Bid team stranded in Zurich

Australia's World Cup bid team has suffered further frustration in Zurich following a stack of flight cancellations out of the Swiss city due to the heavy dumping of snow.

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Thousands of flights have been cancelled across Europe this week, the blast of Arctic conditions causing transport chaos across the continent.

But it seems particularly cruel on shellshocked members of Australia's bid team after being so badly done over by the two-faced members of FIFA's executive committee.

Following the country's embarrassing early exit in the 2022 World Cup voting on Thursday afternoon, they would have been among the most desperate to skip town.

But instead of being able to rely on a scheduled departure after picking up only one of the 22 votes on offer, Football Federation Australia officials were forced to hang around a bit longer in
Zurich.

The city's airport remained open on Friday but flights were limited.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter this week described Zurich as the city of football in the final moments before he announced the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts.

It would have been hard for the remaining members of the bid team to feel such warmth on another bone-chilling day in Zurich on Friday.

The flight cancellations mean the Australian team will return in dribs and drabs.

The final remaining members of the party, that were due to head home, were expected back by Tuesday Australian time.

Their irritation came as the backlash continued following FIFA's controversial decision to name Russia and Qatar as the nations to stage the 2018 and 2022 tournaments respectively.

England is still fuming after only receiving two votes and being bounced out in the first round of the 2018 count.

It prompted acting FA chairman Roger Burden to take the emotive step of standing down in protest, stating he couldn't do the job as he did not trust FIFA.

It continued attempts to put pressure on FIFA to reform its voting procedures that have been dogged by corruption and claims of vote-swapping.

"I am not prepared to deal with people whom I cannot trust," Burden said.

The Australian camp has so far managed to maintain its grace. That is despite the humiliating result and the levels of deception within FIFA's corridors of power in Zurich.

The English have not been so subtle with former Socceroos coach Terry Venables launching a blistering attack in the British press.

"Maybe we should not be that surprised Russia got the vote to stage the 2018 World Cup," he said.

"After all, FIFA and the KGB are just about the last two secret organisations on the planet."

"... it is a great shame. A shame for England. A shame for football. And shame on FIFA."

England's bid chief Andy Anson said there was no point putting in a bid under the current system.

"They have to take a look at their processes, and now we will find out if they are big enough to do it," he said.



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Source: AAP



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