There’s no way known I am going to suggest that Australia will win if bids to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup are reassessed and votes are cast once more. Of course I’d love our Socceroos to play at home. However one thing I will say is “We told you so!”

How can FIFA, Sepp in particular face up to the media and, in the face of overwhelming and damning evidence of corruption even contemplate still hosting the world’s biggest sporting event in Qatar? Sure, there’s a LOT of money floating about, but a country of 1.7 million people hosting a FIFA World Cup? Don’t be ridiculous!

I don’t doubt Qatar’s ability to build a dozen climate-controlled stadiums and air-conditioned practice facilities to combat the oppressive 50 degree Celsius conditions. Nor do I have any concern that there will eventually be enough hotel beds, restaurants and facilities for the millions of people attending the tournament. However I was at FIFA 2010 and the 3,178,856 tickets sold pushed THEM to the brink…a country with the majority of infrastructure already built.

The real concern must extend to the credibility of the game. If this is what happens with those that decide who hosts the tournament, is it a stretch to believe there’s some degree of corruption across all levels, including on the pitch? Many of my friends, and in particular those who joined the Sportsnet Holidays FIFA World Cup 2010 trip to South Africa, all of whom are much better informed about the game than I believe that the consistency of the refereeing is a HUGE issue. Given what happens at the top of the food chain is this an unreasonable concern? I think not. It’s un-Australian, and though I am not going to sit here and pull out specific on-field examples I will go out on a limb and say while the game is managed like this, it will NEVER take off in Australia.

Let’s not assume for a second however that we Aussies are squeaky clean. Surely we offered a couple of incentives, sweeteners and tempters for favourable consideration?  Did Franz Beckenbauer really mean all he said in December, how perfect Australia was for the tournament and how he hoped we might win it? Perhaps Franz was indeed our one vote. Expensive failure I say.

I appreciate we are worlds from the FIFA World Cup in almost every way but the sport itself has to find a way to shake the tag of corruption. No matter at what level it occurs, every association across the globe is tarred with the corruption brush, including our A-League which has a tough enough time in a country devoted to the oblong ball sports. Tiny crowds, stadium violence, minimal coverage. So what’s the answer? Sack the entire FIFA board? Hmm..there’s a start. But a global commitment from those who instigate the corruption (like the cheating but obviously persuasive Qataris), that they’ll keep each other honest with HUGE penalties dealt to those who don’t. Am I dreaming?

I say strip Qatar of the hosting honour, ban their team from international competition till 2015…YES effective IMMEDIATELY!…and start again. Set the requisites and stick to them. Allow submissions of 500 pages maximum and put the vote away in favour of a points system per bid. I know I know, sounds too simple right? But surely the complex nature of the current process is the very nature that gives corruption a place to hide and exist.

I’m sick of corruption in all sport. When did an individual become bigger than the game? Is the money an inspiration or an inconvenience? Are we overcomplicating things? Is there a simple way to weed out the corrupt element in sport in general?

I’ve got my theories but would love to hear yours.

The wait is over. There is a new captain at the helm. Everybody can forget about panning Mr (Pimms) Andlemonade and move forward withthe very under the radar Holgar Osieck.

Who? That’s right. Holgar Osiek beat out a formidable list of contenders with names being thrown around like Frank Rijkaard, Paul Le Guen, Martin O’Neill and Jose Pekerman. And pundits and public alike are scrambling for the google oracle to tell them just who this German man who has the growing expectations of nation now upon him actually is.

Frank Lowry – in an exquisite case of name dropping – is citing a direct line to footballing legend Franz Beckenbauer, saying that he consulted the great man about his one-time protege before giving him the nod. Osiek is being hailed as more than a coach and there is a little of the talismanic panacea about Lowry’s words that he was looking for an educator of both players and coaches and that Osiek fit the bill.

Of course the new boss didn’t have to wait long to cast his eye over the troops though it’s doubtful that he was too pleased. In a match billed kind of like Pepsi – the choice of the new generation – the Soccernews were soundly beaten by a dominant Slovenia: sloppy, mistake-prone, wayward with the few chances they did create and  in the end lucky to shake hands only two to the bad. Yazz and the Plastic Population sung it best, The Only Way is Up!!!

The Dutch experiment is now officially over. It delivered qualification for two World Cups, left us with a deep love of Guus (in whom we still trust) though not so much he-who-came-after, Pim. Now all hope lies in German precision (and other such cultural stereotypes).

The German has a big job too: remedy the disaster that was the last Asian Cup campaign, steer generational change, and set sail for the carnival in Brasil in 2014….

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