The Football Tragic

Some more matters to chew on as a result of FIFA’s recent communiqué:

1. The Warner Affair

The egregious Jack has been let off the hook with a warning, which was not exactly unexpected.

But, in a political sense, has he gotten off scot-free? Perhaps not.

An interesting side-effect of the Asia-Oceania détente has been that CONCACAF’s “half” team will now be forced to play off against a South American nation, rather than the Asian No. 5, as was the case in the last cycle.

This is a blow to Warner’s confederation, and more particularly to nations like his own Trinidad and Tobago, who may find themselves facing Colombia or Uruguay rather than Bahrain in the 2010 playoffs.

CONCACAF have recently been pushing for four full places at the World Cup (which would be sheer absurdity, given their lack of depth), so the result of the allocation deliberations could be seen as a double blow for Warner and his confederation.

2. The South American marathon

Yes, the idiotic 18-game system for South American World Cup qualifying will continue. But at least FIFA have had the sense to strictly limit the qualifiers to double-headers, so as to ease the burden on the players.

Why is it not possible to simply play the South American qualifiers in two five-team groups with a playoff between the two third-placed teams? Are they that desperate for gate takings from international matches?

3. G14 relations

The “defending the autonomy of sport” rhetoric at the beginning of the report is surely, at least in part, a veiled reference to Sepp Blatter’s plans to introduce a mandatory limit on foreign players in national leagues. Currently, EU freedom of labour laws make Blatter’s laudable aim (yes, I’m on his side on this one) somewhat problematic – some might say downright impossible.

It’s only the latest episode in the ongoing war between FIFA and the powerful (rapacious?) group of European clubs known as the G14.

There is a conciliatory note, however, in the mention of the working group being set up to:

…work on an insurance solution for players released for international duty…

The reference here is to the litmus case of Abdelmajid Oulmers (on which more in a future piece), the outcome of which could prove devastating for international football, and, by extension, FIFA.

And just an update on the Asia-Oceania question, by the way: it seems the opposition to Australia's presence in the AFC is becoming quite overt. No surprise, either, that it's the West Asians who are complaining.

Particularly cynical and pathetic is the claim that Australia's move has adversely affected the development of New Zealand and the Pacific nations. A free spot in all the major tournaments besides the World Cup? Not as important as having a big brother in the confederation to regularly rack up cricket scores, apparently.

And if the OFC nations are genuinely angry about it, then they should simply follow Australia's lead. The Oceania confederation is an anachronism, pure and simple.