrigues wrote that he was ldquoan earl dressed in suit and dangerous as a Bengal Tiger Elias Figueroa was the perfect defenderrdquoRampant corruption Three decades later with many in despair at the direction that FIFA was taking Russia had won the right to host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar the competition four years later after bidding processes marred by constant talk of rampant corruption the beautiful game looked to one of its most handsome practitionersAfter flirting with the idea Figueroa turned down the chance to challenge Sepp Blatterrsquos leadership saying ldquoIn such a short period of time I could not develop a case worthy of the magnitude and importance of such a distinguished jobrdquoSince then South America has hosted a World Cup won by a European team and been at the heart of the corruption investigations that finally brought down the Blatter Empire It was in early 2013 that FIFArsquos own Ethics Committee started probing illegal payments that International Sports and Leisure ISL mdash once the organisationrsquos marketing arm had made to officials before it folded in 2001Blatterrsquos messThere was no proof of Blatter being involved but those implicated read like a Whorsquos Who of FIFArsquos senior management Joatildeo Havelange who had been in the top job between 1974 and 1998 had to quit his position as honorary president while Ricardo Teixeira another Brazilian who had once been Havelangersquos soninlaw was also found guilty Paraguayrsquos Dr Nicolas Leoz was another vastly influential member of the Executive Committee to fall foul of the investigationWhen Argentinarsquos Julio Grondona died last July it precipitated a distasteful campaign to pin all the misdeeds to his door Grondona who was installed by the military junta in 1979 was certainly no saint but he was by no means alone when it came to lining his pocketsThat so many South Americans have been named in the scandal is indicative of the state of the game on the continent Argentina did reach the World Cup final in Brazil last year but football across the continent is in a mess The best young players leave for Europe even before theyrsquore established in first XIs and there is mayhem on the terraces a state of affairs worsened by the sheer ineptitude of administrators with few interests outside of largescale corruptionDespite the chaos around them the continentrsquos players continue to excel at the very highest level Take the Champions League final played on June 6 Juventus who endured final heartbreak for the sixth time had Arturo Vidal Chile and Carlos Tevez Argentina in their lineup while Barcelonarsquos defence contained Javier Mascherano Argentina and Dani Alves Brazil Up front one of the most vaunted strike forces the sport has ever seen comprised an Argentina Lionel Messi a Brazilian Neymar and a Uruguayan Luis SuarezChilersquos succourMessi orchestrator supreme didnrsquot score but the other two did in a 31 victory The World Cup bite on Giorgio Chiellini means that Suarez will miss the Copa America but the other six South Americans that played in Berlin will be central to their nationsrsquo chances of success Once again football is looking to Chile for some succourAfter the tawdry tales of the past month the focus needs to shift however temporarily from brownpaper envelopes and illegal wire transfers to football itself The Copa America a competition that predates the World Cup by 14 years offers that shortterm distractionArgentina will want to go one better than they did in Brazil last year while the Seleccedilatildeo must atone for the 71 humiliation against Germany in a home semifinal Uruguay who won for a record 15th time four years ago wonrsquot have the same edge without Suarez while Colombia havenrsquot reached the final since 2001Chile the hosts have never won it but with Alexis Sanchez and Vidal in their prime Jorge Sampaolirsquos team could go where even Figueroa and his teammates couldnrsquotDileep Premachandran is Wisden Indiarsquos editorinchief