One World Sports: From Red Cards to Red Flags for FIFA and CONCACAF




Beyond The Pitch show

Summary: Amidst another week in which more outrage and stubbornness emerged from FIFA and its attempt to control the transition message, there is also even more questions about CONCACAF and US Soccer in terms of where the US Senate may examine next after a terrible performance in Washington DC by its CEO Dan Flynn and a failed attempt to side step accountability. First up is David Larkin of ChangeFIFA to not only address yet another attempt by FIFA to sell the public on the charade of actual reform and all the usual tricks by its Executive Committee, but also the real culpability that must now be focused on UEFA President Michel Platini and his fellow ExCO member Sunil Gulati who clearly failed in his task to represent US Soccer and CONCACAF before the US Senate. We dig into what could happen going forward, whether the Senate will use the Mafia playbook in concert with the Department of Justice to prosecute and if US Soccer is seriously staring down at the real danger of a special prosecutor as senate staffers clearly were neither amused with the absent Gulati and the evasive tone of the testimony. Then in segment two, Paul Freelend from Football Channel Asia and the National joins the show to give us an inside view of UAE football which is riding a crest in 2015 with quality young players aiming for success in this World Cup cycle in advance of hosting the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.