Further Fallout From the Turkey/Switzerland Debacle
Turkish assistant coach Mehmet Ozdilek has resigned his post, effectively immediately. Though the Turkish FA has released nothing beyond a statement confirming Ozdilek’s departure, this is obvious confirmation that he was in fact at least partially responsible for the now-infamous brawl. Though early footage started with Ozdilek getting kicked, it was later reveal (in the Turkish press, among other places) that the coach had in fact tried to trip a Swiss player as they left the field. Obviously, the Turks are attempting some damage control here, working under the “We’ll punish ourselves before you get the chance” theory that has been refined by our own NCAA. If you assume as I do that Sepp Blatter will want to get this sorted out before the December 9 World Cup draw, he’s got to hand down a decision very soon - we’ll see then if this move has any effect.
Though he’s been very quiet on the Turkey issue (at least since his hideously ill-advised comments immediately following the incident) Blatter hasn’t stopped making grand general statements to whoever will listen. The latest is a suggestion that he’ll ban national anthems from all international games, ostensibly to reduce the risk of crowd violence. Additionally, the FIFA chief floated the idea of holding all “high-profile playoff matches” at neutral venues. Hmm. While these measures would do significant damage to the usually wonderful atmosphere that surrounds big international matches, the fact is that crowd trouble would certainly be less likely under the proposed conditions. I guess what Blatter now has to decided is if things right now are bad enough to warrant such an extreme step, or if it’s worth still working for a balance. I pick on Blatter a lot, but I don’t envy him right now - the man’s got some tough, incredibly important decisions to make over the next couple of weeks.
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