WHEN senior members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) delegation meet Sepp Blatter to negotiate another half World Cup qualifying spot early next year, they might well want to ask the smooth-talking supremo exactly what he meant by remarks he made in Hong Kong in June while on the last leg of his global campaign to rustle up votes for the FIFA presidency.
Asked by reporters if Asia's three-and-a-half World Cup qualifying places would remain, even though two places were already guaranteed to hosts Japan and South Korea, Blatter gave an emphatic answer: '. . . now Asia has four teams. In 2002 Asia has the organisation, so the berths which go to organising national associations are not deducted from the number they have been given out.' 'So Asia will have two because they will have Japan and South Korea and the three-and-a-half minimum will remain and possibly four or possibly more.
'But first we have to see the results of the World Cup. But definitely Asia will not have less. So don't fear that because you have two organisers that you lose one of the teams.' Are Blatter's words open to interpretation? It is hard to see how they could be.
And it helps to explain why Asian football has reacted so furiously to news that the region will not, in fact, retain their three-and-half qualifying places in 2002.
A FIFA meeting in Zurich decided earlier this month that only two places would be made available for Asian qualifying teams, with hosts Japan and South Korea gaining the other two, making a total of four instead of the five-and-a-half Asia had been expecting.
Since that FIFA announcement, the discontent in Asia has grown. Peter Velappan, the AFC's general secretary, was the first to record his anger, telling reporters the decision was 'disgraceful'.
This week, the Olympic Council of Asia's president, Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Saber - who is also head of Kuwaiti football - upped the ante by insisting that the only way to respond would be an Asian boycott of the World Cup.