Australia Is Willing to Serve as Host
One day after its team qualified for the fourth FIFA Women’s World Cup, Australia said Monday it would be willing to stage the tournament Sept. 23-Oct. 11, should China have to bow out as host.
Concerns about the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic already have caused postponement of this week’s Asian qualifying tournament for the world championship as well as the May 24 championship draw.
Neither has been rescheduled, and the possibility of the Women’s World Cup being moved elsewhere, even at a late date, has been raised.
“If the opportunity arose and FIFA approached us to stage the tournament, we would seriously consider it,” Stefan Kamasz, acting chief executive of Soccer Australia, told Associated Press.
“It would be short notice if the tournament was still set for September, and we’d be behind the eight ball, but I’m sure there are sufficient people with the ability to fast-track plans.”
Australia became the 10th country to advance to the world tournament Sunday when it defeated New Zealand, 2-0, to win the Oceania qualifying tournament.
Also qualified are Canada, France, Germany, Ghana, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States, the defending world champion.
China qualifies automatically as host, and presumably might be allowed to keep that status even if it did not stage the event.
Platini Stance
Michel Platini, one of France’s all-time great players, a former coach of the national team and a chief organizer of the France ’98 World Cup, has criticized the format of Europe’s two main club competitions, the Champions Cup and the UEFA Cup.
In an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Platini, a FIFA and UEFA executive committee member, said he would abolish the current system because it unfairly favors rich and powerful clubs.
“I want only one competition, with 256 teams that will face each other according to direct elimination system,” Platini said. “The European cups, the way they are today, are just a closed circus. The more matches there are, the more certain it is that the big clubs win the competition.”
World Cup 2010
South Africa is confident that it will win the right to stage the World Cup in 2010, Ngconde Balfour, the country’s sports minister, told reporters in Cape Town.
South Africa is one of six nations bidding for the tournament, along with Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia.
“We want to win this bid desperately,” Balfour said. “We will be competing as hard as we can. Government at all levels is right behind the bid....”
FIFA will announce its decision on the 2010 host in May 2004.
Spartak Taxes
Perennial Russian champion Spartak Moscow is being investigated for possible tax evasion after allegedly failing to report income of $7 million for the sale of Dmitry Alenichev to AS Roma in 1998.
“We have learned that a criminal case has been opened,” club President Andrei Chervichenko said on the team’s Web site. “This is an unfortunate revelation, but we hope it will be resolved quickly. We would like to stress that the looming scandal will not affect the team’s morale.”
Quick Passes
Former Italian international Paolo Maldini underwent surgery to fix a broken nose suffered in AC Milan’s 1-0 victory Saturday over Inter Milan that revived the team’s hopes of winning the Italian Serie A title.... Rayo Vallecano, in last place in the Spanish league, fired Gustavo Benitez as coach and named youth team coach Antonio Iriondo as his interim replacement.... Lucas Radebe, a Leeds United defender and former captain of South Africa’s national team, announced his retirement from international soccer at 34.
