With J Hutcherson
Shocked looks all around, but our English friends are alleging that at least some of the votes for the right to host the '06 World Cup were for sale. Let's see, a world governing body spread out over multiple jurisdictions that does everything possible to keep itself removed from any single government and/or judicial system while making every member nation equal. We're supposed to be surprised over stories of potential corruption?
Minus reconfiguring votes or establishing the kind of oversight that would have the same knock-on effect as whatever votes for money already exists, what's FIFA supposed to do here? Making any country not voting for the obvious candidate suspect won't help.
The part of this that is on FIFA are the available candidates. Setting up close races just about screams for someone somewhere doing the math on the monetary value of a vote and acting accordingly.
There has already been discussions over streamlining the candidate process, moving away from what a host might be to what they already have in place. Obviously, this favors the big money countries with existing sporting infrastructure.
As meritocracies go, limiting the field isn't part of the mandate that all are equal. FIFA has put their secondary tournaments in places that most wouldn't have high on a list of potential hosts. More often than not, it's worked. Yet again that raises a similar problem. If you can host a U-17 tournament, why not something bigger?
It's the same pyramid thinking that convinces amateur clubs in remote parts of England that, with the right mixture of luck, skill, and financing, they could be big time. Some would argue that's the whole point.
On TV
MLS Primetime Thursday on ESPN2: San Jose Dallas at 9pm. CONCACAF Champions League: Tauros - Santos at 8pm on Galavision and Atlante - Joe Public at 10pm on Galavision and Fox Soccer Channel.
UEFA Cup on Setanta: Wisla Krakow - Spurs at 9:30am, Calatasaray - Bellinzona at 1pm, Vitoria SC Guimaraes - Portsmouth at 4:30pm, and Standard Liege - Everton at 6:45pm.
Copa Sudamericana on Fox Sports en Espanol: Palmeiras - Ancash at 1pm, River Plate - Defensor at 6pm, and Arsenal - Estudiantes at 8:30pm. All Times Eastern
The Wonderful World of Soccer Media: Europe
Davies claims World Cup votes were for sale -- from The Guardian's Tom Lutz: He adds that the approach was reported to football's international governing body.
Bribes claim clouds 2018 World Cup bid -- from The Times' Matt Dickinson: Fifa’s record on tackling internal corruption is poor, to say the least, raising more troubling questions about the fairness of any bidding process.
Eight buyers 'in Newcastle talks' -- from The BBC Sport: "I don't mind what they want to say if it's true."
Fifa issue Poland forfeit warning -- from The Press Association.
The Wonderful World of Soccer Media: Americas
Beckham criticizes MLS for scheduling conflicts -- from The LA Times' Grahame L. Jones: "It's wrong."
Huckerby brings British star power to Quakes -- from The San Francisco Chronicle's Tom FitzGerald: It's probably the biggest game of the season for the Earthquakes.
Alvarez has helped turn around Earthquakes' fortunes -- from The San Jose Mercury News' Elliott Almond: "I'm going to go in there and fight and scrap and help my team,'' he said of facing Dallas for the first time since the club unloaded him.
Starters Sit, United Finished Off by Cruz Azul -- from The Washington Post's Steven Goff: The three reserves who entered were two rookies and a newly signed forward.
End of the line for USL Sounders -- from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Matthew Gaschk: "It was a dead-average season on a whole bunch of levels," said Hanauer.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
