English baffled by 2018 defeat

England’s beaten World Cup 2018 bid team admitted on Friday they were at a loss to explain the country’s humiliating defeat as the country’s press branded the outcome a fix.

England bid chief Andy Anson said a last-minute switch of votes appeared to have swung the tournament in favour of Russia, who were awarded the world’s biggest sporting event by Fifa’s executive committee on Thursday.

England, eliminated in the first round with only two votes, had been increasingly confident of victory after a high-powered charm offensive led by Prime Minister David Cameron, royal heir Prince William and David Beckham.

However Anson told a news conference on Friday that Fifa members who had pledged to support England had inexplicably swapped sides.

“I still find it hard to understand what happened,” Anson said.

PROMISES NOT HONOURED

“I’m not going to beat around the bush. Individual members promised to vote for us and didn’t clearly. “That’s difficult to stomach when they have given you assurances.”

Anson said he had been told by Fifa members that England’s bid was damaged by media reports which had lifted the lid on corruption in the organisation.

However Anson said he was sceptical that the media were the reason for England’s crushing defeat.

“They are saying to us that our media killed us but I don’t believe that for one minute,” Anson said.

“Russia did a lot of last-minute lobbying and votes appeared to switch at the last minute – we know some switched in the early hours of the morning.”

English officials had stayed up until 5am on the morning of the vote to lobby members, Anson revealed.

As the dejected English prepared to depart Zurich, the nation’s press were declaring that Thursday’s vote – which also saw the 2022 tournament awarded to Qatar in a shock upset – was rigged.

“Fixed!” screamed an outraged Sun in its headline.

“Russians knew result,” the popular tabloid continued, claiming that Russia bid chief executive Alexey Sorokin told the England team on Wednesday that it had already secured the required number of votes.

‘COMPLETE SHAM’

Former England manager and Sun columnist Terry Venables branded the vote a “complete and utter sham”.

“Maybe we should not be that surprised Russia got the vote to stage the 2018 World Cup,” Venables said. “After all, Fifa and the KGB are just about the last two secret organisations on the planet.”

The former Tottenham manager echoed the common belief held by the nation’s media that Fifa is ideologically opposed to England.

“The bleeding heart liberals in Zurich, like they did with South Africa 2010, opted for legacy over logistics,” he said.

“It is a great shame. A shame for England. A shame for football. And shame on Fifa,” Venables concluded.

Fellow tabloid Daily Mirror was equally straightforward in its assessment, and also slammed the decision to grant the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

“Russia, a mafia state rotten to the core with corruption; Qatar a medieval kingdom with no freedom of speech; Both are swimming in oil money,” it splashed across its front page.

“How on earth did they persuade the dodgy fatcats at Fifa to give them the World Cup? SOLD,” the paper concluded. “Was the World Cup a stitch-up?” asked the centre-right Daily Mail.
“Amid strong suspicions of shady backroom deals, the tournament went to Russia, branded a ‘virtual mafia state’ in leaked US diplomatic cables this week,” the paper reported.

The Times’ editorial pulled few punches: “The system of World Cup elections is abysmally corrupt,” it claimed. “It is too small, making it easily manipulated, and it is too secret, protecting it from scrutiny”.