a_shearer
05-07-2000, 02:35:AM
England's last-ditch 2006 vote catchers
By Martin Lipton
England's 2006 World Cup bid team remained defiant on Tuesday as they launched a last-ditch offensive to pull off a shock victory.
As German bid supremo Franz Beckenbauer virtually conceded defeat to South Africa in the three-and-a-half year battle, which will be decided on Thursday, the FA team refused to accept the game is up.
In a desperate bid to clinch the World Cup they even suggested the Germans should hand them their seven votes to make it a straight fight between England and South Africa.
Sir Bobby Charlton, figurehead of the English bid, said: 'If the Germans are saying they can't win then they can give us their votes. If they do we will win. We're in a better position to beat South Africa than they are.'
But Germany are unlikely to agree, especially as Beckenbauer described Brazil's move to support the South Africa bid in return for backing for 2010, as 'horse-trading' and 'offensive'.
England were also trying to regain the crucial votes from the CONCACAF federation covering North and Central America. The government's special bid envoy Tony Banks was last night meeting with CONCACAF president Jack Warner to try and persuade him not to support the South Africans.
Campaign chief Alec McGivan and Sir Bobby make their final bid presentation to FIFA's 24-member executive committee on Wednesday.
England's £10million bid appears to have been fatally and finally undermined by the hooliganism outbreaks in Euro 2000 but McGivan said: 'There's no question of us pulling out. We will be in the voting.
'To have withdrawn because of Euro 2000 would have been a victory for the hooligans. We are realistic that our chances are not as good as they were but what happened in Brussels and Charleroi didn't destroy the bid, it just harms our chances of some of the votes we were seeking.'
The shocking scenes in Belgium were swiftly followed by the leaking of the FIFA technical inspection report which astonishingly rated England below Germany and the South Africans.
It seemed that FIFA president Sepp Blatter - desperate to deliver the World Cup to the South Africans - had deliberately stage-managed events and McGivan added: 'I think history will show that whoever was trying to stitch us up will find it backfires on them.
'We've met so many people who are in this game who've told us it's crazy and ludicrous and that they don't know how the inspection team can come up with this.'
While German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and former South African President Nelson Mandela will be in Zurich, Tony Blair will appear only in video form, although McGivan said the Prime Minister remained fully supportive.
Sir Bobby said it would have been 'shameful' for the England bid to fold, adding: 'I don't think for a moment that it's ever been in our mind that we would pack in. It's not the British way of things. We don't run away with our tails between our legs because we've not given it our best shot.
'We think we have the best bid and the inspection team's report insulted me and a lot of people in our country.'
Yet the reality is that the power blocks of world football have caught England's bid in a vice-like grip.
Seven of UEFA's eight votes are promised for Germany - although McGivan has tried to entice Malta's Joseph Mifsud and Italy's Antonio Matarrese - with England only guaranteed David Will of Scotland, New Zealand's Charles Dempsey and Worawi Makudi of Thailand.
In addition, Blatter, who has put his reputation on the line, was lobbying furiously all day yesterday in a bid to secure a victory for the South Africans on the first round of voting, which could be possible if Morocco withdraw today, as they might under pressure.
England's efforts last night reflected the determination that has marked their bid throughout but it will take a remarkable recovery for them to turn the race around at the 11th hour and the odds suggest that is very unlikely.
Likely first round votes
South Africa: Sepp Blatter (FIFA president), Issa Hayatou (Cameroon), Ismail Bhamjee (Botswana), Amadou Diakite (Mali), Chung Mong-Joon (South Korea),Julio Grondona (Argentina), Ricardo Texeira (Brazil), Nicholas Leoz (Paraguay), Jack Warner (Trinidad and Tobago), Isaac Sasso Sasso (Costa Rica), Chuck Blazer (USA).
Germany: Lennart Johansson (Sweden), Antonio Matarrese (Italy), Michel D'Hooghe (Belgium), Per Ravn Omdal (Norway), Senes Erzik (Turkey), Angel Maria Villar Llona (Spain), Joseph Mifsud (Malta), Mohamed Bin Hammam (Qatar).
England: David Will (Scotland), Jack Dempsey (New Zealand), Worawi Makudi (Thailand).
Morocco: Slim Aloulou (Tunisia), Abdulah Al-Dabal (Saudi Arabia).
By Martin Lipton
England's 2006 World Cup bid team remained defiant on Tuesday as they launched a last-ditch offensive to pull off a shock victory.
As German bid supremo Franz Beckenbauer virtually conceded defeat to South Africa in the three-and-a-half year battle, which will be decided on Thursday, the FA team refused to accept the game is up.
In a desperate bid to clinch the World Cup they even suggested the Germans should hand them their seven votes to make it a straight fight between England and South Africa.
Sir Bobby Charlton, figurehead of the English bid, said: 'If the Germans are saying they can't win then they can give us their votes. If they do we will win. We're in a better position to beat South Africa than they are.'
But Germany are unlikely to agree, especially as Beckenbauer described Brazil's move to support the South Africa bid in return for backing for 2010, as 'horse-trading' and 'offensive'.
England were also trying to regain the crucial votes from the CONCACAF federation covering North and Central America. The government's special bid envoy Tony Banks was last night meeting with CONCACAF president Jack Warner to try and persuade him not to support the South Africans.
Campaign chief Alec McGivan and Sir Bobby make their final bid presentation to FIFA's 24-member executive committee on Wednesday.
England's £10million bid appears to have been fatally and finally undermined by the hooliganism outbreaks in Euro 2000 but McGivan said: 'There's no question of us pulling out. We will be in the voting.
'To have withdrawn because of Euro 2000 would have been a victory for the hooligans. We are realistic that our chances are not as good as they were but what happened in Brussels and Charleroi didn't destroy the bid, it just harms our chances of some of the votes we were seeking.'
The shocking scenes in Belgium were swiftly followed by the leaking of the FIFA technical inspection report which astonishingly rated England below Germany and the South Africans.
It seemed that FIFA president Sepp Blatter - desperate to deliver the World Cup to the South Africans - had deliberately stage-managed events and McGivan added: 'I think history will show that whoever was trying to stitch us up will find it backfires on them.
'We've met so many people who are in this game who've told us it's crazy and ludicrous and that they don't know how the inspection team can come up with this.'
While German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and former South African President Nelson Mandela will be in Zurich, Tony Blair will appear only in video form, although McGivan said the Prime Minister remained fully supportive.
Sir Bobby said it would have been 'shameful' for the England bid to fold, adding: 'I don't think for a moment that it's ever been in our mind that we would pack in. It's not the British way of things. We don't run away with our tails between our legs because we've not given it our best shot.
'We think we have the best bid and the inspection team's report insulted me and a lot of people in our country.'
Yet the reality is that the power blocks of world football have caught England's bid in a vice-like grip.
Seven of UEFA's eight votes are promised for Germany - although McGivan has tried to entice Malta's Joseph Mifsud and Italy's Antonio Matarrese - with England only guaranteed David Will of Scotland, New Zealand's Charles Dempsey and Worawi Makudi of Thailand.
In addition, Blatter, who has put his reputation on the line, was lobbying furiously all day yesterday in a bid to secure a victory for the South Africans on the first round of voting, which could be possible if Morocco withdraw today, as they might under pressure.
England's efforts last night reflected the determination that has marked their bid throughout but it will take a remarkable recovery for them to turn the race around at the 11th hour and the odds suggest that is very unlikely.
Likely first round votes
South Africa: Sepp Blatter (FIFA president), Issa Hayatou (Cameroon), Ismail Bhamjee (Botswana), Amadou Diakite (Mali), Chung Mong-Joon (South Korea),Julio Grondona (Argentina), Ricardo Texeira (Brazil), Nicholas Leoz (Paraguay), Jack Warner (Trinidad and Tobago), Isaac Sasso Sasso (Costa Rica), Chuck Blazer (USA).
Germany: Lennart Johansson (Sweden), Antonio Matarrese (Italy), Michel D'Hooghe (Belgium), Per Ravn Omdal (Norway), Senes Erzik (Turkey), Angel Maria Villar Llona (Spain), Joseph Mifsud (Malta), Mohamed Bin Hammam (Qatar).
England: David Will (Scotland), Jack Dempsey (New Zealand), Worawi Makudi (Thailand).
Morocco: Slim Aloulou (Tunisia), Abdulah Al-Dabal (Saudi Arabia).