Notes from a sporting week – 05/11/07

Brazil gets the nod:

It came as no surprise this week that Brazil was confirmed as the host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Under FIFA’s rotation system for hosting rights South America was the next destination after the African Confederation (CAF) in 2010. Since 2003 Brazil has been the only country to seriously talk of hosting the tournament, though Colombia gave it some thought a year ago, before being shot down by the South American Confederation (CONMEBOL) who lined up firmly behind Brazil. The last time they hosted the event was in 1950, when Uruguay beat them in the final.

Quite what the finals will be like is firmly open to conjecture, but that hasn’t stopped FIFA president Sepp Blatter and the Brazilian Football Association (CBF) from making guarantees and projecting the clichéd view of Brazilian football. There was talk of the football that Brazil have played (though hopefully the weren’t thinking of the 2006 World Cup at the time), the footballers they’ve produced, all set to a backdrop of beach football on Copacabana.

There is no doubt that Brazil has traditionally produced the most easy on the eye football, as exemplified by their 1970 world cup winning team. The quality of players is undoubted. In 2006 the CBF claims 851 players were exported, with 36 playing in Italy and 35 in Spain and AC Milan and Brazil midfielder, Kaka, is favourite to win the World and European player of the year awards. As for beach football, Rio is currently hosting the FIFA World Beach Soccer Championship even though much of it is played in the shade produced by the skyscrapers that line the shore.

However, major tournament hosting rights should not be allotted based on whatever a country has done for the legacy of a particular sport. There is still a lot of muddled thinking around Brazil 2014 notably around the stadia and the infrastructure in the various cities. That the government has promised $550 million has not done much to allay fears, as it will take more than just throwing money at a project to make it succeed.

When Brazil put forward its bid in 2003 they had a short-list of 18 stadia that they would use, to be whittled down to around 10 for the finals. However, rather than use the intervening four years to finalise the list or start work on any of them (work that was necessary whether they won the bid or not) nothing has been done, not even to the Morumbi in Sao Paolo or the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, which will host the opening match and the final. On top of which security around the stadia could be a massive problem, as many of them are located in notorious no-go areas, from where a quick exit is far from easy. When a definite decision on which stadia will be used or when work on them will begin is still something that has yet to be announced.

The other major problem for the organising committee is that of transport. The accident at Sao Paolo’s Congonhas airport earlier this year, in which nearly 200.died has focused minds on the inter-city air travel which will be the primary form of moving between the various cities. However, there are still problems with the provincial city airports, which aren’t even on the radar of those who need to fix them. Then there is the problem of getting around the cities themselves. When Rio won the 2007 Pan-American Games hosting rights they promised a massive upgrade to both the metro and bus systems, but both got swept under the carpet quickly when time and money became tight. No one was expecting a mass transit system as quick and efficient as those in Germany 2006, but a definite improvement is needed come 2014.

Ultimately any problems that arise before and during 2014 will be completely of Blatter’s own making. He brought in the rotation system so that South Africa was guaranteed the 2010 edition and thus forced FIFA’s hand to award 2014 to CONMEBOL. But every sport event has problems and question marks against it (just ask the good folks at London 2012) and it would be grossly unfair to presume that Brazil 2014 will be a disaster just because it is in the developing world. That the potential problems have been identified at this stage is no bad thing and it goes without saying that they have to be rectified by the start in seven years time. It is true that Brazil has done a phenomenal amount to promote football around the world and developed some outstanding players. All too often though, such success is seen as an accident rather than part of a meticulously planned youth development system. It has to be hoped then that such rigorous planning is given to the 2014 world cup, as it is to producing the next Ronaldinho, Kaka or Robinho.

Flintoff and the bottle:

In a week of autobiographical revelations probably the most interesting ones were those of ex-England cricket coach, Duncan Fletcher, who accused the then captain Andre Flintoff of being so drunk, that a fielding practice during the 2006/07 Ashes had to be abandoned and said he felt let down by Flintoff’s drunken escapades on a pedalo during the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup in St Lucia.

It didn’t take long for Fletcher’s thoughts to be shot down. Former England cricketers Ian Botham and Geoffrey Boycott both argued that such bean spilling goes against the code of the dressing room and the ‘what happens on tour’ etc etc rule. Fletcher himself said that it was Flintoff who was letting the team down by behaving the way he did.

Of course there is plenty of evidence out there that Flintoff likes a drink, pedalo-gate being number one. Then there were the post-Ashes celebrations where he stumbled out of Mansion House and almost into a waiting cameraman, not forgetting his slurred cameo on the BBC at half-time during England’s match against Paraguay at the 2006 World Cup, whilst during his early years with Lancashire anyone who were feeling the effects of a night out with Flintoff were said to a have been ‘Freddied’.

The crux of the matter here though is that the incident in Australia occurred when Flintoff was captain and in this regard Fletcher is right to be critical and feel betrayed that his silence on the matter was thanked by him getting drunk in such a public manner not long afterwards. However, it raises questions over Fletcher’s decision to make Flintoff captain for the Ashes series last year.

Andrew Strauss was the other option at the time; with long time skipper Michael Vaughan absent through injury. Flintoff was the man chosen though, with his presence, size and fear he put into the Australia team the main arguments. Of course it had the opposite effect with a barely-fit Flintoff unable to rally the troops or play as he had, unburdened by captaincy, in 2005. It seems that with his form gone, injuries rearing their head again and the team losing, that the bottle was his refuge.

What should be of more concern to English cricket isn’t what an ex-coach has written in his autobiography, as is his prerogative, but whether Flintoff will react to bad performances and news in a similar fashion. At the moment he is in the USA battling to overcome the recurring problem of his ankle injury and apparently he hasn’t had a drink for three months. Nobody is expecting Flintoff to abstain completely, but at least reign it in a bit. It also should be remembered that he is now in his 30’s and as such won’t be able to recover from nights on the ale as quickly as he once did.

Flintoff has to make a choice, something that Paul Gascoigne didn’t. Whilst Gazza’s stories may rouse a smile and a chuckle, they also inspire regret at the way in which he wasted his talents. Whilst there is no indication that Flintoff is an alcoholic, he still enjoys the nights on the sauce and the last thing English cricket should want for him, is to leave memories of a drunk staggering onto a bus, or splashing around trying to stay afloat off a Caribbean island, rather than a world class player making the very most of his abilities.
JI 05/11/07