By RYAN TOLMICH
With all of the controversy surrounding the 2022 World Cup, even FIFA’s executives have become disenchanted with the idea of a tournament in Qatar.
FIFA executive board member Theo Zwanziger has stated his belief that Qatar will be stripped of the 2022 World Cup, as the former German FA president cited climate issues as too difficult to overcome.
“Personally, I believe that the 2022 World Cup will not take place in Qatar in the end,” Zwanziger said. “The doctors say — and I have demanded to have this registered in the records — that they can’t be held responsible for a summer World Cup held in those conditions.
“The World Cup not only takes place in the stadiums,” Zwanziger continued. “Fans from all over the world will be out in the heat. The first life-threatening incident would immediately lead to public prosecution. And no one in the FIFA executive would want to answer for that.”
For their part, FIFA declined comment, insisting that Zwanziger’s statements were just “his personal opinion.” In addition, FIFA has in no way indicated that they would be open to taking the World Cup away from Qatar.
Here are some more news and notes to kick off your Monday morning:
MOURINHO, PELLEGRINI EXCHANGE INSULTS AFTER DRAW
After seeing their respective sides battle to a hard-fought draw, Jose Mourinho and Manuel Pellegrini continued the battle into the press areas.
The Chelsea and Manchester City managers exchanged insults after Sunday’s clash, with Pellegrini blasting Mourinho’s Chelsea for being locked into “a small club” mentality while also comparing the title challengers to recent opponent Stoke City, who defeated Man City 1-0.
“I think we played during 90 minutes against a small team trying to defend, trying to keep 10 players in front of their goal and [City were] a team that wanted to win from the beginning,” Pellegrini said. “We had two or three clear chances to score at the start of the second half and after with 10 players, we continued trying to win. I am satisfied with the performance of my team but I am not satisfied with the score.
“I think we played against exactly the same team we played against Stoke here,” he said. “It will be very difficult for us to score. Finally we could score.”
Meanwhile, Mourinho, who referred to the Chilean manager as “Mr. Pellegrino”, called out Pellegrini for hypocrisy due to the Man City manager’s previous criticisms.
“Pellegrino many times says he never speaks about me and my team but he keeps doing the same thing,” Mourinho said. “I am the one that does as he says. I don’t comment on his words. Don’t ask me about his words, I am not interested in that.
“I don’t speak about other teams’ players,” Mourinho continued. “Mr. Pellegrino, instead of speaking about other teams’ players, should speak about Frank Lampard. I am Chelsea manager, I speak about my players. My players did fantastic.”
The rivalry between the two managers dates back to 2010 when Mourinho replaced Pellegrini as manager of Real Madrid.
WENGER SAYS HENRY IS ‘GOOD ACT TO FOLLOW’ FOR WELBECK
For the past decade and a half, the role of Arsenal striker has been synonymous with the great Thierry Henry. However, now seven years since the departure of the Frenchman, manager Arsene Wenger is still using Henry as a model for his current forward.
Wenger’s latest attacking purchase, forward Danny Welbeck, has hit the ground running in the start to his Arsenal career and his manager has insisted that the English forward should look at Henry as an example due to both players’ previous struggles with being played out of position at their previous clubs.
“Look, give me some time,” Wenger said. “It is a bit early to say that when you look at the number of goals Thierry Henry scored.
“I think [Welbeck] has an interesting potential and let’s see how he develops. He has a good mentality, good physical potential, good technical potential. He contributes to our team play because he doesn’t lose the ball up front and those are important qualities. [Henry] is a good act to follow, you know … I have nothing against it.”
QUICK KICKS
Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta, who was sent off in this weekend’s clash with Chelsea, has expressed disbelief that Chelsea’s Diego Costa was not sent off for putting his hands on the Argentine’s throat. (REPORT)
Former Liverpool defender Daniel Agger has cited differences with manager Brendan Rodgers as the reasoning behind his summer move to Danish side Brondby. (REPORT)
Real Madrid are close to agreeing to a new $575-650 million sponsorship deal that will see the club rename it’s stadium, the Santiago Bernabeu, for an Abu Dhabi investment company. (REPORT)
Police are investigating online racial abuse of Liverpool forward Mario Balotelli after the Italian posted a tweet poking fun at Manchester United’s loss to Leicester City. (REPORT)
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How do you see the Qatar situation unfolding? What do you think of Mourinho and Pellegrini’s comments? How will Welbeck perform this season for Arsenal?
Share your thoughts below.
RE: Manuel Pellegrini see Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers. He said virrually teh same about Jose last season
good to hear the FIFA executive saying that, especially after the report this weekend that said the report the investigator put together on the WC bids will not be public and that, essentially, no one would ever see it…….
also, Santiago Bernabeu should keep its name! it really bums me out to see stadium name changes like this.
C.R.E.A.M.
get the money; dollar, dollar bill yall.
FIFA is like a UN without the Security Council. People like Blatter and his cronies can make promises and funnel goodies to the 100+ smaller national federations in exchange for support in elections. Until FIFA’s governing model is reforemd, nothing important will change.
Kind of like the US congress
^ this
Okay. Good
Now let them discuss Russia’s equally corrupt World Cup bid
+1
Awarding the WC to Qatar was likely the most brazen criminal act of the FIFA mafia.
I doubt that the crooks will come to their senses…maybe if a player actually dies at a game from a heat stroke…God forbid…
I agree, but the funny part is that this time Blatter was not involved. He actually DID NOT WANT the Qatari World Cup. He wanted the US. He has a whole rotation of the World Cup between continents set up. This had more to do with Platini and some of the African, Asia and Spanish delegates.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/16/sepp-blatter-qatar-2022-world-cup-mistake
If the take it for Qatar, they will paint it in the health concerns issue. If the have to pin it on corruption, which I doubt, they will scapegoat the African and some Asia delegates even though money flowed to France and Spain as well.
What about all the people dying right now building the stadiums? Are they not white enough to matter?
“What about all the people dying right now building the stadiums?”
This was my first thought, too.
Qatar would get their world cup if they were to get their hands dirty in Syria/Iraq
What do you mean? They have blood on their hands already funding various terrorist groups! http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/08/world/middleeast/qatars-support-of-extremists-alienates-allies-near-and-far.html
I mean, the US has a history of being a terrorist start-up – often training, funding, and arming future terrorists in the Middle East and Latin America.
Darwin are you “Sister Act”?
No, I am not…I just find it laughable when Americans cry that others have ‘blood on their hands’. We’re the USA – we have a bloody history, and we are currently the largest distributor of weapons. We don’t have to dwell on it, but I am always surprised that this is not common knowledge.
Yeah…I actually agree.
quote from the US Treasury press release – hardly a concrete admission of intelligence:
“Most notably, Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally, has for many years openly financed Hamas, a group that continues to undermine regional stability. Press reports indicate that the Qatari government is also supporting extremist groups operating in Syria. To say the least, this threatens to aggravate an already volatile situation in a particularly dangerous and unwelcome manner.
With new leadership in Doha, we remain hopeful that Qatar – a country that in other respects has been a constructive partner in countering terrorism – will continue to work closely with us to oppose and combat those who adhere to the warped and murderous ideology of Hamas and al-Qa’ida.”
People who hurl racial abuse on social media safe from facing the wrath they might incur are cowardly, drooling pin heads. But police investigations? If some moron wants to call Balotli a monkey from the safety of his mothers basement, let him. Free speech meAns the freedom to expose yourself as an idiot.
Freedom of speech may mean different things in different locations.
You CANNOT apply AMERICAN laws to other countries. Why do people consistently do this? It is borderline ignorant. Italy has their laws, US has their laws. We are a common law jurisdiction and they are a Civil law jurisdiction with certain restrictions on speech.
Easy there, Paul. I can’t speak for Tony specifically, but the idea that there exists in Europe these kinds of restrictions on speech is a pretty incredible concept for many Americans. “Why do people consistently do this?” Just because you know something doesn’t mean everyone else does. Either ignore or calmly explain and move on, but there’s no need to get worked up.
I am not applying American laws to anyone else.
I am applying common sense. I am well aware of the UK’s limits on free speech and their ultimate impact of limiting the freedom of the press, from the Official Secrets Act to libel laws that overwhelming favor plaintiffs. It may be emotionally gratifying to see someone prosecuted for a racial insult, but is good for society? It’s easy to protect speech you agree with. The measure of a free society is protecting what it doesn’t agree with. Bottom line is that while everyone agrees that the people who did this are wrong, the fact is there are plenty of times in the past when the threat of prosecution clamped on people for purely political reasons. Once you allow prosecution for speech simply because you find it distasteful, you have agreed to an apparatus of repression that may someday get around to you.
Let public opinion and ridicule shame people who do this sort of thing. Run their names and comments in the newspaper. Let the world see them for what they are.
Tony, no worries! I was not having a good day, so I sounded off in your direction. My bad. I was also speaking from experience since I am lawyer and practiced international law. So, I know that there are laws in certain regimes which don’t apply or may run counter to policies in other regimes. I agree that I can be a slippery slope, but I know that Germany and UK in particular have distinct laws about this because of their particular histories. Society have made attempts to address. Also keep in mind that common sense is sometimes a reflection of your own society and social mores ;)…
Zwanziger is all of a sudden going to be “found guilty of corruption” or “have no choice but to resign for personal issues.”
Nah, Blatter reserves those reasons specifically for Chairman challengers.
I assume we can jump off the “resembled a team capable of living up to the history and tradition of the club” now, correct: http://www.soccerbyives.net/2014/09/european-manchester-thriller.html
Embarrassing.
If you go back to AF’s last ManU season they won the title outscoring people in 3-2 type games. They ended the seaso with the epic 5-5 Albion tie. Whether intentional or from poor GM work, the teams at ManU and Liverpool are effectively like Eredivisie teams, flowing soccer but no defense. That makes it hard to control a match from whistle to whistle. Liverpool seemed to be better with Suarez chasing people up top — in addition to the goal production — but ManU defensively has been rudderless for 2 seasons now.
While scorelines are an effective metric to take a temperature of a team’s form, this current squad resembles very little to the AF squad you referenced.
Arsene is setting the bar a little high for Welbeck. I think Henry is better than Welbeck right now, let alone when he was at his peak.
Alright, but to be fair, Wenger NEVER said Welbeck is better than Henry was at his age, or at any point…
Most likely this is just a little extra pat on the back to encourage him.
One issue I have with Theo Z’s comments is, he’s just one member of the board claiming to speak of the end result of a vote not even yet taken. It might be the right decision but this suggests the board discusses decisions off-session privately which without even getting into the outside influences makes you concerned about transparency and corruption.
Yes, and other issue is all the Qatar money in Swiss banks. The biggest issue is all the money that went through Swiss banks on its way to fund various terrorist groups! Public health safety is the easiest concern and argument for withdrawing the Qatar WC. The laissez faire use of Qatar funds in corruption, terrorism, building practices, and human resources has put them on notice to sponsors and governments.
Well, if we’re going to consider Hamas a terrorist group, then let’s agree to put Israel in that barrel as well.
Really? You’re worried about transparency and corruption at FIFA?
Diego Costa: “”Did you see me cutting into his chest? Did I cut his chest? I was proabing for muscle tone and skeletal gerth. It’s a new technique. We mock what we don’t understand.”
probing….girth, etc. this is what I get for cut and paste
“Probing” and “girth” are innately dangerous verbs and nouns that should always be copied and pasted with caution.
Yikes. Probing girth.
“Doctor? Doctor..Doctor? doctor…doctor? doctor…Glad I’m not sick.”
Zwanziger continued,” I will fight this Qatar world cup with everything I… Oh a watch! Thank you, see you in Qatar, Sheik!”
How dare you insult the character of a FIFA executive by insinuating that he can be bought with something as trifling as a watch! They may be easy, but they’re not cheap!
Hmmm, I don’t know. I can’t tell you the things I’d do for a Patek Phillipe.
Wow, there are things that are considered too dirty for the internet? Now you really got me curious!