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| Not quite, but likely more preferred than the desert summer. |
If you’re judging the article by its title, you’re likely to think of either the cold and snow that's engulfed England, or a young Geoff Guin shouting “COME ON!” as he again isn’t passed too. No to the first suggestion, and sadly while it seems all too tragic, given the fact that Geoff is essentially a modern George Best – both on and off the pitch – sadly he is not the focus of this article, though he will maintain his regular mention towards the end. Instead it is the recent statement made by FIFPro, the association of professional footballers, insisting on a winter World Cup for Qatar 2022.
This concept, while posing real logistical problems for domestic leagues across the globe, actually demonstrates a sanity that FIFA failed to grasp when awarding Qatar the World Cup on the grounds of it being held in the summer. Enjoy the beach you insist? Fancy a tan you say? Well, you wouldn’t need very long in the average 41ºC temperature (without humidity, ahem...) and the staggering possibility of highs hitting 50ºC in the midday. Nor would the players need very long to succumb to heat related ailments ranging from muscle cramps to dehydration and heat stroke.
So a quick clap-clap-clap to FIFA for what amounts to little more than an own goal, regardless of what few merits there were to be found in the Qatar bid. While independent vetting of all bids was conducted at the behest of FIFA, Qatar was found to be the worst in terms of the technical aspects demanded by none other than FIFA. While I do admire the sentiment of Sepp Blatter wishing to share football with the world, there needs to be a measure of practicality added to principle.
The unlikeliest of sources has thus emerged to add some reason to the dialogue surrounding the 2022 World Cup, in the form of professional footballers themselves. According to FIFPro, one of their guiding principles is as follows: “FIFPro is committed to the achievement of a standard international player contract and an international match calendar.” Given that such a mandate can be applied to the World Cup being played in adverse conditions, FIFPro is well within their rights to seek a winter World Cup. After all, they’re looking after the best interests of their players, as well as the quality of the game.
What will come of this remains to be seen, as there are real challenges to moving the tournament to the winter months. First off, there is the delicate matter of domestic leagues, who will see their schedules interrupted for quite a long stretch. That means loss of huge sums of revenue, not to mention the stress and strain on their players with the little hope of the standard post-World Cup break. Also, there is the question of the scheduling itself. Traditionally, with domestic leagues ending no later than early May, international squads have – if they choose – more than a month to prepare for the tournament. With the World Cup itself lasting a month, that brings us to two months for World Cup related scheduling, at the very minimum. Yikes is right.
Having said that, something needs to be done to maintain the quality of play in Qatar, and by that I don’t mean inventing a new ball impervious to grains of sand, for those of you working at Adidas. Something else that FIFPro should take a stand towards, and is well within its right to do so, is the view of homosexuality by the host nation. Sure they already focus on racism as a concept that needs to be eradicated from the game, but doesn’t anti-homosexual sentiment and laws fall under the same realm of human dignity and rights as racism? Let’s just hope that FIFPro has more steel to handle the issue than Sepp Blatter, who recently said that homosexuals could travel to Qatar but that “they should refrain from sexual activities.” He later insisted he was joking, apologized and stated it likely wouldn’t be a problem, but the damage was done. First ignoring corruption then ignoring human rights (awarding the World Cups to Russia and Qatar), then being ignorant towards human rights, I guess Sepp is more prolific on his own goal than he even realizes.
In other news, Samuel Eto’o was crowned the African Footballer of the Year for a record 4th time. His proficiency on the pitch has been quite remarkable, as he possesses a genuine athleticism with a pedigree of talent that produces consistently. Take note Didier, if you want to solidify a legacy you’ve only a few years left to match the kind of finishing that Eto’o is showing.
Also, Team Scotland suffered its second loss of the campaign, squandering chances in a 3-2 loss that sees them slip from the top of the table to 2nd. Guin showed class with a lovely first-time take to net in the first half following a delicate ball from Atruso, but soon the Scots trailed 3-1. In a hard fought game, exemplified by rough jostling on the ball, stiff challenges and careless tackles, they were rewarded for their efforts with a second-half goal. As the game wound down, with pressure mounting from fantastic possession care of Bell and Buchanan, it looked as though a goal was in the stars. However the match finished 3-2, with Team Scotland due to play the same team in the semi-final cup tie scheduled for January. And with all of the talk about the hot and dry conditions related to Qatar, tournament organizers may want to have a chat with Bell, who appears quite comfortable playing in dry spells as his finishing in front of goal continues to resemble the Sahara...sorry mate.
