It will be interesting to see if Platini goes after PSG with his FFP project as they are probably the biggest potential offenders in terms of spending in excess of what they earn (although Monaco could now be eclipsing them).
I dont think the Confederation Cup demonstrations will be big enough to force a major change (or power struggle) at FIFA and, unless they dramatically increase next year, I cant see it being enough of an issue at WC 2014. I think Qatar in 2022 could well be a breaking point between Blatter and Platini. Platini is very much towing the Qatari line and insisting that it has to be held there and any winter world cup should be accommodated by the wider footballing world. Blatter has said that shifting Qatar 2022 to winter will have to be approved and a re-vote on the whole world cup will be necessary.
I think that the majority of big clubs and perhaps even the UEFA associations will side with Blatter on this. Within UEFA shifting to winter will have the most impact on PL clubs (who play quite a lot of games during this period) but even for Serie A, La Liga, French league and the Bundesliga, there will be the loss of the winter break and while the World Cup itself only lasts 4 weeks, when you take into account team preparation etc it can't easily be squeezed into the winter breaks of club leagues. I think it could be an issue in Latin America too, the Argentine League specifically the "Inicial" (or "Apertura" as it used to be called) runs from August to Februray. The Libertadores (Latin American CL) starts in late January, and the Copa Sudamericana (similar to the UEFA/Europa League) ends in mid December. A winter world cup, which seems to be Platini's latest pet-project, would involve wholesale changes to a lot of Latin American leagues and it's far from certain they would accomodate him. Platini stuck his oar in a few years ago when he suggested that the Copa America should not include Mexico or Costa Rica (or Japan and the US in some instances) and Mexican clubs shouldnt be included in the Libertadores. The federations objected to this (and questioned why someone at UEFA should be expressing such a vehement opinion on it) as it would have massive implications for both competitions in terms of competitiveness and sponsorship, and could damage Mexican and Latin American football. They will probably be loathed to accomodate Platini if it doesnt suit them.
Even UEFA national associations (FAs) will probably object to a Winter World Cup. If WC2022 is brought forward to Dec 21/Jan 22 it's hard to see how UEFA qualification could be completed. If you extrapolate WC2022 to Brazil 2014, shifting it forward in this way would mean the World Cup would be complete at near enough the end of calendar year 2013 (6 months from now), so qualification would have had to have been complete by August/September 2013 at the latest. How is it going to be possible to complete qualification 13-14 months after a Euros (using our example Euro 2012)? Maybe they will suggest combining Euro 2020 qualification with WC 2022 qualification (as they did with the ACN in 2010) but there are issues with numbers (24 qualify for the 2020 Euros (there are no hosts) and 13 will probably qualify for the WC), and it's hard to see how national associations will want to miss out on a whole series of lucrative WC qualification games. If they shift WC2022 back six months (to Dec 22/Jan 2013) again it will impact qualification for Euro 2024.
There is also the side issue of a winter World Cup clashing with FIFA's World Club Cup. When you look at the mess surrounding Qatar 2022, a mess which is entirely FIFA's own creation, it has much more of a potential to damage the FIFA hierarchy than the Brazilian riots - which they are likely to give lip-service to and explain away as "not involving FIFA" or "a domestic Brazilian governmental issue" etc.
Last edited by Closed Account 2; 24/06/2013 at 9:54 AM.
This is an interesting recent (full transcript) interview with Platini,
Martin Samuel meets Michel Platini.
Some credit is due to Platini for doing the interview with a 'hostile' journalist.
This is tread spillage though, isn't it?
Platini's still a dick though. See his input into the fallout from a certain game three-and-a-half years ago.
For all the good it did his country...
I can't remember what Platini's input was or how it makes him a dick. He claimed at the time that an extra official would, with a degree of certainty, have spotted the hand ball and in that article, Platini explains that the role of his 'extra official behind the goal' has been reduced to that of a statue by Fifa.Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
Julio Cesar saves an early penalty against Uruguay... interesting.
It was an interesting game. Unfortunately Brazil are blighted by the the simulation disease and have one brainless centre half in Luiz. I thought Cavani had a superb game, worth 2 players, a quality defender and a quality attacker.
I don't think I've ever seen a tournament so predictable, results wise. If everybody filled out one of those tournament predictions sheets I'd say most would have been spot on up until this point. Mexico Japan was possibly the only game where there wasn't a definite favourite but I'd say most would have still went with Mexico. There hasn't even been a draw yet. I hope the predictability continues tonight and we get our Brazil-Spain final.
Thought he had a very good game, and has been on of Brazil's best players throughout the tournament.
Not even Brazil 4 Italy 2?
I think most would have fancied Brazil to win at home, maybe not 4-2 but I wasn't really talking about scorelines a such, just outcomes.
Forlan's corner kick deliveries were outstanding last night.
Spain to beat Italy tonight, 2-1.
FINAL
Brazil 0-3 Spain
The Beautiful Game
Hopefully Italy upset the apple cart tonight. And then beat Brazil. Yes. That's a spicy meatball.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Except for when they were terrible.
Heh, they only come out at night, or in this case the daytime...
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Can anyone tell me what will be the Irish kick off times next year? Confed Cup games have been 8pm & 11pm
Normally there is 3 games a day in the WC. I'm too lazy to work it out...
https://www.google.ie/#sclient=psy-a...w=1280&bih=927
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
From what I can make out, it'll be 5pm, 8pm, 11pm and the latest ones at 2am. I like football in the wee hours
Whilst I like World Cups in Europe in one sense, There's nothing like football at awkward times to give a sense of occasion.From what I can make out, it'll be 5pm, 8pm, 11pm and the latest ones at 2am. I like football in the wee hours
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Definitely. I was a shade too young to fully understand Italia '90 so USA '94 was my big introduction to the World Cup and I loved being able to stay up after midnight. I remember watching Argentina - Nigeria or something in my granny's house.
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