Wednesday, August 8, 2012

World Cup 2010 Blog: Match-Fixing 2010: He Said, She Said

World Cup 2010 Blog: Match-Fixing 2010: He Said, She Said

Link to International Football News - World Cup Blog

Match-Fixing 2010: He Said, She Said

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 09:26 AM PDT

Alarming news coming out today: something involving FIFA might be corrupt. Tis true.

A former security official for FIFA has said that the game between Greece and Nigeria at the 2010 World Cup was, at least at one point, under investigation for match-fixing, which would be the first World Cup fixture ever. FIFA refutes this claim.

Of course they do.

Australian Chris Eaton told UK's Channel 4 that the body is examining the match, which Greece won 2-1 for its first ever World Cup win, in connection to allegations of spot-fixing.

Eaton said that suspicions were raised after the match that Nigerian player Sani Kaita earned himself a red card in the 33rd minute of the match due to an alleged arrangement with a fixer who bet on the incident.

"It's certainly an interesting circumstance and we know a lot about it," said Eaton. «It’s a manifestation of, potentially anyway, a manifestation of an attempt at a fraud that is, is unique…and perhaps to be replicated in the future, so we have to be cautious about it.”

And then there was FIFA’s denial.

Onto more important things: who else, when hearing Nigeria was involved, thought that this was the game in question instead?