After FIFA member Blazer's bribery claims prompted the provisional suspension of CONCACAF president Jack Warner and Asian chief Mohamed Bin Hammam, Lisle Austin - acting president of the North, Central American and Caribbean governing body in Warner's absence - attempted to fire him by sending him a letter stating they were terminating his contract.

However, a statement from CONCACAF quickly slapped down Austin.

"Today an unauthorised declaration was made by Lisle Austin attempting to remove Chuck Blazer as General Secretary of CONCACAF.

"This attempted action was taken without any authority.

"Under the CONCACAF Statutes, jurisdiction over the General Secretary rests solely with the CONCACAF Executive Committee which has taken no action.

"Further a majority of the Executive Committee Members have advised Mr. Austin that he does not have the authority to take such action.

"Chuck Blazer continues as CONCACAF General Secretary and with the full authority of his office. The Confederation continues its normal operations including the Gold Cup commencing on June 5th at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas."

However Austin later released another statement insisting Blazer WAS still sacked under the powers given to Austin by CONCACAF's statutes.

"I have been made aware of a statement from CONCACAF Media Relations purporting that my actions to terminate Chuck Blazer as general secretary in my capacity as President (Ag) of CONCACAF were unauthorized," Austin said in the statement.

"It is instructive to note that the authority of the president to terminate Mr Blazer rests in the CONCACAF statutes and was taken after legal advice had been sought.

"Article 29 of the CONCACAF statutes states: The president has the judicial and extrajudicial representation of CONCACAF.

"Moreover, the Executive Committee has no authority to convene a meeting without having the said meeting called and chaired by the President as articulated by Article 29 which confirms that: The President shall preside over the meetings of the Congress, of the Executive Committee, of the Emergency Committee and of the Committees.

"The presence of four executive committee members in the hotel room of Mr Blazer does not constitute an executive committee meeting.

"The response from the CONCACAF media relations is not only the fruit of illegal actions on the part of Mr Blazer who is no longer the general secretary, but is tantamount to trespassing since, the unauthorized use of CONCACAF's services and equipment by non-CONCACAF staff is unlawful.

"I can assure you that this is my final statement on this matter, I will not allow myself or this organisation to (be) dragged into a tit for tat war in the public domain. The reputation of this organisation has suffered immensely over the last two weeks.

"In my earlier statement, I called on the membership to heal the wounds my hope is that we can once again look upon each other without mistrust or prejudice. Our confederation has suffered and let us move toward a brighter future from this moment."