It has always been an alluring display of soccer when two legendry soccer teams are in front of each other. The much hyped Champions League match between Manchester United and Real Madrid United was ended in a 1-1- draw, and it was completely biased towards Real’s Ronaldo who shifted to Santiago Bernabeu from United back in 2009 at a hefty price tag. It was the first time he was facing his old teammates in a match, and he perfectly made them feel sorry to leave such a power player. Though, the match was ended in a draw, there was something more than just one goal from each side. The clash between two legendry clubs has long been awaiting, and finally, Dday came, and it showed why the world was waiting to see two of the finest soccer clubs facing each other. The host Real Madrid would have won this game should visitor’s goalie had not done the magnificent job by stopping almost every attempt to cross their net. Even Ronaldo equalizer was almost reached by him, but since it was Ronaldo, … [Read more...]
Three-year jail sentence for ex-South African coach
This is probably the first time when a national level soccer official has been sentenced to a jail term for his match fixing involvement. A former assistant national coach of South African national team Phil Setshedi has been punished for a seven years’ jail term for his attempt to fix a match back in 2011. He reportedly tried to bribe 2000 rands to a police officer, who was pretending to be a match referee in front of him, but caught red handed by the crime squad. The same coach has also been convicted of corruption in last December. Out of current eight years spell, he will serve only three years in jail as remaining term has been suspended by the hearing court. This is the first official from South African region to be convicted of match fixing especially after the shocking revelation by European investigators. European match investigation agency Europol revealed more than 680 matches which are suspected to be fixed few days ago and many of them are also related to South Africa. … [Read more...]
Is Rafael Benitez next on firing line?
Football seems to be the only game of sport where even the key officials’ job is not stable; they can be fired at any time without giving an opportunity to be heard. There have been many cases in the past where managers of top clubs are fired overnight citing their nonperformance or under estimated results. Chelsea is one team which is always optimistic to perform well in any league they play at; at least this is what their millions of fans think. Last time, Chelsea fired its manager coz of his shoddy performance, there was no one who agreed to take over the job on a permanent basis; hence Chelsea had to appoint a new manager on a temporary basis with a promise to make his job permanent if he proves his ability. For some time, Chelsea showed some magnificent victories but since last few matches; they are almost back to the place where their ex-manager left them. They have given up any hope to triumph back at EPL or in any other major league this season for that matter, and this is not … [Read more...]
Mali again settles Ghana at fourth place
It was like a repetition of last year’s consolidation match of AFCON when Mali settled much optimistic Ghana on the fourth place on Saturday. Black Stars finished their AFCON 2013 journey in the same fashion as they did last year. Mali secured third spot in the tournament which is not a bad performance either. Notably, Mali has not won any AFCON title in the last thirty years, and this year too, it could not overcome Nigeria in the semis, but despite that, even a third place in a tournament is not bad for any team. For Ghana, it is more than a defeat this time, coz they have been playing in the semis for last four years but could not win the title. This year, they were overshadowed by Burkina Faso in the penalty shootout in the semis. This is the first time Burkina Faso has entered into the finals of Africa’s highest soccer event. Factually, Ghana has won four AFCON titles till date and their last triumph was in 1982, while for Mali, their best of the event was in 1972 when they … [Read more...]
FIFA president Blatter believes match fixing is not as widened as being claimed
While the European investigation agency Europol is busy in finding more and more fixed matches in the recent times. FIFA president has come forward in support of the game’s pride; he believes soccer has always been a gentlemen’s sport, and deposit European investigators’ allegations that more than 600 matches from last eighteen months were fixed; there are more than a million other matches which were played in a clean environment; hence there is no way match fixing can damage the esteem of the game. FIFA president Sepp Blatter played down the exaggerated revelation made by Europol and said, “Football is so big, we will overcome. It is a small percentage. Football will not die.” Notably, he is on his four nation’s tour and right now he is in South Africa ahead of AFCON’s final to be played between Nigeria and first timer Burkina Faso on Sunday. His verbal comments about match fixing are not going to cool down angry fans world over who believe on the findings of Europol as there are … [Read more...]
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