How would a war in Iraq affect the U20 WYC next year in UAE?

I posed a similar question this summer and a number of people made some intestersting points that may be helpful when considering your question:

https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5956

There are reasonable considerations on both sides of the question.

 

timing is everything...

I've seen reporting on war plans that involve a variety of timeframes. The WYC is scheduled for March 25-April 16. I doubt that FIFA would hold the WYC in the UAE if there's a war underway in Iraq, but the war may either be over by then or not yet begun. The problem is that FIFA may need to make a go/no go decision before any of the timeframe issues become much clearer.

Here's the official FIFA page if anyone wants to see the participants so far and schedule: http://www.fifa2.com/scripts/runisa.dll?M2:gp::67173+u20/2003/index+E

 

Re: timing is everything...

if there is a war in iraq it will begin before the WYC would start...most if not all army people say that the war has to start in the first two months of the year b/c of weather related concerns...so if war does happen one can only assume it will begin before the WYC and be ongoing or will have ended.

personally i think that it should continue even with war in iraq. there have been wars all over this world and during them many events still took place; it is not as if this would be a world wide war that is encompassing every nation...think the korean war...

security risks at the WYC? sure but that is going to be the case regardless of war or not and there will be lots and lots of security, and i am sure the united states team will have it own security detail assigned from the state department.

 

If there's a war it should be over by then - little birds tell me.

The question is, at what point does FIFA have to be absolutely certain that things are safe for the tournament to go on. If there is fighting going on Feb. 25 for instance, will they need to cancel then?

Didn't the situation with Copa America last time stay fluid until a few days before the thing started? That wasn't FIFA I know, but they seem to be pretty flexible about these things overall (although there is no international football in Israel for the forseeable future, so perhaps if that criteria is applied to UAE, the event could be in some doubt).

I would still bet the event will take place as planned.

 

I saw some where, but I can't figure out where. That if War breaks out the tournament will be held in Switzerland. I looked for it, but I couldn't find the story.

 

yea, UAE is just south of qater, which if the saudi's dont let us use our bases and command center in the saudi kingdom, then it will become the base of operations for the assault on iraq...and has been used in the planning stages...

 

Re: Re: timing is everything...

That makes all the sense in the world. But there are also reports like this about fighting in the summer months:

• http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=1923132

It's probably advisable for "defense sources" to say to the press that the heat wouldn't stop anything, so take that for whatever you think it's worth.

In any event, FIFA may still need to make the go/no go decision without knowing either the start or end points of the war timeframes. The safest bet would be to move this event and promise the Emirates another event in the future.

I couldn't find anything specific about Switzerland either, but here's a report on a FIFA contingency plan to move the event to another country in the event of war:

• http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?level_3_id=137&page=5933903

This issue was apparently an agenda item at the recent FIFA meetings in Madrid, so perhaps there'll be some news floating around soon. The only thing I could find about the WYC discussions in Madrid was this nugget:

• 
  
  http://foxsports.lycos.com/content/view?contentId=813090

 

I don't see a U.S. U-20 team playing in the U.A.E, unless there's some sort of miraculous peace accord that makes everyone happy.

1) If war is ongoing, we're talking about staging a competition that's right on the major strategic route in and out of that troubled region: the Persian Gulf. Canceling this tournament would be a good idea, just like canceling the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were scheduled for Tokyo, was a good idea.

2) If war's over by then and we win, it'll be without the Arab/Muslim coalition we had during the Gulf War. I don't see a U.S. war victory quelling anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world, not in the short-term anyway. If FIFA doesn't move the tournament, the U.S. players would be sitting ducks for terrible abuse from the stands at the very least -- let's not think about worse. With a team composed in part of kids, I couldn't see sending them into a situation like this.

3) If things remain unchanged, I see FIFA moving the tournament. However, if it stays put, there's too much anti-American sentiment over our policy on Iraq and the Israel-Palestine question. Imagine the Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to play in the U.A.E. next summer. Isn't hard to imagine them changing plans, is it? So you think the U-20s are any more likely to play?

I know U.S. soccer players have to cut their teeth playing in hostile places like Costa Rica, Mexico, and Los Angeles (haw haw!) sooner or later, but this is a whole different matter.

I don't see the U-20s playing unless the tournament moves.

 

First directly on-point article I've seen on the question:

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=usunder20team&prov=st&type=lgns

It's by Jamie Trecker from SportsTicker, but don't let that spook you.

Interesting quotes from Contiguglia, Rongen, Santino, and others. Plus the possibility that Japan may be FIFA's backup option.

 

If we do go to war over Iraq I don't think there will be very many places the event could be staged where there won't be anti-American sentiment. Remember too, this is a world event. Though Saddam Hussein is a dangerous nutcase, the lesson of the Munich Olympics has been heeded more or less universally by governments and terror organizations. It set back the Palestinian cause a generation in the eyes of the world.

 

Japan again "last week"...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/20/sports/soccer/21SOCC.html

 

My son (16 at the time) was just in Kuwait this past spring. On the day they left, there were riots around the US Embassy -- he was pretty freaked.

He initially wanted to train with a soccer team over there, but once he got there, he found out that the anti-American sentiment is fairly strong among the poorer population and that's mostly what plays soccer over there.

 

Well, here's a bit from today's MLS Confidential from SoccerAmerica. Note the second paragraph.

 

I agree that the event should be moved to Japan. But yesterday's Emirates Airlines sponsorship deal probably carries some weight - I'm no FIFA conspiracy theorist (I actually like Blatter and liked Havelange), but money talks. Hopefully, FIFA will do the right thing anyway and move the event.

 

I'd be very, very, surprised if this tournament takes place as scheduled in the UAE.

Japan is a good choice as last-minute alternate since they hosted a major event last summer and are relatively uninvolved in the present geopolitical crisis.

Korea would probably have been in contention as well if it weren't for that crazy Stalinista in Pyongyang.

 

An honest (somewhat rhetorical) question about the impending crisis in Iraq:

What gives the US the right or moral authority to "topple" regimes and "install" new ones? Let's not forget that the United States is the only country to have used nuclear bombs (talk about weapons of mass destruction), TWICE, on civilian populations no less. I won't even go into Cambodia, Vietnam...etc. Of course, this doesn't mean that I would support the current regime in Iraq. I'm just defiantly questioning the arrogance of American foreign policy (which is nothing but glorified bullying) of trying to control other parts of the world. Wait, who's trying to go to war here again? Oh, that's right. It's the United States trying to act unilaterally to fulfill its greed for oil. Never mind that both Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden used to be on the CIA's payroll and were trained and armed by the US military. Thank god for short attention spans.

I'm just annoyed at the imbecilic acceptance of "well, war is inevitable. I hope the US installs a better regime" mentality. What part of Saddam Hussein, bin Laden, and many other CIA-funded tyrannical regimes created around the world makes you think that the US is capable of installing better regimes?

I thought we lived in democracies. Whatever happened to voicing one's dissent without the fear of being baited into "if you're not with us, you're with the enemy"? Sure seems like we're back in the McCarthyist era to me.

And that was just a long-winded way to say that instead of talking about moving the championships out of UAE, we should oppose the United States' move to war and question the motives behind it.

 

The short answer is nothing gives us that right. And most of us in the U.S. feel the same way. Problem is, we have some bad people in the White House right now and they're calling the shots, regardless of how we feel.

Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il are truly soulless bastards -- both will feel the jabs of millions of tiny, red-hot pitchforks in the afterlife. But I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for George W. Bush either.

Otto, if you're a U.S. citizen, make sure you vote in every election for the rest of your life, and make sure every right-thinking person close to you is registered and gets to the polls.

The White House has a comments line. It's 202-456-1111. Give a short description of how you feel about any issue. Be polite and concise -- the operators are cool even if you're critical of the administration, and they promise to share your answer with the president.

If you're not a U.S. citizen, you can still dig some interesting viewpoints and blogging at:
www.smirkingchimp.com
www.talkingpointsmemo.com
www.mediawhoresonline.com

We're gonna take this country back!

Now, back to soccer: The youth tournament in the UAE is obviously a non-starter. And as for other competitions, the 2004 Olympics in Athens another potentially hairy situation. Real heavy anti-American sentiment there, along with a pretty powerful terrorist group. And wasn't it AEK Athens whose fans burned American flags in the stands for a UEFA match not long after Sept. 11?