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The East Stand | Gianni Infantino’s North Korea trip shows Fifa would rather sit on the fence than take a stand – and nowhere more than the AFC
- Gianni Infantino expresses ‘disappointment’ over empty stadium at North Korea vs South Korea but Fifa allowed it
- Football body congratulates itself for token gesture of female fans at Iran’s qualifier but should demand more
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Why you can trust SCMP
It might be hard but it is important to remember that Gianni Infantino is not a supervillain.
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The Fifa president was not created by James Bond scriptwriters even if he has several of the characteristics – bald head, Swiss retreat, trips to North Korea – that they cherish in their antagonists.
Infantino was in Pyongyang to watch North Korea host South Korea on Tuesday afternoon as part of his East Asia tour. Few others were as the biggest game in a generation, described as the “centre of attention” by afc.com, was played out before an empty stadium.
Assuming that this was not a 1 per cent thing, like eating illegal songbirds or wearing fresh socks every day, where Infantino insisted the game was his and his alone to watch while everyone else had to wait for the DVD, then this seems a cause for concern for the man in charge of football.
“I was looking forward to seeing a full stadium for such a historic match but was disappointed to see there were no fans in the stands," Infantino told fifa.com.
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