New FIFA executive committee member Kozo Tashima said on Monday that the committee is not planning to ask president Sepp Blatter to step down, but the Japan Football Association vice president believes the "pus" must be squeezed out of soccer's world governing body.
"He is responsible for oversight, but no direct charges have been levied against the president himself," Tashima said at Haneda airport, upon returning from Zurich for the FIFA Congress and his first committee meeting. "So at this point, it's unlikely for us to demand his resignation.
"The executive committee feels that FIFA is right in the middle of turbulence. We've got to squeeze all the pus out, down to the very last drop."
Amid a twin corruption scandal that has rocked FIFA to the core, Blatter was re-elected to a fifth term on Friday over reform-minded Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan.
With investigations led by U.S. and Swiss authorities continuing, FIFA, especially Blatter, will be under intense scrutiny until there is some form of closure.
Tashima said he is all for transparency and ridding FIFA of corruption, but what he and the rest of the executive committee can get done is another matter.
"I don't know if you call it a difference in business practices or what, but things that are totally unacceptable in Japan and the U.S. are completely acceptable in other parts of the world or, in some cases, absolutely deemed necessary to conduct business.
"One can say all the right things but not everyone will be convinced. That is the environment we are in, and we have to see what we can accomplish in such an environment.
"It's not going to be easy."
