England’s victory allowed to stand.
T&T Guardian Reports.
Fifa has announced England’s 3-0 friendly win against Trinidad & Tobago will stand, despite a mistake over the number of substitutions used.
England made one more than the maximum allowed six changes, claiming they had received special dispensation to do so.
Fifa insists that is not the case but says it was a mistake by the referee and will not downgrade the status of the match from an A international. That means four England debutantes will be able to keep their first caps.
Dean Ashton, Joe Hart, Phil Jagielka and Stephen Warnock all made their first appearances for England.
A Fifa statement read: “Fifa can confirm it did not give special dispensation to make up to seven substitutions at the Trinidad & Tobago v England friendly match played on Sunday 1 June 2008.
“The referee of this match confirmed to Fifa that he received no instruction to allow for such a special dispensation, but that it had been a mistake by the referee.
“As Fifa has received no official protest regarding this match, it shall be considered as an official match.”
West Ham striker Ashton started the match, while Manchester City goalkeeper Hart, Everton defender Jagielka and Blackburn left-back Warnock came off the bench in the second half.
England boss Fabio Capello made four changes at half-time, and three more later in the second half.
It was thought Fifa was unhappy and considering whether to downgrade the match as a result.
However, the FA had been under the impression such a decision had been agreed - and it is believed it had originally asked to make 11 changes.
An FA spokesman said: “The fact of the matter is the opportunity to use seven substitutes was cleared in advance of the game by Fifa, Trinidad & Tobago representative Jack Warner, the Fifa delegate for the game and the match referee.
“Trinidad had the same option to use seven subs. There is no way we would have gone ahead with using seven subs without the approval that we were given.”
Had Fifa ruled the match should not be counted as a full international, it would also have robbed Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry of his first goal for his country.
England would also have slipped back down the Fifa world rankings, having moved up two places and regained a place in the top 10 after the victory.
And David Beckham, who was Capello’s surprise choice to captain the side, would have moved back to having led his country on 58 occasions.
The hosts made six changes in the match, which was played in part to celebrate the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation’s centenary.
Why the FA had to swallow its pride with Warner.
By: Lawrence Donegan (guardian.co.uk).
England's trip to Trinidad & Tobago at the weekend was remarkable mostly for the utter irrelevancy of the football match
A great white shark with a reckless streak might have had second thoughts before swimming into the soup of intrigue that immersed England's trip to Trinidad & Tobago at the weekend, a football occasion remarkable mostly for the utter irrelevancy of the football match which broke out in the midst of all the glad-handing.
God knows what it must have been like to be trapped in the middle of it all - for that we will have to wait for the next volume of David Beckham's autobiography - but viewed from afar it looked like a grim business. Even Fabio Capello, the great disciple of the cold, unvarnished truth, was reduced to mouthing a succession of diplomatic platitudes about the usefulness of the trip; about the sincerity of Beckham's appointment as captain; about everything, really.
Thank heavens a 3-0 victory was secured, otherwise the fallout from the trip would have been even uglier. As it stands, the recriminations have hardly been edifying, with everyone involved, the kit man excepted, being accused of crimes of debasement, not least the selling of the nation's football soul in the cause of winning support for the 2018 World Cup bid.
Hard though it must have been for the men from the Football Association to read tales of their own pragmatism, it will have come as some consolation to discover they were not the most severely criticised in this unseemly affair.
No, that distinction belonged to Jack Warner, the "special adviser" of the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation, the vice-president of Fifa and, it is widely assumed, the man whose personal whim - not to mention the three votes he controls when Fifa comes to decide the site for the 2018 tournament - was the sole reason for England's trip to the Caribbean.
Not that you would realise as much after the trashing of Warner's reputation in recent days, but one should be careful about what one says about the man. He is not, despite impressions to the contrary, the devil incarnate. What he undoubtedly is, however, is a man who has collected enemies through the years, partly because he has battled ferociously for the interests of football in North and Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf) and partly as a consequence of his involvement in some questionable practices.
There seems little doubt that Warner has stretched the rules to breaking point - there was some wholly unsavoury business which saw him censured for using his position to acquire tickets for the 2006 World Cup which were then sold on by his family-owned travel company - but it is beyond dispute that he is not the only powerful figure in football who has been accused of profiting from his position through the years.
The grim reality of Fifa, a bureaucracy which to the untrained eye seems largely free of any serious legal supervision, is that backs are scratched, favours are exchanged and, occasionally, inconvenient codes of behaviour locked away in the bottom drawer. Such practices are to be condemned, of course, but they must also be confronted, especially if, like the FA, you are seeking the greatest prize Fifa has to offer.
Either you mount your high horse and declare you want nothing to do with such an amoral organisation, or you hold your nose and ride your trusty steed into the swamp. In agreeing to travel to Port of Spain, the FA chose the latter option. For this they should not be ridiculed, but shown a degree of understanding. They have not committed an act of moral cowardice, rather they have recognised the difference between the way we want the world to be and the way the world really is.
It might not have been the proudest moment in the FA's history but it may be one of its most successful, especially with Warner suggesting that the United States - which he is duty-bound as the head of Concacaf to support in any World Cup bid - might want to consider stepping aside in favour of England's 2018 bid. "My message to the USA is to try and make a deal for 2022," he said. "The kind of discussion I would have between England and the US is 'Will you support me in 2022?'"
As interventions go, this hardly sounds decisive but in the netherworld where people like Jack Warner conduct their business it marked what could be a crucial moment in England's efforts to win the 2018 bid. At the very least it was well worth the price of a photo-opportunity with Beckham.
