By RYAN TOLMICH
The latest scandal involving the indictments of FIFA officials has sent shockwaves throughout the sport, and the game’s governing body are stepping up to address the issues at hand.
After seeing some of its top officials, including president Jeffery Webb, charged by U.S. authorities, CONCACAF has restated the federation’s desire to cooperate with authorities while continuing business as usual while the process follows its course.
“The Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) is deeply concerned by today’s developments, in the arrest of several international football officials including those belonging to our Confederation,” CONCACAF said in a statement. “The Confederation will continue to cooperate with the authorities to its fullest capacity. ”
“At present, CONCACAF is not in a position to comment further on the specific allegations, which have been referred to the appropriate legal counsel through the pertinent channels. CONCACAF continues to operate in the ordinary course of business, hosting all of its upcoming tournaments in a successful and timely manner, including the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.”
U.S. Soccer, one of 41 member nations of CONCACAF, reiterated the federation’s position in a statement while insisting that the game’s ethical standards remain of the highest priority.
“The United States Soccer Federation firmly believes there is no higher priority, and nothing more important, than protecting the integrity of our game,” U.S. Soccer said. We are committed to the highest ethical standards and business practices, and we will continue to encourage CONCACAF and FIFA to promote the same values.
“Out of respect for the ongoing investigation, we will not speculate or comment further on this matter at this time.”
MLS commissioner Don Garber also stated his thoughts on the investigation as the commissioner, like the rest of the world, continues to wait on the results of the investigations at hand.
“These are extremely serious charges and it is critically important for the entire sport of soccer that fans everywhere have confidence in the integrity of the institutions that govern the game,” Garber said. “We, like the rest of the soccer world, will be watching this as it develops.”
No Sepp Blatter or Issa Hayatou arrests is just a waste of time. FIFA president will be voted in on Friday and it will be business as usual.
Could we see more favorable calls in the future for the USA in concacaf qualifying, Gold Cups, etc.?? Being serious
Just read an ESPN article that called it a “22 year investigation.” I LOL. I think they mean 21 years of corruption and 1 year investigation.
Nah man. If not the US, England has been all over this shite for years.
Something tells me if Sepp Blatter would’ve stepped away in 2008 the senile old fart would’ve gotten away scott free
Nah man. If not the US, England has been all over this crap for years.
Something tells me if Sepp Blatter would’ve stepped away in 2008 the senile old fart would’ve gotten away scott free
22 years sounds like a stretch, but the investigation has been going on for at least four years now.
Nope. RICO cases move slowly. But are remarkably good at grinding people into dust. These investigations go on for years, waiting for one piece of evidence against the right person, who they then try to flip and on and on.
Are placing bets yet on how soon FIFA moves its headquarters to Qatar?
These initial DOJ arrests were for corruption crimes dealing with the upcoming 2016 Copa America in the US. I am assuming that these bribes must have been the marketing firms bribing the Concacaf/Conmebol officials? Obviously there was no bidding process to see where the tournament would be held, it was always going to be in the United States, so the bribes weren’t for that.
Hopefully no USSF officials get charged or arrested. Imagine if Sunil Gulati were to come out to be dirty also? What a disaster it would be. We would all have to be red in the face after all the smack we talked about Fifa and Qatar and then it turns out our FA is just as dirty.
my thoughts as well. i don’t see why USSF should have been involved in anything, other than being around this culture… hopefully this all true, would be very disappointed if we ever stepped to their level.
also the DOJ brought up South Africa 2010, Elections 2011, Copa 2016 but didn’t really address the WC bidding in 2011; if there is a US tie – almost guaranteed – I hope they continue into this next chapter of racketeering and this is just the phase 1 of many indictments they bring up.
Pretty sure I believe them when I read the 2015 Gold Cup will continue as usual, but what is the status of the 2016 Copa?
Hopefully no USSF officials get charged or arrested.
Why?Accountability is accountability. If anyone was involved, including Americans, get them out of here too because they’re a part of the problem.
From the outside and with no intimate knowledge, purely speculative, but I’ve always been uncomfortable with how passive our federation and Gulati appear to have been regarding what appears to be incredibly obvious. If there’s any wrongdoings, back room deals or connection to the corruption from our offices then f–k them,too.
Gulati and USSF have actually been pretty outspoken regarding FIFA corruption. They specifically said that they were upset about the 2022 WC vote because their bid was clean and transparent.
Based on the evidence I’ve seen, Gulati and USSF are pretty clean on this issue.
They specifically said that they were upset about the 2022 WC vote because their bid was clean and transparent.
Understood – but why not before the bid process? Additionally, why haven’t they pressed the issue since? Correct me if I’m wrong but Gulati has been supportive of Blatter’s continued reign post-World Cup by voting for him still, correct?
It felt like there was a time and place for traction to fight against the regime with Gulati and the English FA being publicly outspoken to the media post-World Cup bid, but not since.
Was it all just posturing? Hopefully the investigation(s) clear the water on who’s corrupt, supported corruption and who’s not. Time for some true transparency that doesn’t include soundbites or quotes in the media.
Do you know who else was very outspoken against corruption? Our very own Chuck Blazer. It means nothing.
Amen. Gulati, Garber and that whole NFL backed cartel are as crooked as they come.
What is your evidence for Gulati being crooked? Or are you just saying it to sound cool?
Old School, I am not saying that USSF officials shouldn’t be charged/arrested if dirty, I am saying that I hope they aren’t dirty.
I don’t care what nationality they are. If they’re corrupt – give them the boot.
“Hopefully no USSF officials get charged or arrested.”
I highly doubt it. This is more about protecting American interests than anything else. If the FBI didn’t go after Blazer when he was plundering CONCACAF I doubt they’ll go after any of the USSF big wigs now.
Um, they did go after Blazer.
The DOJ will get their scalps. If anyone at USSF, MLS, or SUM is dirty they will get theirs. This is a typical RICO case. Start relatively small to mid-leval and regional, then go up the food chain from there.
The U.S. AG is not doing a press conference just to get Traffic and some unknown NASL guy. This is big league stuff. Fasten your seat belts.
They sure did, two decades late and after he retired.
Loretta Lynch mentioned a major American athletic apparel company in conjunction with Brazil. Does this have something to do with Nike perhaps?
F.I.F.A. corrupt? No!!!!
Interesting that no Mexican officials were implicated. I am not saying they should have been. I am just saying that Mexico is clearly the top soccer nation in CONCACAF – at least at the club level – and has a better pro league. Blazer is clearly the linchpin of all of this. Is/was the Mexican Federation frozen out of the bribe culture, or were they smart enough not to participate?
Pointless to speculate. Basically Chuck Blazer is a rat that turned informant for the FBI. If no charges were brought on anybody within the Mexican federation it is because there is no evidence for it as of yet. I am not accusing you but your comment comes of as looking shady, kind of like saying “hey I think the Mexicans are the most corrupt, how is it that there weren’t any of them arrested”. I will give you the benefit of the doubt though.
Those are his exact implications though.
But that’s besides the point.
I’ll say this much. The USSF and FMF have a pretty healthy relationship. If one goes down it’s not going without a fight and the other with it.
probably smart enough not to participate, also while Mexico is easily the top nation in the region it has almost no power in CONCACAF mostly thanks to caribbean nations siding with the US instead.
What makes mexico clearly top dogs in the region? It can’t be finishing in world cup qualifying. It can’t be recents head to head results. It can’t be facilities (every major concacaf tournament and many mexican friendlies are played in the us). I guess results of the champions league that is scheduled with a huge advantage For the mexican teams as well as a the fact MLS is designed to have parity as opposed to 1-4 good teams. I guess also you could argued mexico is top because they pay their players more (but how much longer will that last?). I would take two teams made up of MLS all stars that played and trained as a team over any mexican team or equivalent Mexicans all stars.
“What makes mexico clearly top dogs in the region?”
Bigger and more profitable league, more CONCACAF tournaments won than anyone else in the region (9 CONCACAF Championships/Gold Cups, 29 CCLs/CONCACAF Club cups, 6 championships at U23 level, 13 at U20, 6 at U17), good results at international tournaments at NT level (two Copa America finals, the Olympics gold medal, the youth championshipts, etc) and club level (two libertadores finals, several semifinals and two third places in the CWC), also Mexico is the only NT in the region that consistenly makes it to the R16 in the WC something that only Brazil and Germany have done.
“It can’t be finishing in world cup qualifying”
it doesn’t really matter in which position you qualify as long as you do, Uruguay always go to the playoffs in CONMEBOL and finished 4th in South Africa, Mexico finished lower than Honduras in the Hex, Costa Rica lower than the US and both of them had better World Cups, Costa Rica finished first in 2001 and was one of the worst teams in 2002 while the US made it to the QFs
“It can’t be recents head to head results.”
most of those results are in friendlies, The series is practically tied in official games and Mexico has won more GC finals against the US than the other way around.
“It can’t be facilities (every major concacaf tournament and many mexican friendlies are played in the us)”
that’s an economic decision, the tournament is hosted in the US because the demographics feature people from all over North America and they all pay in dollars, Mexico and Canada could easily host the tournament.
“I guess results of the champions league that is scheduled with a huge advantage For the mexican teams as well as a the fact MLS is designed to have parity as opposed to 1-4 good teams”
Mexico also dominated the Interliga which was played during the MLS midseason and Liga MX pre season and it isn’t Mexico’s fault that MLS can’t survive without the salary cap.
“I guess also you could argued mexico is top because they pay their players more (but how much longer will that last?).”
Irrelevant, South American teams pay less than Liga MX and they have won games against mexican teams in Copa Libertadores.
“I would take two teams made up of MLS all stars that played and trained as a team over any mexican team or equivalent Mexicans all stars”
Good for you, doesn’t change the fact that Liga MX and the mexican national team are recognized internationally as the best in CONCACAF by everyone except us Americans.
So in the last 15 years the US is 13-5-5 record against Mexico 7 wins in competitive events (WC, WCQ, Gold cup, and US cup). So in the most objective criteria, our best vs your best on the field, the us has a pretty dominant record over recent history. Also during that time the US Senior team has made it to the finals of a major tournament, beat the number 1 ranked team in the world in a competitive match on neutral field, and made a WC quarterfinal, all things the Mexican national team has not done.
So canada and mexico could host the tournament and so could costa rica or really any concacaf nation, the reason it is in the US is because we have the best facilities for sports and inferstructor to host major events (which is not really disputed by anyone in the world).
Your only argument is that the Mexican league is better than MLS pointing to results in a tournament that clearly favors mexican teams over MLS teams in the knockout rounds, looking to the distant pass to dismiss recent head to head results, and that the rest of the world thinks higher of mexico. First MLS is not run like every other league in the world where the talent is concentrated at the top if you did that in MLS the MLS teams would be the best in the region by a good margin. Secondly there is a well known and established anti-us bias from the rest of the world in evaluating US players and coaches. I’ll take objective results over the subjective comparisons of biased Europeans in determining top dog.
Mexico’s time is in the past the US is the present and the future.
I would say their club results in the Copa Libertadores and Nats results in the Copa America.
Also, hate to say it, but globally is though of as a superior league and develops major talent for European football.
And just historically really. Also their youth teams.
On second thought, I’d say quite a lot.
Mexico has no sway over the Caribbean nations. And Blazer got the ball rolling on the investigation, but he was hardly the linchpin of all of this – especially considering that so much of the investigation focused on stuff that happened after he was out of the picture.
much happened while he was around. He wouldn’t be much an of informant if he couldn’t inform.
What you do in the dark, eventually comes to the light.
Can’t wait to see what/who this light shines on and reveals any corrupt behavior or dealings within our organization(s), if it comes to that.