By FRANCO PANIZO
FIFA is under some serious heat right now due to the latest accusations of corruption in its recent World Cup bidding, and to little surprise the world's governing body is trying to alleviate that.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has questioned England 2018 bid chairman Lord Triesman for not make allegations of unethical behavior sooner. Valcke did not accuse Triesman of lying, but he did say that FIFA would have immediately asked for evidence had this been brought to its attention sooner.
Triesman claimed there was unethical behavior by four of the FIFA executive committee members, who asked for money, among other things, while lobbying for England.
Two more FIFA executive committee member's have been alleged to receiving $1.5 million to vote for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, according to claims highlighted by England's House of Commons. That brings the total amount of members who have been alleged or found guilty of misconduct during FIFA's most recent World Cup bidding process to eight, one third of the total 24.
Here are some more stories from Tuesday:
Report: Costa Rica to replace Japan in Copa America
Costa Rica is going to have one busy summer.
Los Ticos are set to replace Japan in this summer's Copa America in Argentina, according to a report. Japan was expected to enter the tournament after initially looking to pull out following the devastating earthquake that hit the country in March, but it now appears that the Samurai Blue is a no go. Should Costa Rica replace Japan, the CONCACAF nation would join Argentina, Colombia and Bolivia in Group A.
An official announcement is expected Friday.
Mancini wants Ibrahimovic for Champions League
Fresh off securing a place in next season's Champions League, Manchester City is already planning how it will try and win the tournament. Club manager Roberto Mancini has set his sights on acquiring Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, currently on loan at AC Milan from Barcelona. Reports claim that $28.7 million would be enough for Barcelona to sell.
Keane ready for managerial return
Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane says he is ready to return to coaching, and could make his return to the sidelines as soon as next season. Having been fired from Ipswich Town in January, Keane believes he has learned from his mistakes and is ready to end his longest break from the game. Keane previously coached Sunderland.
Foster takes international break
Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster has made himself unavailable for England's national team in order to prolong his club career. The 28-year-old has dealt with several injuries since the end of last year's World Cup, and he is taking a break from international play in order to get proper rest. Foster says he has not closed the door on England forever.
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Think FIFA has a point in questioning the timing of these allegations? Upset the U.S. national team wasn't chosen over Costa Rica for the Copa America? Would Ibrahimovic be a good signing for Manchester CIty's Champions League hopes?
Share your thoughts below.
Mexico is suppose to be sending their B team as well. Heck, there was even talk of Chepo not even going. Their goal is to win the gold cup.
C’mon COMNEBOL, invite the US!
I agree.
What is Japan doing in Copa America anyway…Nice team, but weird tourney
If Qatar 8 votes we’re to be removed, they would have 6 votes and the US would win with 8 votes!
Make it happen!!!!!!
Fulham would be playing because a Europa League spot is given to the top team in the Fair Play rankings. The top team in the BPL Fair Play rankings is Chelsea, but since they have a Champions’ League spot it goes to the next highest team which is Fulham.
More info here http://www.premierleague.com/page/FairPlayTable
and here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80%9312_UEFA_Europa_League
not saying france is a bad league but psg in currently in fourth place which is a europa spot and 1 or 2 points out of 3rd which is a qualifying spot for CL….Fulham won’t be playing Europa next season…….
No, it just means big panels. AC is simple but inefficient, ditto solar panels. Cost effective solar AC is a pipe dream, but Qatar doesn’t care about cost.
nevr thought of ibra as much of a “leader”. not an armband type of player…
I believe he was 6’9, but is a no-name defender. I mean in that he is only recognized for his height.
not a fan of ibra. comes off like a tool, but the guy is talented. iv’e a bit of acm this season and never got the impression that he was lazy. if pato (who tied w/ ibra for league goals) could be counted on to stay healthy, and if robinho could be less wasteful… ibra could be more expendable. hard to see ibra at city.
i like the addition of costa rica. i would’ve preferred canada or US, but it still helps concacaf by having a 2nd invite. costa rica might surprise some ppl
He is paid what he’s paid for leading teams to league titles. 8? in a row.
Russia actually has a huge terrorist problem with Chechen rebels bombing airports and train stations.
Don’t forget that Barcelona and not Inter holds his rights – he was in Milan on a loan.
Is a footballer ever really too tall (Peter Crouch?-Adin Brown claimed to have a 6’10 field player of a teammate in Norway a few years ago)
Wouldn’t USA’s B team be better than Costa Rica? maybe not, IDK. maybe the top u-23’s will already be with Gold Cup (Bunbury, Agudelo, Ream, Diskeruud, Chandler, Lichaj).
Exactly. Clint has 3 realistic options
1. Stay at Fulham for several more years. He’ll become a bigger and bigger star but will never taste CL or maybe EL again. But his job will be safe.
2. Move to a bigger club but outside the top6. Everton, AV, Blackburn. More cash, more club prestige, better chance at playing in EL
3. Move to a bigger club in another league. Like say Palermo in Italy or Stuttgart in Germany or Villarreal in Spain.
Better? I highly doubt that. PSG is gunning for a CL spot. Now the downside is it probably won’t make it out of the group stage and that the French league is rated 5th among the big5 European leagues.
Now if say a team like say Palermo or Lazio or Villarreal or Schalke or Stuttgart wanted him, I’d say go for it man. More money and more competition every week.
SBI could stage a contest to fill in that blank. Crafty Jack is a walking “you write the caption.”
Actually I don’t think so. We were thinking that for South Africa but then we heard Germany was the fall back plan.
I don’t see the USA being liked by FIFA all that much.
there’s no known terrorist cells or operations in Qatar, they’re actually quite friendly and nice people. As for Russia, do you hear about many russian terrorists that I don’t? I’m going to call you chicken little
Good, because nobody cares. They are getting results whether you like it or not.
i think Mr. Tevez would like to have a word with you
A new sanctioning body won’t happen and I’m sure you don’t think it will either, but you make a great point about FIFA’s complaints of the timing of these allegations. Corrupt or not, England wanted the World Cup more than can be put into words, and while I don’t trust them much more than FIFA, of course they aren’t going to break this when they still think they have a good chance of getting it. FIFA is quite simply an embarrassing microcosm of the worst qualities of the human race.
One thing that I’m surprised that I haven’t heard more about is how Qatar is going to air-condition the games. I’m no environmental engineer, but is it anywhere near possible for them to actually air-condition those stadiums using solar energy? From what I know of solar-power this seems like a huge ton of BS. I can’t help but think that if solar-energy is used, it will be a fraction of what is needed to actually air-condition 9 soccer stadiums. My god this whole deal is absolute madness.
7-9 million pounds would be about right. I guess people would have to look at it like this. Would you want him going to a French giant or stay at a mid-table Bundesliga, Premier League, La Liga, or Serie A club?
Why is Ibra held in such high regard? I think he’s a “right time, right place” player. It’s like the hype for Luca Toni, that guy was too tall, continually got the ball caught between his feet and usually fell down.
I’m not joking. And please don’t call me Shirley.
Clint is at home at Fulham, and they are probably better than PSG anyway. Why would he waste his time going to play in France?
Totally true. Except that he was their top scorer this season and far and away their best target striker.
Very funny, but seriously, if there were threats then the US would be the safest place to play.
“terrorist retaliation”??? Shirley, you jest?
That’s quite the tantalizing sentence fragment at the end of the 2nd paragraph, there:
“CONCACAF president Jack Warner _________ ”
Shall we fill in the blank ourselves, or…?
Sunil Gulati needs to step forward with what he saw during the bidding process as well. He clearly mentioned after the voting concluded that there were some federations and executives who weren’t playing by the “rules”.
I am also slightly concerned about terrorist retaliation if Russia and Qatar lose their hosting rights, especially if the US and England – two of the most hated nations by radicals – earn the hosting rights. There is all ready major concern because of the size of the event, but any backlash from disgruntled parties will not help.
Does Ibrahimovic have loyalty to anyone but himself?
What would u wager he’s worth? He’s 28 which can weigh against him but he’s good at midfield and forward and has shown he can score at the biggest stage. I’d say he’s worth 7million pounds.
So true. Foster is what like 5th option at best? 1 could argue that Fulham’s no.2 has a better shot than he does.
I kept trying to post that. If they’re sniffing then other clubs are sniffing too.
News that apparently PSG is gunning for Dempsey.
Doesn’t matter about City. Even if they get Ibra, Mancini will still rely on complete defensive (read: negative) tactics, such as three defensive midfielders and a counterattacking style, to win games.
Evidence: they needed an OG to qualify for the Champion’s league. Their best threat is Yaya Toure. Could go on, but won’t.
I’m in the same boat. I’ll believe the Qatar hype when it happens. The US is always the number one fallback plan for FIFA.
I don’t see Ibra coming back next season. The Milan supporters have never gotten over their dislike for him when he was at Inter. Plus I think everyone wants to see less lazy stars and more young talent in the likes of Pato. Milan could make a move for Giovinco, Alexis Sanchez, Javier Pastore, or Gianluca Caprari.
Still half convinced that the 2022 World Cup will be played in the States.
I don’t understand the complaints about timing from FIFA, actually. The votes have already happened. In the meantime, the complainants were building their cases. Why didn’t they come out with these allegations earlier? I don’t know, because they saw what happened to the head of their bid committee when he breathed the possibility? Also, FIFA has had this evidence since October, according to the BBC, and has done nothing about it. FIFA has known about these allegations. It is coming public now because FIFA needs to have some pressure put on it. I mean… Jesus… Surely FIFA has broken a law SOMEWHERE… can we please prosecute them and get a new sanctioning body?
Corruption lead to Qatar getting WC 2022? no way
Ben Foster has taken himself out of the England national team? That’s like Troy Perkins doing the same for the US team. Or, maybe Luis Robles.
won’t costa rica be sending a B-squad too? How is it any different?