This World Cup Is Going To Be A Bigger Farce Than Usual

We are now less than two weeks from kicking off the World Cup in Brazil.

I have at least one report from Brazil which indicates this blog MAY be forced to boycott this event too.

I have two more which indicate it probably won't matter -- that this World Cup is about to become the most corrupt in history.

The story which might force the boycott comes retweeted from Declan Hill:  Homeless children in Brazil are actually being killed to "sanitize" Brazil for the World Cup next month.

In the months preceding the World Cup, Declan Hill reported on his blog that gunfights, common in the streets of Rio de Janiero, had prompted a violent police crackdown, killing dozens.

Now, it apparently has gone further, in that homeless children appear to be being killed to sanitize an increasingly-agitated and violent Brazil in the weeks proceeding soccer's biggest event.

If that's not enough to spur calls for the cancellation of the World Cup in the nation which was formerly (but no longer) soccer's greatest nation, listen to these two bombshells from Declan Hill and others.

The first is a New York Times two-part revelation by Declan Hill and Jerè Longman on match-fixing surrounding the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Only part one has been published as of the writing of this blog post, and it's already explosive:

• The May 31, 2010 pre-World Cup friendly between South Africa and Guatemala was fixed, as well as four other matches in the lead-up to the World Cup tournament.
• The referee of the aforementioned match was paid $60,000 to fix the match for the hosts.  Especially suspicious were two handball penalties called where the ball never touched the hands of the players -- one ball was chested down legally and called a penalty.  Video of this and other indiscretions of this referee can be found in this report.  South Africa would win the match 5-0.
• This paid off handsomely for match-fixers on the "over" on the total, which had started at approximately 2 2/3 goals, but would balloon to about 3.5 by kickoff, and 4 in in-match wagering.
• He was also given a number of commemorative South African coins to augment his deposit, which was believed to total as much as $100,000 in dirty money.
• The referee in question, from Niger, was two years from FIFA's mandatory retirement age for referees, and FIFA (quite conveniently) held off long enough to brush aside the allegations after this referee was retired.

However, the most devastating portions of this first part of the report come in the details:

• The referee, one Ibrahim Chaibou, was appointed not by any sanctioning body for the friendly match.  Instead, he was installed for the match by an organization named "Football 4 U International", which, as part of a referee exchange program, promised to provide African referees which were FIFA-certified for the pre-World Cup friendlies, in exchange for South African referees who would be refereeing matches in the Middle East going forward.
• "Football 4 U" is a Singaporean company which is a front for the match-fixers in Singapore.
• One of them is named Wilson Raj Perumal, who is an executive with "Football 4 U".  He claims to be the world's most prolific match-fixer.  Perumal, later in 2010, actually sent a team of amateur imposters, masquerading as the national team of Togo, to play Bahrain in a supposed "match".  (Chaibou was also the official of this match.)

Another "Football 4 U" associate offered three different South African officials bribes to allow "Football 4 U" to circumvent the normal FIFA processes of match official selection to install their officials instead.  Two took this associate up on the offer.

• In addition to the four other matches which were fixed previous to the tournament, ten other matches were targeted, including the United States friendly with Australia, which both countries caught on to and promptly averted disaster.  The three Bosnian officials assigned by the cheats to that game would all be life-banned later for match-fixing.  Three South Africans did the match instead.
• After the match with Guatemala, the (non-corrupt elements of the) South African federation caught on, and demanded no further funny business for a final tune-up friendly for the hosts against Denmark.
• Three Tanzanian crooks referees were installed by "Football 4 U" for this match.  The front company had also attempted access to the officials at halftime of this and other matches it was involved in.
• One was backed out of the situation for some unknown reason, and two different officials (one installed by "Football 4 U" -- Chaibou! -- and one installed by the proper authorities (a respected South African, which, though unusual, was deemed necessary under the circumstances)) were preparing to replace him.
• Chaibou was actually jailed in a locker room during the match by the respected officials, and the South African presided over the match.
• The "total" on that match was three goals, but, with a fair official, only one was scored (South Africa got it to win).  This cost the match-fixers at least a million dollars.
• This prompted death threats against the South African officials...
• ... who appeased "Football 4 U" by allowing them to select the officials (and, hence, fix) the match between Nigeria and North Korea the next day.  Many legitimate bettors were taken to the cleaners in the 3-1 Nigerian win.

Perhaps the most explosive claim of this part is that Perumal actually gave a price for the fixing of a 2010 World Cup match!

• After the World Cup began, it was clear Perumal wanted to make the statement that he could fix any match, so he sought out officials on the World Cup list who could be bought.
• He found a potential target and offered him $400,000 to fix a World Cup match.
• Thankfully, the official was aware of Perumal's reputation and refused the offer, but only on the grounds that the official felt Perumal would talk about it too much.

Does anybody want to continue to believe that we, at best, are not going to see a replay of the clearly-fixed South Korea/Japan World Cup 12 years ago, where heavyweights Italy and Spain were both ousted in fixed matches by South Korea through suspicious calls?


Especially in a once-beautiful country in which the veneer is now clearly coming off??