Kung-fu kick in World Cup final set tone for next year

JOHANNESBURG, July 8 (Reuters) - In the 12 months since a kung fu-style kick in the World Cup final went unpunished, soccer’s image has suffered under the assault of scandal.

Nigel de Jong’s vicious tackle on Xabi Alonso, for which the Dutchman received only a yellow card, became the unfortunate image of a match that was supposed to be the sport’s showpiece but which ended up being widely derided for its brutality.
There was little evidence of the game’s compelling beauty at Soccer City in Johannesburg on July 11 last year when Spain beat Netherlands 1-0 after extra time to win their first World Cup and there has been little for the sport to celebrate since.
Soccer has found itself mired in controversy over the way World Cup hosts are picked, had several top officials caught in bribery stings, been sullied by political in-fighting and had to deal with a growing scourge of match-fixing.
Russia and Qatar won the right to host the World Cup finals in 2018 and 2022 amid a scandal in which two executive committee members were accused of offering to sell their votes.
FIFA vice president Reynald Temarii, head of the Oceania confederation, and Nigerian delegate Amos Adamu were given bans that effectively ended their careers but the punishment did little to temper allegations of vote fixing and behind-the-scenes skullduggery.
BAD IDEA
FIFA president Sepp Blatter later admitted holding the two votes at the same time had been a bad idea.
The choice of Qatar drew a response of incredulity given the extremely hot weather conditions in the desert state in mid-year, when the World Cup is always held.
Blatter responded by suggesting it be played at the start of the year, drawing more flack as it threatens to affect the scheduling of domestic league and continental club competitions.
A suggestion that Qatar, with a budget bursting with oil billions, bought the right to host the 2022 World Cup was then made by FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke in a leaked email although he later denied that is what he had meant.
Losing candidates, notably Australia and England, accused FIFA voters of deceit after being promised votes that were never delivered.
The fall-out of that December vote is that the way future World Cup hosts will be selected will be done differently.
UNSEEMLY FIGHT
Just months later, Blatter’s bid for a third term at the helm of world soccer’s governing body set up an unseemly fight with opponent Mohamed Bin Hammam, leading to a dramatic final week of campaigning in May.
In the run-up to the vote, Bin Hammam was accused of trying to buy votes along with FIFA vice president Jack Warner.
Warner, the Trinidad and Tobago cabinet minister, later quit after FIFA’s ethics committee found damming evidence while Bin Hammam remains suspended and the subject of inquiry that is likely to result in him also being banished from the game.
In the middle of all the shenanigans, Blatter clashed with reporters at a Zurich news conference, denying there was a crisis within FIFA, only some “difficulties”.
But some of the major sponsors made rare public expressions of concern.
Allegations of match-fixing continued to surface across the world with major scandals breaking out in Finland, Germany, South Korea, Turkey and Zimbabwe.
FIFA also stalled on the introduction of goal line technology.
May’s meeting of International Football Association board, which governs the game’s laws, called for further tests.
Time was called, though, on snoods—the neck warmers which won sudden popularity with some top players but irritated many of the sport’s purists. They are now banned for next season.
Even the Champions League, where the beauty of Barcelona’s play provided an antidote to all the administrative controversy, was blighted by a spat between Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho before their semi-final.
Barcelona’s mesmerising performance in the final against Manchester United did at least ensure a happy ending to the European season.