As befits their status as the biggest and, some would say, the most bloated sporting organisation in the world the headquarters of football’s governing body on Fifa Strasse in the North Eastern suburb of Zurich is suitably opulent.
FIFA nestles proudly among the leafy glades, much of the impressive building sunken into the lush ground. You’d imagine that so thick skinned are the denizens of FIFA that Sepp Blatter and his cronies would be most likely to survive a nuclear attack.
The FIFA building is next door to the Zurich Zoo and you can draw your own conclusions on that particular piece of geographical serendipity although the animals I saw were placid enough even if they were a little overfed.
In the highly political world of international football the Darwinian theory applies. The rules are ‘survival of the fittest’ and sometimes the rules don’t even apply.
While waiting for the draw to take place we took a wander around the FIFA complex.
Lush, pristine pitches are meticulously laid out amidst the grounds and as a group of joggers approached the unmistakable sound of Irish accents was heard clearly above the din.
An Irish girl working in FIFA as a translator led the runners who enjoy the remarkable fringe benefits of the workplace facilities. She was really excited about the prospect of the World Cup European Zone Play off Draw, to give it its full title, and to be fair so were we.
As we were shepherded inside the main building we were put in a room with the Russians and thought it was fate. They told tall tales of below freezing temperatures, and retractable roofs that mean grass won’t grow, even if they wanted it too. They knew only of Robbie Keane and Shay Given and didn’t realise that John O’ Shea had played in their Luzniky Stadium in the Champions League final.
The arrival of Carlos Quieros, the Portugal manager and the only one of the seeded teams’ bosses to come to the draw caused quite a stir as did France’s Technical Director, Gerard Houllier.
For the record; Slovenia’s Matjaz Kek, Bosnia’s Miroslav Blazevic and Ukraine’s Alexei Mikhailichenko were the only other managers who did appear for the draw so maybe Trapattoni was showing the arrogance of a winning mentality when he decided to give the ball plucking a skip. Superstition may have a part to play in life and for Trap, as ever, it is ‘the little details’ and maybe a few prayers that in the end will make the difference.
Gerard Houillier, highly touted for the Ireland job last time out, was graceful and charming. I remember chasing him around South Africa almost two years ago when he was the bookie’s favourite to replace Steve Staunton. He had gone to the World Cup draw in Durban and later to a major Soccer conference in Johannesburg. He apologised with a smile for giving me the slip then and, of course, I forgave him while at the same time telling him how good Trapattoni has been to deal with. There but for the grace of God…
Houillier warmly greeted the Irish delegation of David Blood, John
Delaney, Pat Costello, Peter Sherrard, Joe McGlue (the security officer) and the television rights negotiator Laurence St John and said that while he was happy to see them again he did not want to be seeing them in November.
Jerome Valcke, Secretary General of FIFA and Stephen Pienaar, the South Africa and Everton player made sure otherwise.
The draw process, and I’ve seen a few of them, was simplicity itself. All the rigging, you might say, had been done in the disgraceful rethink on seeding arrangements which appeared to come about at the eleventh hour when FIFA got scared that a few big hitters might not make it to the party.
The welcome speech came from Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter, the most important man in world football, and a man clearly too important to answer questions on the seeding policy of the organisation. Mr. Blatter, we were told would not be available for interview as his schedule simply wouldn’t allow him the few minutes it would take for him to justify an injustice to smaller nations and FIFA’s much talked about ‘Fair Play’ and ‘Respect’ policies.
Some people have wondered if there were in fact two draws as flagged earlier and indeed there were. The draws were just completed mercifully quickly.
There were two pots, one for the seeds and one for the four others and then a pot in the middle. Stephen Pienaar, and you can blame him, took one ball from each of the seed pots and placed them in the middle container. At this point Ireland and France were already together, 'Come What May', as Donal Og Cusack might say.
Pienaar then swirled the green balls around in the middle vase another few times and drew Republic of Ireland, home first. Drat!
Of course it’s a tough ask but who said getting to the World Cup Finals would be a doddle? If, like the FAI, you were feeling a bit cash strapped this is the perfect way of making it to South Africa.
Croke Park will be packed and the atmosphere will, I’m sure, be even better than that for the Italy game when the famous stadium finally gave soccer its warmest hug.
And Paris in November, ah the romance of the coup de monde! No matter the recession, Irish fans will brave the rip off and march on to the French capital. This Ireland team and the manager have given us hope, even in wintertime. At this time of year, and at this stage of the competition, it’s good to be still involved in meaningful international competition. And I have a feeling that our guys are in it to win it.
Tony O'Donoghue is RTÉ's Soccer Correspondent.
