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By Brian Homewood

ZURICH, May 31 (Reuters) - The number of terms the FIFA president can serve should be limited, the head of the Portuguese soccer federation said on Tuesday.

Gilberto Madail added that if the president of world soccer’s governing body stays too long in his post, he can starting making mistakes without even noticing.

Maidal’s remarks came on the eve of the presidential vote where Sepp Blatter, who has already been at the helm for 13 years, is set to be elected unopposed for another four.

Blatter’s predecessor Joao Havelange was in power for 24 years and FIFA has only had eight presidents in its 107-year history.

“I always said there should be a limit on the number of mandates otherwise people get too used to being in power,” Maidal told the Portuguese television station RTP.

“They end up committing mistakes without even noticing.”

FIFA has been hit by a wave of corruption scandals with four executive committee members suspended since October, including Mohamed Bin Hammam who had been due to run against Blatter on Wednesday.

The Qatari withdrew his candidacy on Sunday after being suspended amid cash-for-votes allegations along with Jack Warner, one of the most influential figures on the FIFA executive committee.

“If you don’t correct this, then FIFA will lose public respect,” said Madail, not usually regarded as an outspoken figure.

“It’s time for FIFA to be looked at from top to bottom because if they (the public) stop respecting FIFA, football will not be respected.

He added that an election in such circumstances was “like having sand in your shoe.”

“There are no UEFA officials involved and this for UEFA is an advantage,” he said referring to European soccer’s governing body.

(Editing by Ken Ferris; To comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: limited, Portugal, presidents, Reuters, Should

MIAMI, May 31 (Reuters) - Suspended CONCACAF president Jack Warner wrote to members of the Caribbean Football Union on Tuesday reminding them that they should vote for incumbent Sepp Blatter in FIFA’s presidential election.

Warner, who was provisionally suspended on Sunday pending an ethics committee investigation into allegations of bribery, asked Caribbean Football Union members not to protest against his suspension during the FIFA congress.

(Reporting by Simon Evans in London, editing by Ed Osmond; To comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: Blatter, Caribbean, Reuters, Should, suspended, Warner

By Zoran Milosavljevic

BELGRADE, April 1 (Reuters) - Europe’s soccer governing body UEFA should impose a solution that would lift Bosnia’s suspension from Euro 2012, their coach Safet Susic said on Friday.

Susic spoke to Reuters by telephone after UEFA and FIFA suspended the Bosnian national team and clubs from international football after the country’s football federation (NFSBiH) failed to adopt new statutes.

“I think UEFA should come up with a solution and impose it on the Bosnian Football Federation because there is absolutely no chance that the NFSBiH might find a way out of the present deadlock and get the job done,” he said.

“These people are incapable of running the NFSBiH properly, although this situation is partly a result of political orders because Bosnia is an ethnically divided country where a dysfunctional system has now caught up with football.”

Under the present NFSBiH statues, a Serb, a Croat and an ethnic Muslim take turns in running the body.

Susic said his players were the innocent victims of the suspension.

“Denying the players a chance to perform on the big stage through no fault of their own is like sending innocent people to prison,” he said.

“We can only hope that UEFA and FIFA will show some level of understanding for our political situation and come up with a feasible model because, quite frankly, I don’t see another way.”

JOB LOSSES

At a congress in Sarajevo on Tuesday, 28 of 53 NFSBiH deputies voted against instructions by FIFA and UEFA to replace the rotating three-man presidential system with one that would meet international standards.

The Bosnians are well placed to reach their first major tournament as an independent nation, having collected seven points from four games in the European championship’s Group D after Saturday’s 2-1 home win over Romania.

They are fourth in the group, five points behind leaders France and one behind Belarus and Albania but with a game in hand on all three.

“It would be a disaster to end the qualifiers by getting kicked out of the competition and it would affect not just the players and football, which is the only good and productive thing Bosnia has at the moment,” Susic said.

“It would result in job losses because the soccer industry employs a considerable number of people.”

Susic said he hoped to get support from Bosnia’s rivals.

“I also hope the other teams in the group will stand up for us, especially leaders France who beat us at home and would probably have those three points taken away if we were to be expelled from the competition.

“Whether we qualify for next year’s finals or not, all we want as a team is a fair chance to compete on the playing field but unfortunately it’s not in our hands.”

Labels: Bosnia, coach, impose, Reuters, Should, solution

By Martin Samuel
Last updated at 11:48 PM on 21st February 2011

It has to be his decision. Fernando Torres starts for Chelsea in Copenhagen tonight and, whether right or wrong, we must hope Carlo Ancelotti has chosen the striker he wants, not the man he thinks the owner would pick.

This is the only way forward for Ancelotti now. If this is to be his final season at the club, as seems likely, he must go out picking his team, not trying to second guess Roman Abramovich. That way, if he wins, he makes a succinct point; if he fails, he does so his way and at least he was his own man, not an executive puppet.

That is the hit that Ancelotti’s reputation has taken since the departure of Ray Wilkins. That he could have been stronger; that he allowed Abramovich to meddle in his work and failed to protect the team and backroom staff from interference.

This is possibly unfair. Ancelotti is said to have spoken strongly in favour of retaining Wilkins, and the former coach bears no grudge with the Italian over his departure.

Standing up to Abramovich is like fighting city hall. Sometimes the little man simply cannot win and there is no littler man than a Chelsea manager when Abramovich gets an idea in his head.

Yet, the players will not necessarily understand that. They will have expected a stronger stance on Wilkins from Ancelotti. Certainly, Chelsea’s results since Wilkins’ departure suggest a deeper malaise. Either Wilkins was a coaching genius and Chelsea’s success was largely down to him or the manner of his departure alienated the team and undermined Ancelotti in a way that has harmed morale, by making him seem a rube, a ‘yes’ man.

Chelsea managers that do not win the League are never given a second chance under Abramovich, so Ancelotti will be gone this summer unless he delivers the Champions League.

With such extreme demands, he really has nothing to lose any more. Whatever team he sends out against FC Copenhagen this evening, and from here on, should be picked without consideration of outside pressure.

If this means leaving a ?50million signing on the bench, so be it. If he must confront an angry owner after a game that is the way it must be. Tommy Docherty, Chelsea manager from 1961 to 1967, might be ancient history at Stamford Bridge, but he had the right approach to dealing with boardroom demands.

Docherty’s attitude, in the days when managers had autonomy over transfer expenditure, was that there was no point being a good boy and saving money.

‘If the team doesn’t win you are going to get the sack anyway,’ he would advise. ‘At least if you do what you want you can say you had a go and gave it every chance to succeed.’

It is the owners who trade players these days — certainly at Chelsea — but the basic principle remains the same. If their fortunes rest on Torres in this tie, he has to be selected because Ancelotti believes he is the right man for the job, not because there is ?50m of Russian energy loot tied up in the transfer and the owner looks a fool if his star turn does not play.

It helps the selection process that none of Chelsea’s strikers — none of their main forward players, in fact — is firing at the moment.

Didier Drogba has been left debilitated by malaria and may have lost the yard of pace that separates the greatest goalscorers, perhaps forever.

Jimmy Greaves said he did not recover from contracting hepatitis in 1965 at the age of 25 and Drogba, 33 next month, has considerably less time left for rehabilitation.

The form of Florent Malouda has collapsed after an excellent start, while Nicolas Anelka has scored one goal in his past five games and did not score at all between November 3 and January 9. His penalty against Everton at the weekend was woeful.

Torres has hardly been more impressive since arriving from Liverpool, but at least his run of ordinary form for Chelsea is in its infancy.

Ancelotti has put up with months of inconsistency from Drogba — he has scored six goals and received four bookings since August — and it is understandable if his patience is wearing thin.

Even without consideration of outside influence it is likely a manager of Chelsea would reach the conclusion that fresh impetus is needed in the forward line.

Yet, Ancelotti cannot continue with a failing Torres indefinitely. It could be that the answer is not two, or three, strikers but an entirely different approach with Anelka alone and wide attackers, such as Salomon Kalou and Malouda, in the shape that Jose Mourinho used to play.

It could even be that the best option was to dump the lot of them and play Daniel Sturridge, but he is now on loan to Bolton Wanderers, and in fine form.

Whatever the resolution for Ancelotti, he must be the author of the plan. He has been amenable, some might even say malleable, and where has it got him?

If he is to leave Stamford Bridge without regret, his team, not a rich man’s trifle, must take the field in Copenhagen tonight

Labels: Carlo, daily, entertain, roman, Should

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes England should follow the German model and implement a winter break.

The Scot believes a month's break in January is the way forward for the Premier League and sees nothing wrong with the season ending later in the summer.

Ferguson wrote in Saturday's match programme: "What is worth looking at is the German model of a month's break in January and then launching the second half of the season with their Cup competition.

"I know this would mean spilling over into the summer season but I see nothing wrong with that and playing league fixtures beyond the end of May.

"We are playing internationals in June and we could accommodate a league extension."

Manchester United controversially withdrew from the FA Cup in 2000 when European success saw them compete in the World Club Championship.

As a result of Wembley hosting the Champions League final, this year’s FA Cup final will be played two weeks before the end of the season, timing which Ferguson believes could be improved.

He added: "What I'd like to see preserved is the timing of the FA Cup final to fall on the last day of the season, with the big day at Wembley a natural climax."

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Labels: believes, break, England, Ferguson, Follow, German, Goalcom, Implementing, Manchester, Model, Should, United, winter