It was a face-up defeat of big-money soccer. The television contracts, the massive untapped potential of the US market, the EPL, the Bundesliga in Germany... All defeated, and soundly.
It was a victory for Blatter, the match-fixers who control soccer in almost every country which voted for him in the election, and a mindset that The Beautiful Game should be played as a tribal game less resembling sport and more resembling war.
And now the aftermath begins:
- Even though Blatter agrees with Vladimir Putin that this was probably the United States tampering with the 2018 Russia World Cup, the USA is still being allowed in FIFA for now.
- This is important because the World Cup for Under-20 players has started in New Zealand, the USA winning it's first group-stage match in the hosts' group.
- The Women's World Cup starts in early June, with the USA one of the favorites.
- Late next week, an emergency UEFA meeting will take place, where the UEFA countries who voted against Blatter will plan their next move. England is expected to boycott the tournament, but if and only if a substantial additional number of nations make such a gesture meaningful. They have scantly a year before qualifying starts: Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Europe begins September of 2016.
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