Infantino defies FIFA vice president by going to youth event in Caribbean amid global soccer rift

GENEVA (AP) – Gianni Infantino defied a request by one of his FIFA vice presidents to stay away from an Under-14 soccer event in the Caribbean and instead created a rare public appearance during the global furor over his failed plan to.

What happened

On Saturday, Infantino posted photos on his Instagram account showing the FIFA president session political and soccer office-holders from the Dominican Republic on the sidelines of a Caribbean Football Union (CFU) youth tournament in the Punta Cana resort.

On Friday, Infantino had been asked not to go by Victor Montagliani, the Canadian president of Miami-based continental soccer body CONCACAF, to avoid being a distraction from the soccer games.

"I believe that considering the governance crisis surrounding FIFA as a result of your controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, the media will focus on this situation, " Montagliani wrote in an emailed letter seen by The Associated Press, "which will unfortunately significantly take away from the technical nature of the CFU youth competition."

The bottom line

Taken together, the developments around infantino defies FIFA vice president by going to youth event in Caribbean point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.