Nine months ahead of the 2006 soccer World Cup, former world-class Dutch soccer player Johan Cruyff didn't have anything good to say about the current state of international soccer. "From a technical point of view, soccer has been going downhill for years," he said in an interview with FIFA magazine. The one-time star midfielder went on to call great matches in the overly-defensive game a "media event." According to the 58-year-old, cramming too many matches into a season is to blame for soccer's downfall. "For years I've been pushing for 60 or an absolute maximum of 65 matches per season, that's something we're very far away from." Brazil is Cruyff's favorite as far as June's World Cup is concerned, but he added no one should rule the hosts out. "Germany is always strong in short tournaments like the World Cup," he said. The number of foreign players in the Bundesliga hurts Germany's chances on the international stage, Cruyff said. "Clubs should be obligated to have five or six native players in every game," he said.