The Latest: Warner says he’ll prove link between FIFA and Trinidad’s 2010 elections

Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner made a televised address in Trinidad on Wednesday night, saying he will prove a link between soccer’s governing body and his nation’s elections in 2010.

“I will no longer keep secrets for them who actively seek to destroy the country,” Warner said.

Warner also said in the address, which was a paid political advertisement, that “I reasonably actually fear for my life.”

Still, a half-hour after the speech aired, Warner appeared at his Independent Liberal Party’s rally held under a canopy on a residential street. At least a couple hundred people were present when Warner spoke, many of them having not seen the televised remarks.

Warner said he has documents and checks that link FIFA officials, including embattled President Sepp Blatter, to the 2010 election in Trinidad and Tobago.

“I apologize for not disclosing my knowledge of these events before,” Warner said.

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2340 GMT (7:40 p.m. EDT)

U.S. women’s coach Jill Ellis addressed the FIFA corruption scandal before the team held its first practice in Canada in advance of the Women’s World Cup.

“As succinctly as I can put it, I see FIFA right now as the stadium that houses our game. It’s an organization; they organize it, they put it together. But in terms of what happens inside, with the teams, the players, the passion, that should be the focal point. I just see FIFA as the stadium where we play,” she said.

“They’re the big house, but what these players do, what the teams do, what the coaches do, all those things, that’s the focal point,” she said.

U.S. midfielder Heather O’Reilly said the controversy going down half a world away has little bearing on the players at this point.

“I don’t think it directly impacts what we’re doing for the next month ahead of us,” she said. “You know, there’s a lot of talk about soccer right now. Perhaps, maybe, that will get people to watch this amazing tournament.”

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2000 GMT (4 p.m. EDT)

Former FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer told a U.S. federal judge that he and others on the governing body’s ruling panel agreed to receive bribes to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup.

Prosecutors unsealed a 20-page transcript Wednesday of the November 2013 hearing in U.S. District Court during which Blazer pleaded guilty to racketeering and other charges.

“Beginning in or around 2004 and continuing through 2011, I and others on the FIFA executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup,” Blazer told U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie.