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European playoff draw just more chicanery from FIFA

October 19, 2009 12:10 PM | Posted by   John Molinaro  

Well done, FIFA. Take a bow.

You didn't hide the fact that you wanted Portugal at the World Cup at any expense, fairness be damned, and you all but ensured that Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates would be boarding a plane to South Africa next June.

In case you missed it, Portugal was paired up with Bosnia during Monday's European World Cup playoff draw. How the Portuguese came to be drawn against the Bosnians was a matter of great controversy.

The eight playoff teams from Europe were seeded according to the latest FIFA world rankings, which were released Oct. 16.

The top four seeds were placed in Pool A, while the bottom four were in Pool B. Matchups were determined by drawing one team from Pool A and one from Pool B.

France (No. 9), Portugal (10), Russia (12) and Greece (16) made up Pool A. Pool B had Ukraine (22), Ireland (34), Bosnia (42) and Slovenia (49).

The drawing system based on rankings was a departure from normal procedure as FIFA had previously indicated that an open draw (as employed in previous years) would be used to determine who faced whom.

So, had they stuck to the open draw formula, Portugal could have easily been paired off against France who, with all due respect to Bosnia, pose a bigger obstacle.

FIFA's decision to use a seeded formula wouldn't have been so controversial had soccer's world governing body handled it better, instead of using a classic bait-and-switch scheme.

FIFA announced it would use a seeding system in September while the European qualifiers were still going on. The timing of the announcement suggests FIFA waited to see which teams would be in the playoffs, thus giving traditional powerhouses (such as Portugal and France) who were struggling a better chance of qualifying for the World Cup.

Had FIFA done the fair and sporting thing by clearly setting out the rules prior to the European qualifiers, nobody would have any justified cause for discontent or moral outrage.

But FIFA didn't do that, and bent over backwards to accommodate Portugal by changing the rules mid-stream, thus ensuring star Ronaldo would be at the World Cup.

This is just another example of unscrupulous behaviour from FIFA, an organization that, like the IOC, has a long and sordid track record of chicanery.

Ireland, Slovenia, Ukraine and Bosnia have every right to be outraged, but FIFA knows on which side its bread is buttered, and is fully aware that the absence of Ronaldo, the game's biggest star and gate attraction, would be disastrous for the World Cup.

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