{"id":3268,"date":"2011-01-31T12:05:36","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T08:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=3268"},"modified":"2011-02-04T11:52:37","modified_gmt":"2011-02-04T07:52:37","slug":"muddled-u-s-policy-reflected-in-mistimed-soccer-friendly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-sports-news-and-analysis\/muddled-u-s-policy-reflected-in-mistimed-soccer-friendly\/","title":{"rendered":"Muddled US Policy Reflected in Footy &#8216;Friendly&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"highslide\" onclick=\"return vz.expand(this)\" href=\"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/USSF_shooting-ball.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3269\" title=\"USSF_shooting-ball\" src=\"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/USSF_shooting-ball.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"498\" height=\"320\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As the United States muddles through the crisis threatening the 30-year rule of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, so does the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ussoccer.com\/\">U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF)<\/a> as it struggles with what to do about a friendly against Africa champion Egypt scheduled to be played in Cairo on February 9.<\/p>\n<p>By failing to postpone the match amid  warnings to travellers by the U.S. State Department not to travel to  Egypt that is being wracked by mass anti-government demonstrations, U.S.  plans to evacuate American citizens and the cancellation of most  international flights to Cairo, the USSF like the U.S. government does  not want to be seen as turning against an Egypt governed by Mubarak.<\/p>\n<p>The USSF\u2019s reluctance to cancel the match  contrasts starkly with the Egyptian Football Association\u2019s decision on  Thursday to cancel all premier league matches in a bid to prevent soccer  matches from becoming another platform for further protests.<\/p>\n<p>The federation has yet to comment  officially on the status of the match six days into massive  demonstrations that have already forced Mubarak to appoint a new  government and are gunning for his ousting. USSF officials say they are <a href=\"http:\/\/mideastsoccer.blogspot.com\/2011\/01\/us-still-set-to-play-in-egypt.html\">monitoring<\/a> events in Cairo closely and are <a href=\"http:\/\/voices.washingtonpost.com\/soccerinsider\/2011\/01\/us-egypt_soccer_friendly_in_ca.html\">in contact with both the State Department and the U.S. embassy in the Egyptian capital<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a bid to salvage the situation, the USSF is exploring the seemingly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sbnation.com\/soccer\/2011\/1\/30\/1965153\/sounder-at-heart-should-usa-vs-egypt-be-moved\">improbable possibility of playing the match in a third country<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the fact the Egyptian squad may find  it difficult to get flights to a third country as long as Egypt is in  turmoil, it also seems unlikely that the team and its management would  want to leave behind their loved ones at a time that the country is in  turmoil and Egyptians are forming neighbourhood militias to protect  their families and property.<\/p>\n<p>The team is also unlikely to want to risk  being seen as abandoning what is a defining moment in Egyptian history.  That risk is all the starker with <a href=\"http:\/\/mideastsoccer.blogspot.com\/2011\/01\/soccer-fans-emerge-as-driver-in.html\">Egyptian soccer fans playing a key role<\/a> in the anti-government protests.<br \/>\nThe U.S. team is scheduled to start arriving in Cairo late this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JAMES DORSEY: The USSF\u2019s reluctance to cancel the match contrasts starkly with the Egyptian Football Association\u2019s decision on Thursday to cancel all premier league matches&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":3269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,7],"tags":[2009,378,2313,18300,4234,338,2323,1808,318,412,2817,18302],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3268"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}