If so, it is not the game itself that they have forsaken, but rather the kind of game that football has become: a billion-dollar business, a prestige object for louche plutocrats, and an extravagant showpiece for corrupt governments and international sporting organizations.
果真如此的话，被他们所放弃的也不是足球运动本身，而是足球运动所变成的样子：一桩10亿美元的生意，富而不仁的显贵拿它来装点门面，沦为腐败的政府和国际运动组织的奢侈展示品。