All eyes were so intently watching Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic that we forgot about Franck Ribery. Not to mention Samir Nasri, Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud, Loic Remy, Hugo Lloris...
France are now in danger of missing the World Cup, as much as Portugal or Sweden. They will chase a two-goal deficit against Ukraine in Paris on Tuesday night, and judging by the performance in Kiev it will be an uphill road.
Central defender Laurent Koscielny suffered a collapse of personal discipline and, having clumsily given away the penalty that sealed the match, compounded his error by later getting a red card.
Staying home: Franck Ribery and France lost 2-0 to Ukraine and now face an uphill struggle to qualify
Focus: The eyes of the world were on Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Friday night
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This could now be a World Cup without Ribery, the most influential footballer at European champions Bayern Munich, the current UEFA Footballer of the Year and contender for the Ballon d’Or.
Ronaldo, Ribery, Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi are, arguably, the best four players in the world right now, and there is every chance that the World Cup in Brazil will take place without two of them.
It is at this point that many will consider Michel Platini’s proposed expansion of the tournament from 32 to 40 teams an idea whose time has come. Except a vote for 40 isn’t a vote for France — it’s a vote for Jordan, Panama or New Caledonia.
Platini wasn’t talking about increasing the number of teams to find room for the likes of Ribery and Ronaldo. He was reacting to another self-serving and stupid proposal from FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who hopes to increase Asian and African participation at the expense of Europe.
‘I totally agree with Mr Blatter that we need more African and Asian countries,’ said UEFA president Platini.
‘But instead of taking away some European, we have to go to 40 teams. We can add two African, two Asiatic, two American, one Oceania and one from Europe. Football is changing — we have 209 associations, so why reduce? Make more people happy.’
The 256,000-strong population of Pacific island New Caledonia, for instance, would be ecstatic at entering an inter-continental play-off under the new system, with New Zealand taking Oceania’s automatic place; as would Panama, who would now be going to the World Cup under Platini’s plan, having won a single group game in a CONCACAF round-robin comprising the United States, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico and Jamaica.
Yet does spreading happiness in New Caledonia, an area the size of urban Luton, outweigh the misery caused throughout the rest of the world by a weakened competition?
The countries benefiting would be delighted, yes, but a greater global audience would see a cherished competition devalued, as the next European Championship will be, by makeweights, also-rans and plain inferiors.
If the 2014 World Cup had two additional teams from Asia, one of the lucky winners would be Jordan, who last week played a World Cup eliminator with Uruguay and lost the first game 5-0 at home in Amman.
There is a return in Montevideo on Wednesday but it has been rendered meaningless.
Big plans: Michel Platini's idea to increase the World Cup to 40 teams is flawed and punishes European sides
Thrashed: Jordan were crushed 5-0 by Uruguay... but Platini's method would have them qualify
Average: Luis Suarez (left) and his Uruguay team-mates do not make a 'great' side
As for Jordan, they knocked out Uzbekistan in a penalty shootout, so one presumes such a match would not have taken place in Platini’s brave new world, and Uzbekistan would be going to Brazil, too. So, the team that couldn’t beat the team who were beaten 5-0 by the team that couldn’t get past Ecuador would get a place — but still no guarantees about France or Portugal, considering even Platini’s scheme finds room for only one extra participant from Europe. And that wouldn’t dilute the quality?
Of course, Platini’s expansion would almost be preferable to Blatter’s doomsday project, in which Europe would cede places to Asia and Africa.
Under Blatter’s proposals, Ribery, Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic would already be absent in Brazil, while the collective talent of Jordan and Uzbekistan would be packing their suitcases. Maybe they would enhance the World Cup’s quality, although the scoreline against Uruguay suggests otherwise. Jordan possess one current squad member who has a contract beyond the Middle East, Tha’er Bawab, a forward with Romanian team CS Gaz Metan Medias.
He has been involved in two league games this season.
Not wanted: Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic would be out
already with the likes of Panama (below) having an easier route to
World Cup qualification
Competition: Panama's Jaime Penedo (left) and his team-mates would benefit from Platini's plans
Of course, great players miss the World Cup finals all the time. George Weah did not reach one, neither did George Best and nor will Ryan Giggs. There will never be a way of guaranteeing the presence of the world’s finest footballers, but the least we can do is give them an even break.
The most despicable aspect of all this is that it is not about fairness but electioneering. Blatter wants to be returned in 2015 and sees his powerbase in the Asian and African confederations as the way to do it. Platini knows he needs those votes, while being anxious not to alienate Europe.
So Blatter proposes cutting the old country off at the knee to curry favour further afield — and Platini also reaches out to football’s far continents, while being careful not to foul his own doorstep. In the middle of their shameless politicking is a fine football tournament that may well end up diluted, demeaned and devalued.
A World Cup without Ribery, Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic would be a terrible pity. Once Blatter and Platini are through, however, the greatest players may simply find they are all better off without it. And they won’t be the only ones.
Better off: When the powers that be have
finished meddling with the World Cup, perhaps the world's best players
might prefer NOT to play in it
Allam Tigers will end up stuffed
America
is gradually taking interest in the Premier League. During the row over
Hugo Lloris’s head injury, a friend noticed that a related news item
led the ticker on CNN Sports. Tottenham had defended their actions, the bulletin said. Not EPL club Tottenham, you will notice, not English soccer team Tottenham. Just Tottenham, as if everyone would know who they are.
Spurs would seem a more natural fit for the American market, except American sport already has a Spurs. San Antonio Spurs, from Texas. They’re good at basketball. Contested the 2013 NBA finals, lost to Miami Heat.
Just 'Tottenham': When Hugo Lloris was injured Spurs were not referred to as an 'EPL' side
There will only ever be one team of Tigers in America, for instance, and that is Detroit Tigers, in existence since 1894, four times World Series winners and American League champions as recently as 2012.
How could Hull Tigers hope to compete with baseball history? Basically: they won’t.
We were watching the rugby from Twickenham on Saturday when my son remarked how many Tigers players had been used as replacements by England.
He didn’t say Leicester, because rugby is his sport and, to him, the Tigers are a rugby club. Always will be.
So Assem Allam, chairman of Hull City, has it wrong. The name City may be as common as muck, as he fears, but that does not matter. Hull is what matters. Hull is what will travel around the world as the Premier League grows ever bigger. Hull is what sets his club apart. Hull, named after a river in the East Riding region of Yorkshire, is his humble, yet unique, selling point.
You're wrong: Hull City owner Assem Allam need to know that the club's name will travel overseas
As exotic as the Boston Red Sox or San Francisco 49ers sound to us, so Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United sound to them. Tottenham means something. The Hull Tigers? What pennant are they playing for?
‘Nobody in the world will decide how I run my companies,’ said Allam last week. He still doesn’t get it. Hull City is not his company. It belongs to generations of fans and he is custodian. Hull Tigers? Now that would be his company. Although take away the supporters of plain old Hull City, and Allam would soon find it really is a jungle out there.
Gibson’s record sweeter than FA
Steve
Gibson was asked if his decision to appoint Aitor Karanka, a Spaniard,
as Middlesbrough manager would get him in trouble with Football
Association chairman Greg Dyke.The cheek of it. Gibson has employed 10 managers, including caretakers, since becoming Middlesbrough chairman in 1994.
Eight have been English, one Scottish and Karanka is the first non-Briton. In that time, the FA have had two foreign coaches of England. Gibson needs no lessons in patriotism from Dyke, or anyone else at the FA.
The first: Aitor Karanka is the only non-British manager that Steve Gibson has hired
And while we’re at it...
At
Twickenham on Saturday, England scored a try. The referee, Craig
Joubert, saw it and could have given it. Instead, he went upstairs. As
he did so, he described what he believed had happened, perfect in every
aspect. He knew who kicked it, he knew about the ricochet, he knew that Chris Robshaw attempted to pick the ball up from an offside position, but didn’t get there, and that Joe Launchbury, who did, was onside.
Yet Joubert has access to television now, and no longer trusts his own judgment, just like the umpires at the Test in Mumbai between India and the West Indies. In India’s first innings Pragyan Ojha was run out, a direct hit on the stumps coming from Kieran Powell. He was a good three strides short of his ground — yet still the umpires asked for a review.
We are producing a generation of sat nav officials. In the same way that navigation systems have stopped motorists thinking for themselves about routes and decisions — just because the computer map suggests driving into the river, you don’t have to drive into the river — so umpires and referees are now using technology as a crutch.
Any umpire that could not see Ojha was out should be sat in the stand, not out in the middle, and Joubert did not need assistance to award Launchbury’s try.
Decision-making is getting worse because video reviews promote laziness. They should be an emergency resort for genuinely tight calls, not a safety net for the incompetent or nervous.
Sat nav offical? Referee Craig Joubert saw the action as it happened but still wanted to go upstairs
Yet Germans follow their team in numbers at tournaments, and that isn’t cheap, either. The fact is, despite the many sermons on the declining influence of the national team, this country is an exception when it comes to international friendlies.
The attendances at Wembley are quite remarkable for even the most meaningless matches. The Germans haven’t been put off by the cost. They wouldn’t have bothered anyway.
Over land and sea: Germany fans will not be at Wembley in their droves for the international friendly
Usain Bolt is concerned by Jamaica’s drugs scandal, because it is starting to affect his earnings. Meanwhile, his fellow Olympic sprint champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce wants to set up a Jamaican athletes’ union — and is even threatening to organise a strike by persuading the island’s track and field stars to boycott major international tournaments.
One would imagine from this that she is upset with Jamaica’s inadequate drugs testing procedures bringing athletics on the island into disrepute.
Not exactly. What Fraser-Pryce wants is less whistle-blowing, less condemnation and more mealy-mouthed excuses.
‘We believe that we deserve to have good things, especially at a time when we are doing so well,’ she said. ‘We should not have our names tarnished. Nobody in Jamaica is sitting there and doping up to run fast. Athletes have just neglected to correctly check the supplement they’ve had. It’s not like they are deliberately or intentionally cheating.’
So the six positive tests for Jamaican athletes this year? Nothing. Just an honest mistake. Could happen to anyone. Move along folks, nothing to see here. As unions go, the one Fraser-Pryce would form could be right up there with the post-war Teamsters for nobility.
What do we want? Vague excuses! When do we want them? That’s none of your business! Call out the workers, Shelly-Ann. See if we care.
Debatable aims: Usain Bolt with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who wants a Jamaican athletes union
The best international teams look to build a formidable reputation at home. Whether Brazil in the Maracana or Holland in Amsterdam ArenA, they aim to create an aura of invincibility. Losing to Chile last Friday, Hodgson, now England manager, called for a sense of perspective. Yet he had that 15 years ago. Don’t lose at your fortress. As true now as it was in the days when England was somebody else’s problem.
Don't lose at home: Roy Hodgson once said that Wembley was England's fortress
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