Triesman's Claims Were Unfounded

Amidst the battle for the right to host the 2018 World Cup, England’s bid was dealt a severe blow as British paper, The Mail On Sunday decided to run a story which stated that Lord Triesman (who at the time was the head of the English F.A and the England World Cup bid) suggested that Spain and Russia had an agreement, in which Russia’s bid would be supported by Spain if Russia helped bribe referees in Spain’s favour at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. FIFA investigated this claim and found no evidence of any wrong doing by either the Spanish F.A or the Russian F.A. Triesman’s comments appear to be somewhat unfounded, and you have to believe that if he truly believed that this corruption was occurring he would have spoke out about it sooner or at least informed FIFA in a silent matter. But the question in the title of this blog stems from a conversation I had with one of my housemates a few months ago, and we both believed that there was a fair amount of bribery and dodgy dealings in not only football but sport in general. Another one of my housemates joined the conversation about half way through and laughed off such an idea; but the fact is that you don’t know that these things are happening until the people involved are caught.

In 2002, it was suggested that South Korea’s wonderful run in the 2002 World Cup was of some convienience to FIFA, as a number of bad referee decisions saw cries of match fixing from the likes of Italy and Spain. I recently saw an interview with James Richardson, who is the oracle of Italian football in England, in which he some what suggested that he agreed with them claims, but in the end there was no investigation and instead Sepp Blatter put it down to ‘poor standard of refereeing’. This season, Southampton great Matt Le Tissier revealed that he was involved in a betting scam in which he was asked to kick the ball of play so he could see a big return. This was something Le Tissier had on his concince for about 14 years before the public knew about it, although it doesn’t seem like a significant alteration to the match, it does make you wonder how many times this happens, because if it was done correctly – like Le Tissier’s fix – no one will ever know.

There is also the huge Italian football scam revelation that rocked the Italian F.A and saw punishments brought upon a number of clubs that thought they were some what untouchable. And then there was an investigation from FIFA into a number of Eastern European sides that were attempting a big pay out from European competitions, a scam which involved a lot of games in some of the biggest competitions in the world. I won’t even go into Messers, Redknapp and Souness who have had their own dodgy dealings come under the spotlight, but these isolated incidents don’t necessarily suggest that the governing body’s caught every incident.

I’m not sugggesting that football has turned into WWE, where it is pre-determined what the outcome will be in every case. But anyone who has played a video game will know how fallable people are to exploiting the system in order for their own gain. I’m a big fan of the FIFA game series, and in particular the Ultimate Team add on, but lately on the Xbox 360, people are using a cheat in which they control the players of your team, making the game unplayable. I’m more interested in what other people think and what their feelings on the subject are and think it is an interesting disscussion point. Do you think that Match fixing and bribery is common? Do you think that FIFA had a say in South Korea’s 2002 World Cup run? Is it possible to cause corruption at the biggest tournament in football?

On Friday December 4th at 9:45am ET, Adidas will be hosting a webcast featuring Sepp Blatter, Franz Beckenbauer and David Beckham to officially unveil the 2010 World Cup match day ball live from South Africa. The three will hand the ball over to the local organizing officials.

The event will run approximately 20 minutes. After the event, there will be a brief interlude before it switches to replay mode, allowing those who missed the launch to watch the press conference highlights.

Be sure to watch it here on World Cup Buzz!

The controversial handball by Frenchman Thierry Henry is still causing shockwaves despite much of the sparks and debates calming down after FIFA ruled out any possibility of replaying the match. In addition, FIFA obviously refused to grant Ireland an extra spot in South Africa. Adding the Republic of Ireland to the World Cup draw would make no sense (no disrespect to Ireland and its fans). Making changes would imply having to rework the format for the World Cup which is time consuming and unacceptable. Some would argue if Ireland were allowed, then Costa Rica must be included in South Africa too as some feel Uruguay scored an illegitimate goal from an offside position.

Irrespective of FIFA’s stance and public opinion, rules cannot be bent or changed at the request of one or a couple of entities. The wise thing was for FIFA to order the France-Ireland encounter to be replayed based on a blatant case of injustice. No team should be allowed to go through to South Africa because it feels unjustly eliminated. A quick glance back at World Cup 2002 would show the South Koreans received one favour after another to get positive results against Portugal, Italy and then Spain while pushing through to the World Cup semi-finals. Did Portugal, Italy or Spain decide to withdraw, stop the match or officially ask for a replay? Without diminishing the current situation, a review of some of the mind-boggling decisions which transpired during the games between the Koreans and the three European sides reveals mistakes happen whether intentionally or not.

The best solution would be to reprimand and hold Henry accountable by suspending him. Recently FIFA President Sepp Blatter disclosed information pertaining to the situation as he admitted there will be a review of Henry’s conduct by the disciplinary committee. The question remains whether Henry will be suspended in the course of the season (Barcelona is not concerned with this so it ought to be a ban on the national level) or for a number of matches with the French team since the misconduct occurred on duty with France. Since the Irish feel they were inappropriately eliminated, then should FIFA suspend the main culprit for the duration of the event in South Africa as a small remedy for the unjust ousting of the Irish?

FIFA’s committee must carefully study the situation before taking any further action which could potentially create another furor instead of trying to address some of the controversy created by Henry’s handball. One thing springs to mind: Henry admitted to the handball after and not during the match. As such, there is no reason not to punish the French forward for his actions during the match.

In Serie A, video replay is used by the disciplinary arm of the ruling body to punish those responsible for major incidents which were not caught by the referee during the course of the match. No obvious rule stands against doing the same with Henry.

Now that Argentina has qualified to the World Cup ensuring the presence of star player Lionel Messi, barring any injury or outlandish suspension,  how does one evaluate the comments made by FIFA President Sepp Blatter? Prior to the decisive qualifiers which yielded  Argentina’s qualification to South Africa as well as Portugal’s opportunity to do so through a  two-legged playoff clash with Bosnia & Herzegovina, Blatter declared that the World Cup will not be affected if Messi or Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo were missing.

Obviously, some will attribute Blatter’s remarks as a way to minimise the adverse effects the World Cup tournament might have suffered had any star players missed on South Africa. On current form, Messi is probably one of the world’s best players if not the best and he is listed as a nominee for the title of world footballer of the year by French magazine France Football which hands out the Ballon d’Or. Also on that list is current holder Cristiano Ronaldo who joined Real Madrid for a record fee. With Messi’s presence in South Africa 2010 now guaranteed, will the tournament need Ronaldo to be a successful one in terms of TV viewership, sponsorship and overall appeal or will his potential absence be overcome by Argentine Messi’s qualification?

The World Cup is by far the most prominent football trophy and is considered the top attraction for fans worldwide so it would have been unlikely that Messi’s or Ronaldo’s absence could drastically affect the event. The very talented and much-maligned French team of 1994 missed on the World Cup and yet the tournament was not doomed. The World Cup itself serves as a stepping-stone and centre stage for emerging and unknown talents with the likes of Italy’s Salvatore ‘Toto’ Schillaci and Russia’s Oleg Salenko claiming the scoring crown  in 1990 and 1994 respectively yet failing to shine afterwards. Thus, the tournament is a distinct feature from club football and most of the club and international football matches which took place prior to the event are set aside and considered meaningless. It can be argued that missing Ronaldo and Messi would have been damaging, yet Blatter might have a point this time when he claims that the World Cup would not have been hindered by their absence.

The Top 5 Things Learned From The Previous Round of WC Qualifying:

Ghana on the brink

The Black Stars could be out of qualifying. In Group 5 of Round 2 WC African Qualifying, Ghana sits in 3^rd place behind 1^st place Libya and 2^nd place Gabon only trailing Gabon on goal differential. Their talisman Michael Essien is out for that last crucial match vs. Lesotho and they will have to produce at least a 3 goal victory margin in that game to have a shot of advancing to the next stage. Let’s hope they go through cause they are arguably the most talented team in Africa and fun to watch.

Domenech as to go

Why does this man still have employment? What has he done to earn his continued place as national team coach of France? Let’s see. France looked horrible in Euro 2008, they have been erratic at best in matches following the Zidane embarrassment of the ’06 WC Final. He’s consistently left off the team arguably the best French striker right now in David Trezeguet deciding on Nicolas Anelka instead and they just got whipped 3-1 by AUSTRIA. With all the talent France has they should not be losing to AUSTRIA Les Bleus need to bring back Aime Jacquet.

Paraguay is the best team in South America, right now

La Albirroja has been the most consistent team in FIFA’s toughest qualifying region. Paraguay has 5 players that have scored at least 2 goals meaning that there isn’t one person to key on. That makes them more dangerous offensively than supposedly more dangerous offensive sides like Brazil and Argentina. By the way, results vs. South America’s 2 Giants: 1-1 draw vs. Argentina in Buenos Aires and a 2-0 win vs. Brazil in Asuncion. Impressive, if Paraguay’s key players can avoid injury over the next months, Paraguay will not only make it to The Great Tournament but will be a serious contender for the title.

No Caribbean Riddims in South Africa

This one hurts the most because of my roots in the Caribbean and my desire to see a Caribbean nation progress deep into the World Cup. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look good for the Caribbean nations in CONCACAF. The Caribbean Champions, Haiti have 1 point after 3 matches and a –7 goal differential and tragically a lot more on their minds than football. Jamaica just fired its coach after only 1 point and a –6 goal differential. Cuba has 0 points. Trinidad & Tobago are the last hope. The Soca Warriors have 4 points and are tied with Guatemala for 2^nd in Group 1. I think us Caribbean folk will have to wait till Brazil 2014. At least we got Usain Bolt.

Sepp Blatter is the SHIZZLE!!!!

FIFA President, Sepp Blatter announced that all workers would get two free tickets to a WC match at the stadium they are working on.  That is FREAKING SWEEET!!! (To quote Peter Griffin).  If I didn’t have a job, I would find my way to South Africa and get me a job at Ellis Park or any of those stadiums.  I can install the toilets for all I care.  I will deal with sewage pipes for some free WC tickets.