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Swine Flu Taking Aim At The Confederations Cup
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Most have already heard about the cancellations of Mexican league games – or those forced to be played behind closed doors – and FIFA’s cancellation of a CONCACAF tournament while Carlos Vela was quarantined from Arsenal training before Wednesday’s Champions League fixture because he’s Mexican he had family visiting. But now the virus is leaking into the international sect and has caused a great deal of worry in the FIFA camp, who are now saying the Confederations Cup is now at risk as cases start to pop up in the south of Africa.
In what may come as a mild surprise, the Confederations Cup is only six weeks away. It still seems ages and ages before the World Cup is due to creep up on us, doesn’t it?
With the tournament so close and swine flu quickly closing in on pandemic stage, FIFA’s medical team have been assembled to determine how the world’s game should deal with it and what will happen should the virus continue to grow and spread – a great worry due to the timing, as the longer swine flu lives the worse it gets and the virus has six weeks to do its damage.
Valcke said Wednesday the threat of a travel ban due to the outbreak of swine flu could pose a serious risk to the Cup, which is due to open in six weeks. “We are monitoring the situation and we hope that it would be under control before we have to think about when the teams are moving from South America to Africa, from North America to Africa, from Europe to Africa, etc.”
Now the big question: would anybody care if the Confederations Cup was canceled? About ten minutes ago I firmly said yes. Number one, I dread the summer without proper football (as much as I love the Swedish Allsvenskan….Champions League it ain’t) and how often do we get the opportunity to watch the champions of each continent/confederation take on one another? After all, it rarely sets up so nicely in the World Cup.
But then, do we really need to see what amounts to Who is superior over a set of friendlies: Europe or South America? Of the five modern tournaments only Mexico has won outside of SA and Europe and that was largely because they were, you guessed it, in Mexico, while six of the eight most recent semi-finalists resided in one of the two footballing havens. South Africa doesn’t have a prayer, so we’re left wondering….Brazil, Italy or Spain? I can wait a year. The anticipation will make the real thing all the sweeter.
*loose sleep over it being canceled
Posted from 
United States
I was actually looking forward to it, but then, I also look forward to the Club World Cup.
Yeah, the usual suspects always win it, but you still get that occasional surprise from the dark horse and I think for teams that never expected to win their competitions, it serves as a nice consolation and reminder of their glory. Especially if the team is already all but knocked out of the World Cup Qualifying.
Posted from 
Denmark
Cancel it altogether – forever. The confederations cup to football is like twenty20 to cricket.
Posted from 
United Kingdom
Ebrahim said “The confederations cup to football is like twenty20 to cricket”. So you mean more interesting, marketable, profitable and draws bigger crowds? Not a great plan to cancel it then
Yes we take care, as cof. Cup is so important before World cup for hosting country as well as champions of each continent, to determine their level with the heroes a few months before the big show “World Cup”. How often you see Brazil, Italia, Spain, Egypt, US play together in an official tournament.
Finally I think it’s impossible to kill this virus within 45 days, So it’ll be cancelled unfortunately !
For the conspiracy theorists. Could the swine flu excuse for FIFA’s Confederations Cup be an opportunity for them to by time for South Africa before they are put on center stage. No the whole world isn’t watching the Confederati0ons Cup for the matches but in this case a lot of people would be keen to see how South Africa can do as hosts of a tournament. Could this be FIFA’s way to by them more time?
Swine Flu is basically a seasonal flu that comes when the season’s change. It’s heightened at the beginning of spring and fall. Without proper rest the swine flue will take it’s toll on you, but it really isn’t as serious as the media has made it out to be. You can really get over swine flue as quickly as you can get over any other flu and to prevent from spreading it, limit your contact with other people. And make sure you wash everything you touch. Just like you would do any other time you have the flu.
Posted from United States
Funny funny. No, canceling this cup would be to let paranoia strike the world once again. How many people die of toothpick complications per annum. Slipping in the tub? Look it up!
WHO the heck are WHO? Who do they represent financially? Do we really need pharma misinformation shutting down the beautiful game? Sub-Saharan Africa might have health problems. “Swine flu” is not it. Let my bread and circuses be!
Posted from United States
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I don’t take it seriously because the big federations don’t take it seriously (Spain, Brazil, Italy). The tournament is important as a “testing ground” for the hosts, but it really amounts to cheap thrills. Don’t get me wrong, I’d definitely make sure to catch some of the more interesting games, but I won’t lose sleep over it too much.
Besides, I’ll be tuning in to the CONCACAF Gold Cup, a tournament which, funnily enough, is not going to be treated as seriously by the “big powers” (US and Mexico) because there is no, you guessed it, Confederations Cup berth up for grabs.
“There’s always a bigger fish.”
Posted from
United States