FIFA President Sepp Blatter is facing what could be the toughest phase of his career as football head in the more than 10 years since he took over from Joao Havelange.
The president recently came out to say that England are still bitter at him for their failed attempt to land the hosting rights to the 2018 tournament. In all honesty, i was shocked when Russia were announced the winners.
I thought that the Netherlands-Belgium and England bids were the strongest and that a winner would emerge from the pair. However, the announcement of Russia still draws controversy to this day.
Mr. Blatter’s statement to Swiss newspaper Matin Dimanch was very interesting.
“The World Cup was theirs by right. When they came here with Beckham, Prince William and Prime Minister Cameron, they were certain of winning, he said.
“They got two votes. Since then, they have looked for every means to justify their defeat.”
That defeat was the beginning of the deterioration of relations between the English FA and FIFA. Things got so bad that the English FA threatened to leave the FIFA association.
This also led to the FA opposing Blatter’s re-election as President. Blatter on his part said that the English had lost power and would not have been the best hosts of the tournament as they were only concerned with World Cup and not the more immediate Olympic games.
“In the 60s and 70s, the great sporting federations were in the main British. It’s no longer the case,” he continued. “The English have lost power and, most recently, the 2018 World Cup.” They were very keen, more than for the Olympics. They thought that football should have come home.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Blatter has said that goal line technology will be used in the 2014 finals. In an interview with El Mundo Deportivo, Mr. Blatter mentioned that the technology would become a reality.
“Brazil 2014 will have technology to avoid ‘phantom goals.’
“We have two good systems which correspond to the needs we have been considering: reliability, immediacy and [methods that are] uncomplicated to use.”
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