No Special Treatment For England, But Win Stands

By: Ian Rose | June 5th, 2008

Three Lions haters, line up for this one. FIFA announced today that England’s win over Trinidad and Tobago will stand and continue to be considered an “A” class international, despite England making an illegal seventh substitute in the match. Apparently, allowing the seventh sub was nothing more than a clerical error on the part of the official, along the lines of Graham Poll’s three yellow cards.

The funny thing about this, though, and the thing that makes it so very English, is that England claims there was no mistake. They claim they were given special permission for a seventh substitute by FIFA, something no one at FIFA seems to remember.

Where to begin? Fabio, all due respect, is the limit of six substitutions really such a constraint? Is there just so much English talent waiting in the wings that no 90-minute period can hold it all, or are the old guard of the team so old and so guarded that they all need to come off when the sweat starts to flow? Trinidad and Tobago are at a clear disadvantage in any case to a deeper and more talented England team to start with, but that divide just becomes wider if England can have an extra set of fresh legs.

Then there’s the issue of entitlement, so often brought up as we ramp up for Euro 2008. One of the reasons England isn’t in SwissAustria is that the team and the management took for granted that they would make it there. How could they not? It’s this same sort of entitlement that makes England assume that they can change the rules and play 18 players against the 87th ranked team in the world. Accepting the official’s mistake and getting away with an extra sub would be one thing, not so different from Joe Šimunić continuing to play on that second yellow. Claiming that you had a secret back-room deal with FIFA to allow yourself that illegal sub is another thing entirely.

I’m glad for the players that got their first cap that the “A” status of the match remains. But since England has essentially admitted to knowingly breaking a FIFA rule, shouldn’t there be some consequence?