World Cup
England Also Played ‘Dirty’ in 2018 World Cup Bid
It is getting increasingly difficult to get people who were clean during the controversial bids and double awards of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Sports Village Square recalls that when the results of the bids were announced on December 2, 2010, it was the first and only time FIFA ever awarded two final competitions at the same time. The awards have a lot of casualties including almost the entire FIFA executive committee that was in place as at December 2010.
Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer, Chelsea owner, Abramovich among others have been embroiled in the World Cup award scandal.
Now, the English royal family and the former British Prime Minister, David Cameron have been cited in the scandal that is fast expanding. England failed in the bid for the 2018 World Cup. The released report has it that Prince William and the former Prime Minister, Cameron were at a meeting in which a vote –swapping deal between England and South Korea was discussed.
Cameron reportedly asked the South Korean delegation to support England’s bid, only to be told England would have to do the same for South Korea as it bid for the 2022 World Cup.
According to the Michael Garcia report, such a vote-swapping deal would have been in “violation of the anti-collusion rules”.
The report says Mr Cameron met FIFA vice-president Mong-Joon Chung (South Korea) in Prince William’s suite at a Zurich hotel the night before the vote for the 2018 hosting rights in December 2010.
“The Prime Minister asked Mr Chung to vote for England’s bid, and Mr Chung responded that he would if Mr (Geoff) Thompson (chairman of England’s bid) voted for Korea (to host the 2022 tournament),” the report claims.
England officials in charge of organising the country’s bid arranged jobs for the “adopted son” of FIFA vice-president Jack Warner at Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur (football clubs), and they were reportedly asked to engineer a meeting with the Queen for one FIFA official from South Africa. This official also raised the possibility of an honorary knighthood.
The report slams England’s attempt to court Warner, who was also president of North, Central American and Caribbean football, alleging officials considered twinning his hometown in Trinidad and Tobago with an English village.
In 2009 the English Football Association also covered the costs of the Trinidad and Tobago Under-20 team when it stayed in Sheffield.
“England 2018’s response shows an unfortunate willingness, time and again, to meet that expectation (of Mr Warner),” the report says.
England’s hopes of hosting the 2018 World Cup were ended swiftly when its bid received only two votes, knocking it out of contention in the first round.
The report states there was “conduct by England 2018 that may not have met the standards set out in the FCE (FIFA code of ethics) or the bid rules.
“In many cases England 2018 accommodated or at least attempted to satisfy, the improper requests made by these Executive Committee members.
“While the bidding process itself, and the attitude of entitlement and expectation demonstrated by certain Executive Committee members in the exchanges discussed in detail above, place the bid team in a difficult position that fact does not excuse all of the conduct.”
The first set of revelations from the so-called Garcia report painted a bleak picture of the background to the infamous 2010 vote that gave the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
Garcia had resigned as head of FIFA’s investigatory body in December 2014 in protest after FIFA released a 40-page sanitised summary of his report which he disowned, describing it as “incomplete and erroneous”.
The full report referred to an array of suspect financial dealings including the sum of $2 million allegedly sent by a consultant for Qatar, Sandro Rosell, to the 10-year-old daughter of a FIFA official.
Garcia’s investigation also revealed that one former FIFA executive committee member thanked Qatar by mail for a transfer of several hundred thousand euros just after Qatar was awarded the 2022 tournament.
The report also documents that three executive members of FIFA were flown to Rio de Janeiro for a private party ahead of the vote to decide who would host the 2022 World Cup.
Russia-based forward Olakunle Olusegun is still awaiting an entry visa to South Africa, creating the possibility that Nigeria may prosecute the encounter with only 21 available players.
Friday’s crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying encounter at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, South Africa.
Head Coach Eric Sekou Chelle will have a total of 20 players available for Wednesday’s second training session, as the Super Eagles intensify preparations for the tie against the Crocodiles.
By Tuesday night, 18 players had checked into the team’s camp at The Ranch Hotel in Polokwane, with Portugal-based defender Zaidu Sanusi and Spain-based forward Jerome Akor Adams expected to join on Wednesday. United States-based midfielder Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi is due to arrive on Thursday.
Chelle has had to adjust his squad following injuries to Bright Osayi-Samuel and Cyriel Dessers, prompting the late inclusion of Zaidu Sanusi and Christantus Uche of Crystal Palace. Earlier, a knock to wing-back Felix Agu had reduced the initial 23-man roster to 22.
Team captain William Ekong lacing his boots for training in Polokwane on Tuesday
Friday’s Matchday 9 fixture will kick off at 6pm South Africa time (5pm Nigeria time) at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium, as the Super Eagles aim to strengthen their position in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying race.
21 SUPER EAGLES TO BATTLE LESOTHO IN POLOKWANE
Goalkeepers: Stanley Nwabali (Chippa United, South Africa); Amas Obasogie (Singida Blackstars, Tanzania); Adeleye Adebayo (Volos FC, Greece)
Defenders: William Ekong (Al-Kholood, Saudi Arabia); Calvin Bassey (Fulham FC, England); Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (Hull City, England); Zaidu Sanusi (FC Porto, Portugal); Bruno Onyemaechi (Olympiakos, Greece); Benjamin Fredericks (Dender FC, Belgium)
Midfielders: Alex Iwobi (Fulham FC, England); Frank Onyeka (Brentford FC, England); Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi (New England Revolution, USA); Wilfred Ndidi (Besiktas FC, Turkey); Christantus Uche (Crystal Palace, England)
Forwards: Ademola Lookman (Atalanta BC, Italy); Samuel Chukwueze (Fulham FC, England); Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray FC, Turkey); Simon Moses (Paris FC, France); Tolu Arokodare (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England); Terem Moffi (OGC Nice, France); Jerome Akor Adams (Sevilla FC, Spain)
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The Cape Verde Islands are one win away from a World Cup place that confirms the promise they have shown in recent years but would have been scarcely believable 20 years ago.
The wind-swept island archipelago, off the west coast of Africa, with a population of around 600,000, will become the second smallest country after Iceland to qualify if they win one of their last two qualifiers over the next week.
They are away to Libya on Wednesday before a home clash with Eswatini on Monday in which to ensure top spot in Group D and beat much-fancied Cameroon to the automatic qualifying spot for next year’s tournament in North America.
Cape Verde reached the last stages of qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but were deducted points for erroneously fielding a suspended player, thereby missing out on the playoffs where they would also have been two games away from reaching the finals.
In their debut Africa Cup of Nations finals appearance in 2013, Cape Verde reached the quarter-finals, prompting their coach to burst into song at the post-match press conference, and they did so again at the last edition in the Ivory Coast, unlucky to be eliminated on penalties.
Two decades ago, however, they had barely played any international football, averaging two games a year from 1986, when they joined FIFA, to 1990 when they competed in the World Cup qualifiers for the first time ranked 182nd in the world.
The progress since has been rapid, driven by actively finding players from the Diaspora around the world.
TALENT IDENTIFICATION PAYING OFF
“The football association devised new strategies around identifying and recruiting talent throughout the large Cape Verdean communities,” said U.S.-based agent Tony Araujo, who was born on the islands and worked closely with the team over decades.
“The talent identification and global recruitment process started to pay off huge dividends around 2013, when they qualified for their first Cup of Nations final.”
Scarce natural resources and an arid landscape have long caused migration from the islands, stretching back to the Portuguese colonial period.
Migrants left in droves for Portugal as well as other destinations, like the U.S. eastern seaboard and Dutch port of Rotterdam.
The squad for this week’s fixtures has six Dutch-born players plus others born in Portugal, France, and Ireland. Shamrock Rovers’ Roberto “Pico” Lopes, who will play in central defence, was among many scouted and approached, some more creatively than others.
“I set up a LinkedIn profile when I was in college but never really looked at it,” Lopes told Reuters.
“I got a message from the then coach Rui Aguas, but he wrote to me in Portuguese. I thought it was spam and took no notice.
“Then about nine months later, he messaged me back, saying, ‘Hi Roberto, have you had a chance to consider what I said to you?’ I copied the message into Google Translate. And it basically said that, ‘we’re looking at getting new players into the Cape Verde squad and would you be interested in declaring for Cape Verde? I was absolutely buzzing with that! I was like, ‘yep, 100% I’d love to be a part of the squad’,” he recalled.
In the past, it was hard for the team to attract top European-based Cape Verdean talent, Araujo said.
SUCCESS HAS ATTRACTED NEW PLAYERS
“But with new waves of recent success, a lot more European-based talents are inclined to choose Cape Verde to showcase their talents at the international level.”
Victory in Tripoli on Wednesday will be tough, but if unsuccessful they will be heavily fancied to secure qualification on Monday with home success against the Swazis.
Beating Cameroon last month set off celebrations across the islands, and those will surely be repeated with vigour should they secure a World Cup spot.
-Reuters
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Egypt will look to confirm their place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup when they face Djibouti in a Group A clash of the African qualifiers this Wednesday in Morocco.
The Pharaohs, who have appeared at the global finals three times — in 1934, 1990 and 2018 — need only two points from their remaining two matches to seal qualification for the expanded 48-team tournament in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Currently top of Group A with 20 points, Egypt hold a five-point lead over second-placed Burkina Faso, who will also be in action away to Sierra Leone on Wednesday.
A victory on Wednesday would all but guarantee Egypt’s qualification and pave the way for celebrations in Cairo when they host Guinea-Bissau in their final qualifier on Sunday.
On paper, Hossam Hassan’s men are overwhelming favourites against bottom-placed Djibouti, who have collected just one point from eight matches and have been forced to host home fixtures outside their country due to stadium accreditation issues with the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Head coach Hossam Hassan has kept faith with most of the players who featured in September’s matches against Ethiopia (2–0) and Burkina Faso (0–0). Star forward Mohamed Salah, Mahmoud ‘Trezeguet’ Hassan, and veteran goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shennawy headline the squad.
The only notable absentee is Omar Marmoush of Manchester City, who is sidelined with a knee injury picked up early in the draw against Burkina Faso.
Hassan — the man whose goal sent Egypt to the 1990 World Cup as a player — is now seeking to etch his name in history as one of the few to qualify for the tournament both as a player and coach.
Liverpool talisman Salah, who has gone three Premier League games without a goal, will be eager to rediscover his scoring touch, while Trezeguet is expected to share more attacking responsibility following his impressive run with Al Ahly.
Both Salah and Trezeguet, alongside El-Shennawy, will be aiming for a second World Cup appearance, having featured at Russia 2018.
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