Did The FIFA Scandal Scupper Philadelphia's World Cup Dream?

By Kevin Kinkead

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- There's not much that Philadelphia Union coaches and players can say about the FIFA scandal.

They've been asked to defer to Major League Soccer and commissioner Don Garber for comments regarding Wednesday's arrests.

Still, the Union media room was a bit more populated this week than it usually is. Most of the talk at Jim Curtin's weekly press conference focused on Philadelphia's two-game winning streak, though reporters did ask about the news that dominated national headlines that morning.

"When I woke up I saw the breaking news; stuff on Twitter and different things," Curtin said on Wednesday afternoon. "I had seen the previous New York Times article and the work some of the reporters have done recently to put it in the spotlight. Unfortunately, our commissioner has made it clear not to discuss that topic at this time. It's a process that they're going through and it's not really my place, I don't really know the legality on things. I'm not able to comment on that."

Many of the allegations against FIFA seem to revolve around North and South America. Veteran Union midfielder Brian Carroll has eight caps for the United States national team and participated in FIFA-sanctioned events, such as the 2001 World Youth Championship in Argentina.

"Really I've just seen some snippets on ESPN," Carroll said. "I really don't know enough about it to even comment on it. I'm sure we'll see it play out through the media, but I really don't know enough about it right now, I haven't seen enough about it."

The highest profile executive arrested was Jeffrey Webb, who traveled to Philadelphia just two months ago. Webb was at Lincoln Financial Field with CONCACAF coaches and local leaders, as the Gold Cup final and third place game were awarded to Lincoln Financial Field and PPL Park, respectively. Webb did photo opportunities and appeared on the dais alongside Mayor Michael Nutter, Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz, and Eagles President Don Smolenski.

Sixty days later, Webb is now looking at a return to the United States, this time via forced extradition.

Smolenski and Sakiewicz were among the executives pushing for Philadelphia to become a World Cup host city, assuming the United States won the bid for the 2022 tournament. In 2010, committee members gathered with Union fans and players to watch the announcements at Tir Na Nog Irish pub in center city. The room was filled with disappointment when the United States lost out out on the bid.

Here's what Nutter told former Daily News writer Kerith Gabriel after Qatar was awarded the World Cup:

"I can only surmise that there were other things the committee took into consideration, but this is definitely shocking and in many ways unfortunate."  (December 3^rd, 2010)

Then-Union captain Danny Califf echoed those sentiments in his assessment. Califf didn't mince words when he told me the following:

"Disappointment ... that's really the only way I can put it. At the end of the day, it's not a huge surprise. I think that FIFA has been trying, as a trend, to put this event in places that are maybe a bit under-explored. But I have to feel like money played a huge factor in both of these decisions (Russia was awarded 2018), and I think that maybe sacrifices the quality of the event. I mean, obviously, you can never tell. I think (the United States) could put on the best event that there could have been, and that's what's disappointing." (December 3^rd, 2010)

Larry Needle was another member of that bid committee. The executive director of the Philadelphia Sports Congress also expressed disappointment in the decision when he appeared on the KYW Philly Soccer Show.

Local blog Philly Phanatics chronicled the Tir Na Nog event and captured the stunned response on video.

It's probably premature to talk further about the alleged bribery and corruption surrounding the Qatari and Russian World Cup bids.

After all, no one has been convicted of anything.

But the scandal does seem to cast a shadow over the soccer world, just as FIFA-sanctioned international tournaments get under way this summer. The U20 World Cup begins this weekend and the Women's World Cup starts on June 6^th.

"It's obviously an exciting time," Curtin explained. "I actually did a training clinic (Tuesday) night out here with about sixty young girls and that's all they were talking about, the Women's World Cup. I have two daughters that are into soccer. Unfortunately, my job doesn't allow me to go on break to go to Vancouver to watch some of those (World Cup) games with my daughter, but we have a busy schedule ahead. It is an exciting time for the game, it does steal a bit of the spotlight from them, and the good things that are going on at the international level and in our league as well. So anytime the word scandal comes up, obviously it fills this (media) room a little bit more. I guess there's no such thing as bad publicity, but this is negative publicity."

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