Is Platini principled or cowardly?

| Friday July 31, 2015 15:04

Not long ago he came sixth in a poll of the world’s greatest footballers to emerge in the last century. As a player, he was a technically gifted offensive midfielder who was also a prolific scorer; both in open play and set pieces.

He retired from the game as a player almost 30 years ago and went into coaching. In 2007, he was unanimously voted UEFA president replacing Lennart Johnson of Sweden.

Johnson had established himself as a fierce critique of FIFA president, Joseph Sepp Blatter. He lost heavily after challenging Blatter for the presidency.

In came Platini, and in what looked like a rehearsal or a well chorused move, Platini equally continued with the criticism of the FIFA president.  From a distance, he comes across as principled person but when asked to challenge Blatter he has always declined.

Instead, it was Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan who stood against Blatter.  Bin al-Hussein had the guts to challenge Blatter in the May presidential election.

The Jordanian lost but at least got the admiration of some unlike the likes of Luis Figo and Michael van Praag who pulled out at the last minute.  Now we all know that Blatter has decided to step down as FIFA president following the scandal that has engulfed the organisation and guess what, Platini is now declaring his candidacy.

The question is: Is he as principled and clean as he professes to be or is he coward-cum-opportunist? This, given that he could not challenge Blatter, but like a cowardly dog preferred to do the barking only and then only enters the “kernel” when the other bull dogs are not present.

It is this stance that makes me question his credentials as the right and proper person to lead FIFA.

The other discomfort I have is that since FIFA decided to rotate the hosting of the soccer world cup, UEFA has been negative towards FIFA.  It therefore raises fear he may reverse the gains that the less-developed countries enjoyed under Blatter.  His views on Africa, Asia and other less privileged continent are not clear. He remains a closed book except to UEFA.

Africa equally has been hum strung by clinging to Issa Hayatou  (CAF president) since 1988. Outside Europe it would seem there are not many good candidates except Asia, which tends to throw some people in.  But that is only half the problem or the story told. The big underlying problem UEFA had with FIFA is the World Cup rotation policy, which Blatter supported.

We all know that given a chance, England would like to host the 2022 World Cup at the expense of Qatar. 

By the time Europe hosts the next World Cup it will be a cool 20 years later and there is no guarantee since China and the United States want a bite as well.

Surely, UEFA wants to regain control and have its countries reap the World Cup benefits since the Cup presents huge economic benefits for any country hence the bribery scandals that always accompany the bidding processes.

Africa therefore ought to vote wisely and I would advise that since voting is per federation, the organisation ought to have a stand and dictate things, given that like UEFA, it has 54 members in FIFA.

The organisation ought to be strategic and vote with its mind and not heart.

The continent can also seek guarantees from the candidates that Africa ought to have more candidates than the current five.  In this way, our countries can only develop or be better from the exposure they get from competing in such events.

So far, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has not yet gone for Blatter and it raises questions why it has taken so long. This is not to suggest that there is no corruption at FIFA, but Blatter has definitely done more good for Africa, Asia than one would have thought.  No wonder Russian president, Vladimir Putin says Blatter deserves a Nobel Prize.

Platini therefore ought to come out clear and explain his world view of football so that we do not second guess him.

 

Zebras

On paper, the preliminary 2018 World Cup qualifying game against Eritrea should not give the senior national soccer team, the Zebras, any sleepless nights but football being what it is and given recent performances by the team, anything is possible.

I therefore wish the Botswana Football Association together with its secretariat and technical wing can sit around with head coach, Peter James Butler to map the way forward.

Butler has to humble himself and seek the support of all concerned. Mali will definitely be a tall order, but they are beatable.

The Zebras ought to have a sound strategy to take them into the group qualifiers. We can only get better if we play against the best.

Even the friendly games ought to be against strong countries that can give us a good preparation. 

Butler owes it to his CV lest he leave behind the worst of the  records that can make him unemployable in countries like Egypt, South Africa and Tunisia, which remunerates well . The ball is in his net and it is time for him to pass it.