Top Stories

Tuesday Kickoff: FIFA won’t move World Cup calendar, Mourinho suspension dropped and more

WorldCupTrophy

BY ADAM SERRANO

Despite the requests of Franz Beckenbauer, FIFA claims that there are no plans in the works to move World Cup 2022 to January.

Beckenbauer had requested that FIFA move the World Cup to January to avoid the midsummer temperatures in Qatar which can average 105-115 degrees, which FIFA labeled as potential health risk to those involved in the Cup.

Precedent does exist for this type of move with the 2011 Asian Cup, which Qatar will host being moved to January to avoid the high temperatures.The average temperature in January in Qatar is in the low 70s.

Here are some other stories from Monday to get your Tuesday going:

JOL RESIGNS FROM AJAX POST

Ajax manager Martin Jol has resigned from his position as manager of the Dutch giants. The season has not gone well for Ajax with the club currently in fourth place in the Eredivisie and eliminated from the UEFA Champions League. Jol will be replaced at Ajax by former Dutch defender Frank de Boer until the Dutch winter break. Ajax expect to name a new managing staff by the end of 2010. The former Tottenham Hotspur manager has been tapped by many reports to be a potential successor to Chris Hughton at Newcastle United. 

LIVERPOOL CRUSHES ASTON VILLA 3-0

Liverpool relieved some pressure on embattled manager Roy Hodgson with a convincing 3-0 victory over Aston Villa. The Reds victory came without their stars Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, and Fernando Torres in the line up. David Ngog and Ryan Babel added goals in the first half while Maxi Rodriguez finished off the match with the third and final goal. The victory catapulted the Reds into the top half of the table and put the Villans just two points ahead of the Relegation zone. 

MOURINHO SUSPENSION REDUCED

Jose Mourinho's suspension by UEFA has been reduced to a single Champions League match. UEFA initially awarded Mourinho, a two match ban for allegations that Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos deliberately picked up second yellow cards in Real Madrid's 4-0 victory over Ajax. The pair hoped to be suspended for Madrid's final group match against French club Auxurre. 

Ramos, Alonso, Mourinho as well as goalkeepers Iker Casillas and Jerzy Dudek were fined in the incident.

Comments

  1. Yeah, this was not really the right place to bring this up. Jol took a Tottenham team that had fallen on tough times and led them to back to back 5th place finishes and made them a fixture in Europe.

    Reply
  2. It’s simple economics. FIFA has something that everyone wants, so they have all the leverage.

    It’s kind of like going into a car dealership and beginning a conversation with the salesman with the line, “I love that car. I must have it.” You’re going to get fleeced.

    FIFA runs the World Cup, the biggest event in the world of sports. Everyone wants to win it and will stop at little to get it. Given this reality, they can be as capricious as they want and no one can tell them any differently. The only thing that changes this is if the real stars of the show, the national teams, demand something better.

    Nothing will change because players will go to Qatar and they will risk everything to win the World Cup. Everyone knows that no matter what the temperature may be in the stands, the field will be much warmer. Supply and demand, no checks and balances.

    Reply
  3. i love it. how epically corrupt would it be for fifa to be bribed into changing the WC to January, While at the same time criticizing the MLS for not playing a winter schedule. The best part is they would get away with it, w/out a doubt

    Reply
  4. Personally I don’t think that the US should waste its time/money bidding for a world cup again until 2042 or so. It just isn’t worth the effort. All we should do is be willing to host if another nation falls out once the cup is awarded to them. And only if FIFA doesn’t get a red cent of any of the proceeds.

    Reply
  5. 45% winning percentage.

    I was really bemoaning a larger problem and took this as an excuse to bitch about it. Possibly ill-advised, since Martin Jol really has been generally successful as a manager, and that sort of distracts from the point.

    Reply
  6. Its definitely a complex issue (the solution at least, the problem itself is very easy to see). Fans and journalists griping at least gets the issue out there and gets others aware of the bs that is going on. Small steps, but its gotta start somewhere.

    Reply
  7. I definitely have concerns about what the WC experience will be like in Qatar, but I tend to believe they’ll lift those alcohol bans when the cup rolls around (money will talk).

    This article deals with a different country and the Club world cup isn’t nearly as big a deal as the WC proper.

    Reply
  8. The US tried to get the World Cup twice. We won the first time and came in second the next time. The World Cup was hosted in the US to help promote the sport in a new section of the World. The other countries that bid weren’t told they had no chance before the US was given the World Cup.

    What?

    “So, that fans who have built the sport to where it is today aren’t emotionally gutted.”

    Reply
  9. They won’t move it until much closer to the actual event. If they announce a winter world cup now people have 12 years to complain and (maybe) do something about it. They’ll do it while dangling world cup bids for 2026 and 2030 to earn support for it.

    Reply
  10. Get this through our heads. How we feel about FIFA now? Disillusioned, furious?

    Well, when it subsides… FIFA hasn’t changed. The corruption will continue. And, we will feel it again.

    Our ONLY power is to stand up, boycott the organization. Start something more transparent, more fair. Host nations should not vote. Final votes should be public. And, the technical grade of a bid should factor in more than anything else.

    If FIFA decides that they would like to promote the sport in new sections of the globe, that should be made clear to bidders, so they don’t waste their money. So, that fans who have built the sport to where it is today aren’t emotionally gutted.

    And, we need to be able to easily investigate bribery and collusion.

    Reply
  11. hahahaha. Next thing you know he quotes Dr. King whenever someone tries to criticize his choices.

    Qatar isn’t exactly a freedom loving place neither is Russia. Russia is corrupt and lots of racism toward non-ethnic White russians. Why didn’t FIFA just say they wanted an Eastern European country. Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary. All 3 could have hosted it together.

    Reply
  12. This quote says it all:

    ”We are giving hope to the world that perhaps through football we can become better human beings.” Sepp Blatter

    Reply
  13. He was one of our best too.

    And he was in the water. If he died from heat shock in the water, what will happen to people above ground.

    I’m not buying this idea of air conditioning an entire outdoor stadium.

    Reply
  14. When Qatar’s bid is revealed to be fantasy and the open-air conditioners don’t work, I’d like to see FA’s take a stand and refuse to send squads to Qatar for health reasons.

    Reply
  15. A US swimmer recently died due to heat stroke/exhaustion/shock or something, while participating in an outdoor race in UAE…

    Reply
  16. Say “yes” without reservation. 26 days before tournament starts, tell FIFA that the tournament is cancelled unless FIFA re-incorporates/charters in the USA. Then introduce them to our little friend: RICO.

    Reply
  17. Football fans and columnists can bitch and complain about FIFA all they want. The problem is that FIFA has all the leverage. It is a monopoly and the people who comprise it run it accordingly.

    The only way FIFA is going to change in a positive manner is if fans and teams stand up to it. The sensible thing to do would be to move the 2022 World Cup to the winter months. The voting processes need to be made more fair. If any of this is to happen, however, countries such as Brazil and Germany and Spain need to threaten a boycott. Common sense and logic sound wonderful on internet blogs and columns, but FIFA is not a logical, commonsensical group of people.

    Would like to see a day where some of the big UEFA and CONMEBOL teams say, “we don’t want to see one of our players have a health scare trying to play on an overheated pitch.” Not holding my breath.

    Reply
  18. Year 2019: The air conditioning of an entire small country isn’t working. USA, can you please host the tournament instead? How convenient.

    Reply
  19. I believe all along that FIFA was going to give the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Usually the host nation is selected six years before the event. It would very hard for Qatar to be ready in six years. FIFA would not want to gamble like it did in South Africa to see if everything will get completed on time. So, by FIFA selecting both World cups Qatar will have 12 years to get ready which is realistic. The US had no chance.

    Reply
  20. Re: Martin Jol… it drives me nuts this reluctance to try someone new when the alternative is a retread who’s already failed. Seems like the working assumption is that the failure is always the fluke (cf. Sven, various others). The reality is that at least as often, the success will have been the fluke. Jesus, people (“people” = club and federation boards), google “regression to the mean.”

    Reply
  21. Let me get this straight…

    FIFA themselves has deemed the Qatar weather as a health risk, yet turn around and refuse to reschedule because of it.

    Makes sense.

    Reply
  22. I can’t see the January move happening at all. I mean, not every league takes a winter break.

    And who’s this Frank Beckenbauer? Anything like Joey Mourinho or Chris Ronaldo?

    Reply
  23. I just can’t see the big European clubs agreeing to release their players for the WC, in the middle of their domestic league/UEFA CL committments.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Sean Cancel reply