FOX Sports FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2015 Analysts React to Sepp Blatter’s Resignation

.@heathermitts talks about the impact of the Sepp Blatter news on the #USWNT (via @americaspregame) http://t.co/ERJjxYYiAH

— FOX Sports 1 (@FOXSports1) June 2, 2015

FOX Sports analysts continue to react to the abrupt resignation of FIFA President Sepp Blatter, as Monica Gonzalez, Alexi Lalas, Christine Latham, Heather Mitts, Kelly Smith and Eric Wynalda joined host Rob Stone from FOX Sports’ FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 set, still under-construction studio on Coal Harbor in Vancouver, and FOX Soccer Insider Grant Wahl joined AMERICA’S PREGAME to discuss the ongoing situation. Highlights from the discussion appear below, and coverage continues all week long on FOX Sports 1, culminating with FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP PREVIEW SHOW, a one-hour special show airing the eve of match play on Friday, June 5 at 7:30 PM ET.

Lalas says involvement of the U.S. was crucial to Blatter’s resignation:

“The U.S. led this. Whether it’s Loretta Lynch, the attorney general or Sunil Gulati, the president of U.S. Soccer – this doesn’t happen without these types of decisions.”

Lalas says Blatter’s resignation is a good first step, but is not enough to fix FIFA:

“It’s all fine and well to have Sepp Blatter resigning, but where does FIFA go here? It has to continue with the reforms if we ever hope to have a better FIFA.”

Smith on the reaction from her home country of England:

“I would imagine the general public and everybody at the FA are jumping for joy right now. A lot of people have wanted Sepp Blatter gone for a long, long time, and this is excellent for world football.”

Lalas doubts Blatter’s resignation will change the location of the 2018 (Russia) and 2022 (Qatar) World Cups:

“When it comes to the actual World Cups, I still don’t see it changing when it comes to Russia or Qatar – we’re probably too far down the line. But I didn’t necessarily think Sepp Blatter was going to resign 72 hours [after being re-elected].”

Smith on the impact of Blatter’s resignation at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015:

“It’s going to be big now that the main guy has stepped down, but I don’t think individually it will affect the players playing in the World Cup because they’ve got a job to do. They’re focused on their group play and trying to get out of the group, but this is major news. Sepp Blatter has resigned. It’s massive.”

Lalas says a ‘cloud has been lifted’ from the upcoming Women’s World Cup:

“A cloud has been lifted. Not just for the Women’s World Cup, but for soccer in general. You saw euphoria, almost, over the past hour when this news came out. That’s wonderful. That’s a great step. But, what goes on later? As far as the Women’s World Cup, now we can concentrate on what ultimately is the most important thing when it comes to FIFA and soccer, and that’s the actual play on the field.”

Lalas on what Blatter’s resignation means for the U.S.:

“For the U.S. and U.S. Soccer, you can be proud that they were part of this, but on the field it doesn’t necessarily change anything. Off the field, we know we were in the running for the 2022 World Cup – does that get pulled back? Do they re-examine these types of things?”

Lalas on what FIFA needs next:

“We certainly don’t want somebody else coming in and just continuing the tradition of corruption. You need somebody coming in that understands that massive change has to happen.

“[FIFA needs] somebody at helm who understands that just because you’re the head of FIFA does not give you cart blanche to go out there and use [money] to enrich yourself, enrich your friends, enrich your country.”

Wynalda says sponsors were an important factor in Blatter’s resignation:

“In this business, an enormous amount of money goes through FIFA through sponsorship, and those sponsors are finally taking a look at this and saying FIFA needs a new face.”

Lalas on the bid process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups:

“When we look at what the mandate is for FIFA, particularly when it comes to Qatar, we can scream and yell about Sepp Blatter all we want, but part of the mandate of FIFA is to go and spread the gospel of soccer, and in that sense, going to Qatar is certainly doing that. What it comes down to when it comes to these bids is you want it to be fair. If you lose, you lose. We understand that, and it’s coming out more and more that it wasn’t a fair process.”

Wynalda on why sponsors find FIFA to be such an attractive partner:

“The sole purpose for getting involved with FIFA is it’s the world’s game. It’s the beautiful game. It’s a sport that we all want to be involved in, but when you start to throw around corruption, as in, it’s commonplace and it’s a corrupt enterprise, and people are dying in Qatar when they’re constructing some of these stadiums which have been put forth with some of the [sponsors’] money, that’s not something they’re ever going to agree to. That kind of pressure disallows FIFA to fund some of the programs that they really want to fund that do actually help the world’s game.”

Smith added:

“FIFA has become a laughingstock. It’s an absolute joke.”

Smith says the process is not finished with Blatter’s resignation:

“It’s not the end. There’s a lot more dirty laundry to be aired over the coming days and weeks, and I think it’s going to get a bit worse for Mr. Blatter.”

Latham says Blatter’s resignation is unlikely to affect the Women’s World Cup players:

“The teams are so submerged right now in preparations for the World Cup that it might be a little bit of background noise, but on the forefront their focus is on putting their best foot forward in the initial games and competing in the World Cup and just doing well for their country.”

Mitts says the timeline for finding the next leadership is in FIFA’s favor:

“I like the fact that they have time to actually go out and find the right person to run and make the best decision going forward so they can do it right.”

Wynalda adds:

“Six months might be an appropriate amount of time to let the dust settle, figure out who’s going to get indicted, who’s in trouble, who’s safe, who’s clean and let’s move forward.”

Gonzalez says Blatter’s resignation is a victory for women’s soccer:

“It’s a victory. For women’s soccer, those of us who went through the whole turf issue, it’s been 17 years of Sepp Blatter making decisions that make all of us soccer players think and wonder what’s really going on behind the scenes.”

Wynalda adds:

“There’s a whole lot of good in this, especially for the women’s game. We would have started this World Cup with a cloud hanging over it. It’s something we didn’t want to talk about. What we do want to talk about when this competition starts are the teams that are involved. We can celebrate the game the right way.”

Gonzalez says Blatter’s actions are not representative of a soccer leader:

“Sepp Blatter is the President of FIFA, which is soccer – a team sport. We team captains and we have coaches, and anybody that’s ever been a team captain or a coach knows that when your team goes down, you’re the first person that raises your hand and says, ‘I take responsibility. This was my fault, and I’ll see what I can do to make things better,’ and he came out and blatantly did the opposite.”

Gonzalez adds that women’s soccer is a small part of FIFA:

“In many ways, the women’s game is separate from FIFA. We know they’re looking over us and they’re supposed to take care of us, but there’s only a small amount of money that’s required to go from FIFA to the women’s game. Most of the female teams we’ve seen that have been built up – the big burst that we’ve seen on the fringe lately – that’s their own doing. That comes from within that federation. In many ways the women’s game has grown because of the work that’s been done on home soil and with the women themselves.”

Wynalda says the U.S. will be ready to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup if needed:

“The United States is ready and willing at any point to put on a wonderful event, and we could pull it off. That’s actually a blessing in disguise. If this information comes out and there is wrong-doing, the United States is ready. We’re always ready.”

Wynalda adds that this is Blatter’s resignation is just one part of what’s yet to come:
“This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of layers to this thing, and this initial report didn’t have anything to do with Russia or Qatar, but we’re getting there, and that’s going to come up over the next several months.”

Wahl calls out Blatter for lying about reform items such as term limits:
“It’s interesting that Blatter still wants things on his own terms. He’s going to stay in charge, he says, until this special congress takes place, and then the 209 national soccer associations are going to vote on a new President and on reform that he says he’s going to propose. These are the same 209 national associations that voted for Sepp Blatter the other day in a majority decision to get him the FIFA presidency again, so it’s certainly worthwhile to ask the question, can you trust the inside of FIFA to continue this reform process? Blatter’s talking about having term limits – that he’s always wanted these things, and that’s a complete lie. He’s been against term limits before and things that could have reformed the organization, and now he says he’s going to support those things.”

Wahl says FIFA’s next leader should come from the outside:
“They need to get a leader from outside the organization. Everyone within FIFA has had some sort of connection to what has been going on over the last several decades. A guy like Kofi Annan, the former United Nations leader would be perfect to come in as someone with a great reputation who would say, ‘there’s a new sheriff in charge here.’”

Wynalda on the leadership of the U.S. Soccer Federation
If you really get to [U.S. Soccer Federation President] Sanil [Gulati], and you talk to him, he is an incredibly intelligent man. He obviously knows the inner workings of all of this, not just FIFA, but CONCACAF and the United States Soccer Federation. I’m hoping that we’re not going to have to go through a scenario where we have to start having to ask questions of our president and his involvement in this, and to this point there are no indications that we’d have that problem.

Lalas on what characteristics FIFA’s next leader must have:
“Whoever comes in, man or woman, must be incredibly transparent and say, ‘This is our business, and this is how we are going to go about our business.’ They absolutely have to clean house.”
 

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