Blatter Putting Calls In For Plan B

By: chris | July 10th, 2008

While most people will gawk at Sepp Blatter putting his foot in his mouth yet again, the head cheese at FIFA actually said something yesterday which was interesting but didn’t offend entire demographics. Massive shocker any way you look at it. Of course, his stupidity will force this under the radar, so keep the credit at a minimum.

What doesn’t come as a surprise, however, is that Sepp has been thinking about a Plan B in the event that South Africa proves itself unqualified to host the World Cup in less than two years time. Not just thinking, actually, but he’s been in contact with three different federations to formulate a strong backup plan, which every day looks more and more like Plan 1B, not Plan B.

“I have spoken to three possible, not only possible, but three associations and countries that would be able to stage the World Cup in one year’s time,” Blatter said in an interview broadcast on Thursday by Sky News. “They need one year (to prepare).”

This has been possible, if not likely, all along, and finally Sepp lining his pockets with the highest bidder’s offering has come back to bite him in the arse. South Africa, as noble an attempt as this may be to get the tournament on the continent, was simply a poor choice as host at this point in time. Their infrastructure is far from ready and they’re going to bring the professional sport’s largest revolving tourist attraction to a country with an astounding rate of violent crime. So these three destinations, whatever they are, can hardly be any worse. (Unless, of course, Sepp has been buddying up with Robert Mugabe, which is sadly not an impossibility.)

The key is that each of these countries will only need one year to get ready, which says a lot about where there current infrastructure stands. The 2009 Confederations Cup will be held in South Africa as a test run for WC2010, and if that doesn’t go well, these three federations will be ~~asked for the highest bid~~ given a hasty phone call to start putting things in motion. That is, if it gets that far.

But that’s where the information stops. Sepp won’t tell the three countries or associations up for consideration, which leaves us with questions. Obviously they would need to have a World Cup ready stadium structure already in place, which means you can start looking at Europe or North America - South America unlikely because Brazil is already hosting World Cup 2014.

The first inkling is England, simply because they’re World Cup ready right now and haven’t hosted the tournament since 1966, while Germany, Italy, France and the US have all hosted since 1990. Also Spain, which would be a nice reward for this past Euros win, who last hosted in 1982. Or perhaps even an Iberian peninsula tournament in Spain & Portugal. But then again, Sepp wants to rotate continents and keep the tournament from becoming Eurocentric.

The US is a possibility, but they held it just four tournaments ago. Not long at all. One also has to wonder if Australia has put in a call as well. Not that I know a single thing about their stadiums and infrastructure over there, but the A-League is rising and doing well, much like the general state of soccer, and now wouldn’t be a terrible time to throw them into a full on fury.

Many potential options. The wild guess? England, Spain & United States. Dark horse as Australia.

Or are there other more likely options?