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Post by Rubbernose on Nov 5, 2005 7:54:26 GMT 10
Not confirmed yet, but reports are coming through that Uruguay have changed the kickoff time from 9pm to 5pm.  Something to do with them having flight problems, and being a pack of little bitches. It was also Australia's fault, or something. They also whined and moaned like little bitches to FIFA who seemingly love gobbling them whenever possible, and have apparently managed to have the Sydney leg ref changed to a more 'dive friendly' Spanish one; |
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Post by Dan on Nov 5, 2005 8:04:07 GMT 10
Been whinging about flights for weeks. Quanta flys oz team on private plane but they cant afford that so the best they can do is to change a minimum of 3 times. They will be knackered when they get here!
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Post by Rubbernose on Nov 5, 2005 8:22:12 GMT 10
Yeah, they have flight probs, supposedly. I heard one report that the airline they wanted to charter doubled their price from $400,000 to $800,000...which was apparently Australia's fault.
With the change to 5pm they reportedly have a 24 hour flight going Montevideo> Santiago> Los Anegels> Sydney, arring here on Monday night.
I reckon we should move the match here to 6am Wednesday morning. ;D
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Post by omni on Nov 7, 2005 14:46:56 GMT 10
Tuesday Morning  I'm not convinced that the time has been pushed foward - I've heard nothing official. |
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Post by dru on Nov 7, 2005 15:07:10 GMT 10
supposedly it's up to the FFA if they will agree to this change of time.
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Post by Yellowbeard on Nov 7, 2005 17:50:53 GMT 10
Aussies to veto kick-off switch
By Tom Smithies
November 7, 2005
AUSTRALIA was last night tightening the psychological thumbscrews on Uruguay, with the Football Federation poised to reject the South Americans' desperate plea to bring next weekend's first play-off forward by four hours.
The original scheduling of the kick-off for 9pm local time, forcing Australia to charter a Qantas jet to get the players back after the game, has blown up in Uruguay's faces after their own pre-booked charter fell through.
Australia will fly out of Montevideo shortly after the game and arrive back in Sydney early on Monday, mirroring Uruguay's original charter plans.
But now, unless the FFA change their mind or another charter jet becomes available, the South Americans will have to take the first available commercial flight.
That is not until the day after the game, flying via Santiago, and will land in Sydney about 7am local time on the Tuesday - just 36 hours before the second play-off.
Last night, as the Socceroos began to assemble in Buenos Aires for five days of preparation and tension levels mounted, sources within the camp said it was almost certain Australia would decline the request.
Uruguay contacted FIFA on Saturday to ask for the switch, a plea that was immediately forwarded to the FFA.
While no formal decision had last night been confirmed, Australian sources said the preceding episodes of diplomatic jousting meant Australia saw no need to help Uruguay out.
From the outset relations have been strained. Uruguay first delayed a decision on the original kick-off time then plumped for 9pm, while Australia refused a request to move the first game forward a day, and FFA chief executive John O'Neill publicly warned Uruguay not to attempt any dirty tricks.
Uruguay was also unhappy with FIFA's choice of European referees and the absence of any Spanish-speaking officials.
On Saturday it was confirmed by FIFA the Belgian officials scheduled to control the second game in Sydney had been switched to another play-off.
They have been replaced in Sydney by a Spanish trio headed by Luis Medina Cantalejo. The 31-year-old is no stranger to controversy - he was the referee who last month sent off David Beckham during the England versus Austria group qualifier.
The fervent atmosphere surrounding the game next weekend was further emphasised when the Australian government warned any of this country's citizens in Montevideo to keep a very low profile.
In an updated travel advisory note, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: "Australians travelling to Uruguay for the World Cup qualifier on November 13 are advised to be alert to their own security and avoid any disturbances or offensive behaviour, particularly in or near the stadium on match day."
After the first game between the teams in 2001, which Australia had won 1-0 in Melbourne, fans in Uruguay rampaged through the streets, burning cars and wrecking shops.
After the Socceroos' well-documented abusive reception at Montevideo airport, they lost the second leg 3-0 - sending Uruguay to the World Cup and, four years on, providing the tumultuous backdrop to this month's repeat
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Post by brett on Nov 7, 2005 19:49:55 GMT 10
Bahaha if they dont get a flight til the next morning I will find that so funny. Kniving bastards deserve it! It's hard to believe some of their antics on and off the pitch like it's their god given right to rule world football, and I never would have imagined we'd get on top of the mental public battle before-hand. If we can get a draw over there I would rate us a 85% chance of qualifying just because their players will be so disheartened with everything.
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Post by jollyroger on Nov 7, 2005 21:26:02 GMT 10
The papers suggest that it will be up to the FFA as to whether the time comes back to 5.00pm. I cannot see that happening.... we are certainly winning the mental battle at the moment.
I wouldnt get to over excited by uruguays predicament. I have no doubt that their government will come to the rescue and get their charter flight happening. I seem to recall that this is what happened last time they played when the team management botched their travel plans.
The Aussie and uruguay teams will be waving at each other from their plans on the way here......
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Post by omni on Nov 7, 2005 23:40:13 GMT 10
Good on the FFA for not changing the time - it's right for a result, it's right for the Aussies and it's right for us, the fans.
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Post by Yellowbeard on Nov 8, 2005 20:09:29 GMT 10
O'Neill believes the Montevideo match will now start at 7pm on Saturday evening (8am Sunday morning AEDT).
"There's a number of forces at play here, and I think people want to come up with a decision that pleases both parties and to the greatest extent that both parties can be satisfied," O'Neill said.
Uruguay is pushing to have the kick-off changed from 9pm to 5pm after its arrangements with a US airline charter company to fly the team from Montevideo to Sydney for the second leg tomorrow week fell through.
The Uruguay Football Association (UAF) was frantically trying to find another charter yesterday, but it was resigned to probably having to travel to Australia on a commercial flight.
The only viable option would be for Uruguay to be in Santiago, Chile, by about 10pm on Saturday night, an impossibility with the existing 9pm kick-off.
The team will otherwise not fly until Sunday and will be at a considerable disadvantage in terms of jet-lag recovery time for the second leg in Sydney tomorrow week.
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FFA has chartered a flight back to Sydney after the match.
Uruguay is of the opinion that it can choose a starting time at its discretion, and it yesterday presented the new kick-off of 5pm as a fait accompli.
FFA confirmed late yesterday that it had received a request for a time change, which Uruguay sent to FIFA and Australia, but it questioned whether the change was legitimate.
p>"We're aware that they're telling their media that it's been changed," a FFA spokesman said.
The spokesman said Australia was of the view that once a time and date had been agreed upon by both countries, it could not be changed without the consent of the other.
O'Neill said today that FFA did not have the power to veto the change but could express an opinion to FIFA, which would rule on the matter.
He believed bringing the game forward to 5pm would be unfair on Australia given the money and time invested in organising its charter flight and the difficulty of changing the time for the charter.
"Our plans, particular around the arrangement with Qantas and the pilots ... once you get outside the three hour (change) from 9pm you're in a bit of a difficult area," O'Neill said.
"We could live with 6pm but we would prefer 7pm.
"Five o'clock would mean quite a number of arrangements that we put a lot of time and effort and money into would be wasted."
FIFA vice-president Julio Grondona of Argentina was lobbying on Uruguay's behalf last night for the host nation to be allowed to change the kick-off time for the World Cup qualifier against Australia in Montevideo.
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Uruguay is hoping that, with the help of Grondona, FIFA will allow the change.
Should FIFA rule that mutual consent is needed for a change, Australia would not agree.
Although it seems like a somewhat trivial matter, the kick-off bears significant strategic importance to the tie.
The reason Uruguay altered the original kick-off of 4pm was a cynical attempt to gain an advantage over the Socceroos by forcing them to miss their planned commercial flight from Santiago, which leaves at 11.20pm.
Uruguay, through its main corporate ally, media company Tenfield, had hired a charter flight - at a reported cost of $US500,000 ($682,000) - to take its team to Sydney immediately after the first leg.
Australia, Uruguay thought, would be stuck in South America for an extra 24 hours if they missed the flight out of Chile, and would then arrive in Sydney on Tuesday morning with less than 36 hours to prepare for the second leg at Telstra Stadium, Sydney.
But Australia countered by hiring its own charter, through one of its major sponsors, Qantas. On the weekend, it emerged that Uruguay's charter plans had collapsed and it needed to finish the match earlier so its players could board, ironically, the commercial flight out of Santiago.
Uruguay's frustrated coach, Jorge Fossati, said he was so distressed by the news that the charter plans had collapsed that he "cannot get to sleep".
"It alters all the plans that we had and what is worse, I cannot guarantee that our players will arrive in good condition for the return match," Fossati said.
This is but the latest in a series of tit-for-tat retaliations which virtually ensures there will be no spirit of detente when these teams take the field.
Uruguay took great offence at Australia's insistence that FIFA oversees security in Montevideo, and it was insulted when FFA chief executive John O'Neill threatened to take his team off the field if the situation got out of hand at Estadio Centenario.
Fossati was fuming when Australia turned down his request to play the first leg a day earlier. He believed the extra day's rest would be beneficial to both sides considering the amount of travelling involved.
But Australia coach Guus Hiddink thought Uruguay would gain more benefit and so refused to change.
Meanwhile, the UAF steadfastly refuses to address the issue of who paid the agitators who spat at and abused the Socceroos at Carrasco Airport four years ago, and it allowed Fossati to incredulously question the neutrality of the Danish and Belgian officials appointed to the two matches.
Uruguayan protests about the Belgian Frank de Bleeckere - supposedly biased because his native country neighbours that of Hiddink - were heard in Zurich, when echoed by Grondona.
FIFA has reassigned the Belgian referees and appointed a quartet of Spaniards, led by Luis Medina Cantalejo.
Argentina yesterday found the entire soap opera amusing.
"When you think that here, in South America, everyone believes that referees are bought and sold, it's not a big surprise that Uruguay thought the Australians were up to something with no Spanish-speaking referees," football fan Alfredo Bernardi said.
"Wait till the Uruguayans figure out that the next queen of Denmark will be an Australian."
Meanwhile, Hiddink cancelled a planned morning training session booked for today.
With only 15 members of his squad in Buenos Aires - and some arriving early today - he decided to give the players a chance to rest before an afternoon session.
Even though there will be a temptation to look for an away goal - which counts for double should the two legs be tied - it seems likely that he will play with a defensive formation in Montevideo, leaving Mark Viduka to toil up front by himself.
Hiddink must also decide whether there is a place for Harry Kewell, who was one of the first players to arrive in Argentina.
Kewell's ongoing battles with injuries have allowed him precious little playing time at Liverpool this season.
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Post by Rubbernose on Nov 9, 2005 11:47:21 GMT 10
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