Blatter Keeps Battling Back
Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, the embattled Swiss president of FIFA, insisted Monday that allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement within the organization are false and are hurting soccer’s world governing body.
“The house is very much in order,” Blatter said in Dubai. “There is no financial discrepancy. We, in fact, are pretty sound financially and there is more transparency than ever before.”
Blatter is running for reelection against Issa Hayatou of Cameroon, with voting scheduled May 29 in Seoul. He has claimed that opponents are out to smear him in the wake of last year’s bankruptcy of FIFA’s longtime marketing partner, ISL-ISMM.
“I was blamed for the collapse of ISL, which is not true,” Blatter said. “The only saving grace is that I was not blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks.”
Earlier this month, Blatter unilaterally and controversially suspended an audit of FIFA’s finances, claiming there had been breaches of confidentiality. That decision will be revisited Friday at an emergency meeting of FIFA’s executive committee in Zurich.
On Monday, at Blatter’s request, a Swiss court issued an injunction against Farah Addo, forbidding the president of the Somalia Football Assn. and vice president of the Confederation of African Football from repeating allegations of vote-buying by Blatter’s supporters during Blatter’s 1998 presidential election campaign.
World Cup 2002
World Cup cohost Japan extended its unbeaten run to six games Monday by shutting out Slovakia, 1-0, in the opening game of the four-nation Kirin Cup tournament in front of 55,144 at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
Forward Akinori Nishizawa scored the goal in the 38th minute.
*
Portugal, which opens its quest for the World Cup on June 5 against the United States, received a boost when striker Pedro Pauleta was voted the French first division player of the year by his fellow players and coaches.
Pauleta, 29, leads the French league with 21 goals for Girondins Bordeaux, and helped the club win the French League Cup earlier this month.
In 28 games for Portugal, he has scored 11 goals.
*
Argentina lost one of its potential World Cup players when tests revealed that winger Lucas Castroman had fractured two vertebrae in his lower back while playing for Lazio against Bologna in the Italian Serie A on Sunday.
Castroman, 21, was only on the fringes of the national team and was a longshot to make Coach Marcelo Bielsa’s 23-man roster.
*
Defending world champion France got an injury scare when officials at the Greek club Olympiakos confirmed that midfielder Christian Karembeu had suffered a groin injury in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to AEK Athens in the Greek Cup final. Karembeu, 32, has returned to France for treatment.
*
South Korea’s postal service said Monday that it would double check all mail sent to World Cup-related locations as a precaution against bio-terrorism threats.
Korea Post said it would intensify security on overseas mail and parcels starting Wednesday.
