Day -849. WorldCup2018
While I wait for an answer from the President and General Secretary of the Maltese FA to my questions about who the MFA will vote for to be the next Fifa president and, if it hasn't been decided yet, will a decision be made (and made public) before February 26th, I am compelled to go back to the friendly match that Malta played against Jordan last November in Turkey.
I have covered this before, but as the Fifa election approaches it may be more pertinent. It is very fair, and necessary, to say that it may be of no significance at all. But given the allegations about suspicious payments made to the MFA by the Germany 2006 World Cup bid team, the nature of this friendly was interesting.
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, the Jordanian FA president and Fifa presidential candidate, has been very public about his warm relationship with the MFA and how it was because of President Normal Darmanin Demajo's support that he decided to stand as a candidate in last year's election against Sepp Blatter. The friendly match was a "thank-you" to the MFA. To the naked eye it was hardly the most opulent of thank-yous. The match was played in an empty stadium in Turkey. Whether there were no spectators for security or because there was absolutely no interest in this match was hard to ascertain. At least Darmanin Demajo got to sit in a fancy armchair, alongside Prince Ali. The video below shows not only the emptiness of the not very grand stadium, but also the questionable quality of the lights.
It is very simple to say that this was only a friendly between two minor teams in international football, and therefore the size of the stadium and the lack of a crowd is understandable. There was also very little interest in either country. The Times of Malta attempted to give it some importance in a half-hearted report, but did not have a journalist there. The Jordan Times had one sentence about the match.
Why couldn't they play in Malta? Maybe because the Maltese team and officials would then not have been treated to an overseas trip by Prince Ali. And why not Jordan? It could have been security. Whatever the reasons, there is definitely reason to question the timing of this friendly. Prince Ali has been non-stop campaigning for a while and it looks like he will need every vote he can get. It looks like he is third in the running behind Gianni Infantino and Sheikh Salman. While the latter two have the backing from many associations in certain continental confederations, Prince Ali is picking up support from individual countries. Malta nominated Prince Ali for the election and it has been reported that they are going to vote for him. However, there has not been an official confirmation. It is small countries like Malta, who's vote could be swayed by direct promises, who could end up making a difference in this election.
It is possible that there is no story here. Alternatively it could be an amusing one. Prince Ali promised Darmanin Demajo this friendly. Maybe it got to a point where the MFA thought that the Prince had forgotten about them. So Darmanin Demajo sent his good pal a polite email asking if the match was still on. The email was read by Prince Ali's assistant, who passed it on the Prince's campaign team. The head of the campaign team mentioned it to the Prince who rolled his eyes and said, "Oh no, him again? I hoped he had forgotten about it. Ok, what do we do? An unused stadium in Turkey? And somebody there owes us a favour? Perfect. And how about Turkish Airlines? We can pull a favour or two there, right? So write back to Darmanin Demajo and tell him we're on. We have a beautiful venue in Turkey and we will show him and the team the local sights. And make sure it sounds like the email is written by me. Oh.....one more thing. Can you find some fancy chairs somewhere in Turkey......you know the kind which someone will think is what I, a Prince, would sit in. And then we'll tell him they were specially made for the Royal house in Jordan. Good. Now what's the name of the St Lucia FA president?"
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