Cristiano Ronaldo set to avoid ban at World Cup after FIFA red-card verdict offers probation
Geneva (AP): Cristiano Ronaldo will likely avoid missing any Portugal games at the World Cup despite his red card in a qualifying game for elbowing an Ireland opponent.
FIFA published a disciplinary verdict that imposed a three-game ban, which judged Ronaldo's action as “violent conduct” or “serious foul play,” but with two of those games deferred for a one-year probation period.
Ronaldo served a mandatory one-game ban when Portugal played its final qualifying game last week — a 9-1 win over Armenia that sealed its place at the World Cup in North America.
The superstar had been expected to be banned for at least one more game and start what will be his record sixth World Cup on the sidelines.
FIFA cited its disciplinary rules that allow for parts of a sanction to be probationary, though it is rare in cases of a three-game ban for two of them to be deferred.
In two cases judged by FIFA this month, players from Armenia and Burundi were banned for three games after getting red cards for acts of aggression in World Cup qualifying games and neither got a reduction on probation.
“If Cristiano Ronaldo commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period,” FIFA said in a statement, then the remaining two games will be activated.
FIFA has disciplinary authority over national-team games and Portugal is scheduled to play two friendly matches in March, then likely one or two warmup games in late-May or June. The World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico starts June 11.
Ronaldo swung an arm and struck Ireland defender Dara O'Shea with an elbow during a 2-0 loss in Dublin two weeks ago.
VIP visit
=======
The FIFA verdict comes one week after Ronaldo met U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House for a formal dinner with Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. FIFA president Gianni Infantino also attended the event and posed for a selfie photo with Ronaldo.
Ronaldo has played in the Saudi league for three years at one of the clubs majority owned by the kingdom's sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund that the prince chairs. Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup and has been a major financial backer of FIFA in the past two years.
Appeal path
=========
FIFA said its disciplinary verdict of “the three-match suspension is subject to appeal to the FIFA Appeal Committee.”
It was unclear who could have legal standing to challenge the verdict, and if that might be the soccer federation of Ireland or Portugal's opponents at the World Cup.
Trump is due to attend the draw ceremony Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where Portugal, one of the 48-team tournament's top seeds, will learn its three opponents in a round-robin group.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Post poll TN alliances divided in supporting TVK
Chennai (PTI): In a changed political atmosphere in Tamil Nadu with no single political party having a simple majority to form the government post the Assembly election, opinion is divided among the allies led by the Dravidian majors in extending external support to Vijay-led TVK in government formation.
Both the DMK and AIADMK are at unease as the Congress and also a section in the AIADMK express willingness to extend external support to Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagtam in forming the government.
Post poll, the TVK's political prospects appear to impact alliances led by both the Dravidian majors in a different manner, triggering a speculation of a split.
Leema Rose Martin, who won from Lalgudi on an AIADMK ticket, has stated that talks were underway on extending support to the TVK. Her son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna, who won from Villivakkam is TVK's general secretary.
On May 5, former AIADMK minister O S Manian, emerging from his meeting with party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, stated that AIADMK would not support TVK in forming the government.
The AIADMK, which finished third in the elections with 47 seats has cancelled its meeting of MLAs designate on Wednesday amidst a difference in extending external support to the TVK, which won 108 seats, including two seats by its founder Vijay.
As Vijay is gearing up for his swearing-in on May 7, the police have tightened security at his residence here. The party has lodged its MLA-elect at a resort in Mamallapuram and has simultaneously engaged in talks with the Congress and AIADMK, a source said.
The DMK that won 59 seats on its own, has convened a meeting of its newly elected legislators on May 7 evening and the party is likely to elect the youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin, who won from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni as its legislature party leader.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal admitted that TVK chief Vijay requested the Congress for support to form the government.
"The INC is clear that the mandate in Tamil Nadu is for a secular government, committed to protecting the Constitution in letter and spirit. The INC is determined not to allow the BJP and its proxies to run the government of Tamil Nadu in any manner. Thiru Vijay has also spoken about drawing inspiration from Perunthalaivar Kamaraj," he said.
Accordingly, the Congress leadership has directed the TNCC to take a final decision on Vijay’s request, keeping in view the sentiments of the state as reflected in the electoral verdict, Venugopal said in a statement.
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai slammed the Congress decision and said the move to ally with TVK, pledging the support of its five MLAs to the party, was tantamount to "backstabbing the DMK and the people of Tamil Nadu."
"They have betrayed the mandate given by the people. Even before the ink on the returning officer’s signature on the victory certificate has dried, they have chosen to go ahead with this alliance," he told PTI.
The most important question was who took this "foolhardy decision, and how is it going to backfire on the Congress?" he asked.
"I don’t think they had any serious deliberation on this. The larger issue is their opposition to the BJP, which is their ideological enemy. We have supported the Congress throughout. It was our leader M K Stalin, who named Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate when the BJP and RSS were criticising him. And now, within a day, they say they are supporting TVK. This is not the mandate of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Saravanan said.
The Congress' exit from its long-standing alliance with the DMK will be a significant moment in the political scenario of the state, commentator and political analyst Sumanth Raman said.
The Congress may be betting on the TVK as a long-term partner option, but that comes with risks, as the TVK is as yet an unknown quantity, he said.
"For the DMK, if the TVK+Congress becomes the choice of the minorities as it well could, it is an existential threat. It was the minority vote that gave the DMK alliance a 12%-15% cushion in the polls. If that goes, their chances of winning drops dramatically," Raman said on 'X.'
The Congress won 5 seats. However, DMK's other allies, the IUML, VCK, CPI and CPI (M) and DMDK have categorically stated that they would not support TVK.
As of now, the TVK requires the support of 11 MLAs to attain a simple majority of 118 to form the government.
The PMK, which won 4 seats and AMMK one - both allies of AIADMK - have not announced their decision yet.
"AIADMK’s real post-result drama may not be outside the party, but inside it. Whispers from the west and north suggest that a Coimbatore hand and a Villupuram voice may soon ask the question everyone is avoiding: Is it time to save the party from the leadership, before the cadre are forced to do it themselves? In politics, coups don’t begin with slogans. They begin with silence, phone calls and “review meetings,” Aspire Swaminathan, who is credited with founding the AIADMK IT wing in 2014, said on 'X.'
He has resigned from the AIADMK in 2021 and now acts an as independent political analyst.
