I was interested to see this in the news again with Sepp Blattering on about it. Apparently his comments were the strongest indication yet that it'll be held in the Summer.
This came as a surprise to me, as I thought his comments were the strongest indication yet that it would be switched to the winter. To paraphrase the great dictator: "Who first said that we should play in winter? It was first Franz Beckenbaur, second Michelle Platini and also the footballer's union. Bring back suspenders."
I took that as an endorsement for the winter world cup, what with Beckenbaur, respected the world over (played not just in Europe but also in the NASL), speaking as a player (World Cup winning captain, Intercontinental Cup winner) and manager (World Cup winning manager); Platini also speaking as a player (European Championship winning captain, Intercontinental Cup winner), manager (let's gloss over that), successful administrator (organiser of the World Cup in France, President of UEFA), and FINPRO, who speak for all the players.
I mean if the players, managers and administrators all back it, who exactly is opposing it? And don't say the fans, as playing it in Qatar shows a complete disregard for them anyway.
The other reason this is interesting, is the timing. There wasn't much fan-fare, but the Asian Cup was held out there last week as a dry-run (excuse the pun). This wasn't exactly a success with the tournament, being played in a country whose entire population is a fifth of that of London, unsurprisingly played out in front of tiny crowds. My spies tell me that even the final was a disaster, somehow combining empty stands with crowd trouble as thousands of supporters with tickets were locked out and it all turned a bit nasty. Of course, the European journalists flown out there on a junket appear to have omitted this from their reports and local journalists proclaimed unquestioningly the whole event a success.
Although to be fair, with Australia losing in the final, that's not entirely inaccurate.
Maybe the whole thing is a smokescreen to ensure people aren't asking too many questions as to why Russia got 2018?
This came as a surprise to me, as I thought his comments were the strongest indication yet that it would be switched to the winter. To paraphrase the great dictator: "Who first said that we should play in winter? It was first Franz Beckenbaur, second Michelle Platini and also the footballer's union. Bring back suspenders."
I took that as an endorsement for the winter world cup, what with Beckenbaur, respected the world over (played not just in Europe but also in the NASL), speaking as a player (World Cup winning captain, Intercontinental Cup winner) and manager (World Cup winning manager); Platini also speaking as a player (European Championship winning captain, Intercontinental Cup winner), manager (let's gloss over that), successful administrator (organiser of the World Cup in France, President of UEFA), and FINPRO, who speak for all the players.
I mean if the players, managers and administrators all back it, who exactly is opposing it? And don't say the fans, as playing it in Qatar shows a complete disregard for them anyway.
The other reason this is interesting, is the timing. There wasn't much fan-fare, but the Asian Cup was held out there last week as a dry-run (excuse the pun). This wasn't exactly a success with the tournament, being played in a country whose entire population is a fifth of that of London, unsurprisingly played out in front of tiny crowds. My spies tell me that even the final was a disaster, somehow combining empty stands with crowd trouble as thousands of supporters with tickets were locked out and it all turned a bit nasty. Of course, the European journalists flown out there on a junket appear to have omitted this from their reports and local journalists proclaimed unquestioningly the whole event a success.
Although to be fair, with Australia losing in the final, that's not entirely inaccurate.
Maybe the whole thing is a smokescreen to ensure people aren't asking too many questions as to why Russia got 2018?
