FIFA World Cup: Justo Villar criticizes FIFA
One of the first players to come out in the open and criticize FIFA during the World Cup has been the Paraguayan captain and goalkeeper Justo Villar, whose team went out of the World Cup after losing their quarter final match to Spain.
Justo Villar who plays for Villarreal in the Spanish football league disapproved of FIFA’s decision to bring the World Cup to Africa. Before the World Cup started there was a lot of news surrounding South Africa’s preparation for the World Cup itself.
A lot of media outlets and football experts were suggesting that South Africa does not possess the necessary financial strength to host such a massive sporting event. They were even pragmatic about South Africa’s crime rate which according to reports is equivalent to rates found in war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
The World Cup has gone on relatively well up till now. At least as far as stadiums and crowd control has gone. However there have been a lot of problems off the field.
Villar informed the press that according to him South Africa were not prepared to host the World Cup. He went on to explain that many incidents have signified this claim, he said that in Paraguay’s first game against Italy, a new bus broke down when the players had to go back to the hotel. As a result the players had to wait 45 minutes before they took taxis to reach the hotel. He also said that FIFA’s only concern and focus is on the stadiums and what people see on their televisions.
Villar’s claims seem justified because there have been a lot of criminal incidents regarding the World Cup. The English team were robbed in their hotel named Royal Marang. The cleaning staff at the hotel was responsible for stealing clothes, accessories and even under garments. The stolen goods amounted to around eighty five thousand grand.
After filing a police report regarding the stolen belongings, South African law enforcing agencies arrested Hulane Fortunate Mongake aged 26, Ernest Zimisile Klaas aged 28, Thapelo Joseph Senne aged 21, Basimane Levy Njielane aged 34 and Catherine Motsilanyane aged 28 within twenty four hours and the stolen items were also recovered by the police and returned to their rightful owners.
On June 29th, FIFA headquarters in Johannesburg were the target of a burglary operation. National police commissioner General Bheki Cele confirmed this in his press conference in Pretoria by stating that "there was a burglary at the FIFA headquarters and investigations will be carried out".
He also said that seven replica trophies and two jerseys were stolen from the headquarters. Cele also stated that since the start of the tournament 316 people had been arrested out of which 207 were South Africans.
There have also been numerous cell phone and laptop robberies. Authorities explained that this was because a lot of the phones were left unattended on the seats or in the parks, similarly for laptops. These events have only added to the worries that South Africa was not a secure place for such an event as the FIFA World Cup. The fears of a major catastrophe continue to rise as the crucial matches such as the second semi-final and the final match draw close. South African authorities have increased the security around the stadiums and also have deployed several more police officers to prevent any fan-related violence.
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