IF Gianni Infantino is banking on Boris Johnson to save next month’s World Cup qualifiers, he is going to be bitterly disappointed.
The Fifa president wants our Government to allow Premier League stars to play in red-list countries without having to quarantine on their return.
His request is based on the fact the UK waived the rules to stage the Euros and should do so again for the next set of international fixtures.
But what he doesn’t realise is the populist Prime Minister only lifted travel restrictions last month so he could rub shoulders with Tom Cruise and Kate Moss at Wembley.
But there are no photo opportunities to be had from Ecuador v Paraguay nor Egypt v Angola.
In fact, the vast majority of fans don’t even want to watch England going through the motions of the most pointless qualifying campaign of all time in a group that contains the mighty Andorra, San Marino and Albania.
Anyone who knows anything about football can predict who will finish top of every qualifying group before a ball is even kicked.
We also have a pretty good idea who will go through as runners-up and who will be in the play-offs.
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Yet just two weeks into the new season, domestic football still has to take a break to allow their players to fly to all corners of the world for these exercises in futility.
And then we have to repeat the process in October. And in November.
Arsene Wenger has come up with some pretty outrageous proposals in his role as Fifa’s head of global football development.
But he was spot on when he suggested two international breaks per season instead of the current five to reduce the amount of travel for players and bring more clarity for all.
Yet while Infantino says it’s OK for players to cross international borders, visiting fans will not be allowed to attend any of next month’s games because the Covid pandemic is still wreaking havoc.
In case he hasn’t noticed, there has been a sharp rise in the number of Premier League players testing positive for coronavirus in recent weeks.
Many are refusing to be vaccinated and cannot be forced to have the jab by their clubs. No wonder managers do not trust Fifa’s promises to protect their stars in Covid hotspots in Africa and South America.
If Boris does not exempt players returning from red-list countries, they will miss two Premier League games, the third round of the Carabao Cup and the first set of European fixtures while they quarantine.
Where is the benefit in that for Jurgen Klopp if he is going to be without Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino, Alisson, Sadio Mane and Fabinho?
And why would struggling Crystal Palace willingly write off Wilfried Zaha, Cheikhou Kouyate and Jordan Ayew?
Back in the day Sir Alex Ferguson would do everything in his power to prevent his Manchester United stars from reporting for international duty.
But now there is no need to fake an injury because the threat to the players’ welfare is very real indeed.
It has been suggested the Premier League’s refusal to release players will affect Britain’s bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
But we shouldn’t really worry about that. They are not going to vote for us anyway, because the rest of the world pretty much hates us.
THREE LITTLE BIRDS
AS usual around this time of the year, there have been some pretty dreadful new kits foisted on fans by the marketing creatives at the leading sportswear manufacturers.
But every now and again they come up with an absolute beauty and the very best has just been released by Ajax.
The Dutch champs and adidas came up with a gem of a third kit, seen here on forward Mohammed Kudus, in collaboration with Bob Marley’s family — and inspired by the fact Ajax fans adopted the late reggae legend’s Three Little Birds as their unofficial anthem.
Perhaps Newcastle should take their inspiration from the Blaydon Races and take to wearing quartered silks.
INVISIBLE JAMES
ONE player who should have no problem securing international release next week is James Rodriguez.
Everton’s absent Colombian, 30, has been in isolation for so long that he did not even know who his team were playing last week.
He had already angered Evertonians by flying home on a private jet before last season had ended because he was feeling “tired”.
Not that it stopped him going on holiday and attending the British Grand Prix, nor from contracting Covid and missing the start of the current campaign.
Rodriguez says he only signed for Everton because of Carlo Ancelotti and wants to leave now the Italian is no longer manager at Goodison.
New boss Rafa Benitez is doing everything he can to get the reluctant playmaker off the books before Tuesday’s transfer deadline.
If Rodriguez went back home to Colombia for good, no one at Everton would bat an eyelid.
CONCUSSION A REAL THREAT
TERRIBLE news that Denis Law, Terry McDermott and Alan Peacock have been diagnosed with dementia.
An increasing number of former players are suffering from the neurodegenerative disease which is now the UK’s No 1 cause of death.
Football is trying to tackle the problem by limiting the weekly number of headers a player is allowed to make in training and introducing concussion substitutes.
Yet players taking hefty blows to the head during matches are still allowed to continue.
When Arsenal played Chelsea last Sunday, Granit Xhaka was poleaxed by a thunderbolt to the temple from Reece James.
Later in the same game, James copped a stray elbow and also appeared to be in serious trouble.
Both players required lengthy treatment on the pitch yet were not subbed off.
Clearly they had been given the all-clear by the club doctors and physios checking for concussion.
But when a player has clearly been dazed, why take the risk of playing on when there is provision in place for him to be replaced?
SENSITIVE LIONS
MILLWALL fans are a pretty sensitive bunch considering they don’t care if no one likes them.
I certainly seemed to touch a nerve last week when I mentioned them booing players taking the knee.
So apologies to all those who wrote to explain they are not racist but are vehemently opposed to Marxism.
I didn’t realise The Den was such a hotbed of political activism protecting capitalism and free-market economics from communist footballers.
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