FOOTY FAIR

Cheating and Corruption in Football - Part 5 of 5: The Goalkeeper Who Cut His Own Head Open

2016-04-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

Although it happened over a quarter of a century ago and the fallout ended up effecting the perpetrator Roberto Rojas' Chile side more than their own team, there are still a lot of Brazilian fans that shudder when they reflect on a fateful World Cup qualifier between the two countries in 1989.

Before describing one of the most nefarious acts of cheating ever witnessed in a top level match, it's best to provide a bit of background on the stakes involved before kickoff at the Maracana twenty seven years ago.

Brazil, the five time World Champions, are the only nation to have participated in every World Cup. In 1989 though, they had to avoid defeat to Chile at home in their final qualifier to ensure their place in Italia '90 the following summer.

With a squad blessed with legendary players such as Romario, Bebeto, Branco, Dunga and Careca it was an unusual situation to be in, particularly when considering that much of that squad would go on to lift the World Cup five years later.

With just over 20 minutes to go in their tension packed tilt with Chile though, Brazil looked to be heading to Italy following a goal from Careca in the 49th minute.

But then disaster struck. A flare was thrown over Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas' head and the keeper tumbled to the ground clutching his face.

His furious teammates waved the referee over to the scene of the crime and pointed out the blood pouring out of his head, soaking his jersey.

The referee abandoned the match immediately and Brazil's players were left trembling with the thought that they were going to be thrown out of the World Cup; a tournament that they see as their birth right.

The Chilean media immediately claimed that they had witnessed the flare striking Rojas and had obviously caused his injury, and in the days before smartphones and digital cameras there was scant footage to refute their claims.

Fortunately for Brazil, one of their own countrymen serving as a pitch side photographer had captured four or five clear images of the flare landing at least a meter away from Rojas and the goalkeeper's subsequent play acting.

It turned out that the Chile stopper, who coincidentally played his club football for Sao Paulo, had concealed a razor blade in his glove and purposely cut himself in planned move to force the referee to abandon the match if the score was in Brazil's favour.

The photos of the incident were turned over to FIFA and Brazil was awarded a 2-0 victory which sent them off to the 1990 World Cup.

Chile was subsequently banned from World Cup qualifying in 1994 and Rojas was given a lifetime ban from competitive football, along with his manager Orlando Aravena and the team doctor Daniel Rodriguez.

Cheating and Corruption in Football - Part 4 of 5: Luis Suarez Lends a Hand

2016-04-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

Leading the line for Barcelona as part of the lethal MSN attacking trio with Lionel Messi and Neymar, Luis Suarez has kept his nose clean as of late, and many are forgetting the colour run of misdemeanours he wracked up for both club and country over a torrid four year span.

But there are some who will never forgive some of the things the Uruguayan international got up to between, and including, the last two World Cups.

Before he racially abused Manchester United's Patrice Evra and bit not one but three different players, Suarez became a villain across large swathes of Africa when his cynical handball knocked Ghana out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

After helping Uruguay through the first round group stage, Suarez scored both goals in a 2-1 round of 16 victory against South Korea with his second goal being particularly memorable. For his efforts he was named Man of the Match.

It would be in the Quarter-Final where he would make his most telling contribution to the tournament though.

With the score deadlocked at 1–1 at the end of regulation the match went into extra time where a tense thirty minutes witnessed one of the biggest talking points of that year's tournament.

Late in extra time, Ghana sent a free kick into the box that Stephen Appiah latched onto and sent goalwards. Suarez blocked the shot on the line, legally, but then when Dominic Adiyiah headed back what looked to be a sure fire winner he used both hands to keep it out.

Sent off as the result of his professional foul, the toothy Uruguayan marksman stuck around in the tunnel to see Asamoah Gyan hit the crossbar with the ensuing penalty kick to keep his country's hopes alive.

Suarez celebrated wildly, and did so again when his country later secured victory on penalties.

Although he saved the match for his side using illegal means and justifiably saw red, it was has slimy actions later in the tunnel and bullish taunts that he would do it again that didn't sit well with neutrals.

It would be the first controversial act of many for the talented, but controversial striker.

Cheating and Corruption in Football - Part 3 of 5: Robert Hoyzer, Germany's Matching Fixing Official

2016-04-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

In 2005, German football was left with a black eye when it emerged that referee Robert Hoyzer had been involved in rigging a cup match involving Hamburg and Paderborn.

Working with a Croatian gambling syndicate that arranged the €2m (£1.36m) betting scam, Hoyzer awarded the regional league side Paderborn two penalties to help them come back from two goals down to knock out top division Hamburg in the first round of the German Cup. He also sent off Hamburg striker Emile Mpenza in Paderborn's 4-2 victory.

Although it was this match that raised the red flag on Hoyzer's impropriety, there were at least nine other matches that he fixed or tried to fix over the 2004-2005 season.

After initially denying the claims against him, the under fire match official eventually admitted that he had accepted €67,000 and an expensive television for his part in the scheme.

Hoyzer would later be found guilty of fraud in a Berlin court and sentenced to two years in prison.

Cheating and Corruption in Football - Part 2 of 5: The Hand of God

2016-04-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

Ask any English football fan in their mid-30's or older for their thoughts on the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and chances are they will immediately blurt out something about "The Hand of God".

It has been said that the World Cup has only been won single handedly twice, Garrincha for Brazil in 1962 and Diego Maradona for Argentina in 1986.

In Maradona's case the word singlehandedly takes on a more literal meaning though as England find out to their great cost.

The relationship between the United Kingdom, or England specifically, and Argentina has historically been a strained one. The conflict between the two nations, that are separated by thousands of miles, stems from a disputed claim over the British territory of the Falklands Islands which is only 300 miles off of the coast of Argentina.

In 1982, Argentina's military regime seized the Falklands, that they refer to as Malvinas, under the ludicrous assumption that the British would not respond militarily.

The UK did of course respond, and the resulting ten week war left nearly seven hundred Argentine's dead and scores more injured. The resulting fallout would see Argentina's government fall the following year.

It was under this politically charged climate that Argentina would face England in the Quarter-Finals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

With the match evenly poised, Argentina's genius would turn cheating villain, when a mis-hit back pass towards Peter Shilton was punched over the keeper's outstretched hands and into the net by Maradona.

As Argentina's number ten wheeled away in celebration, England's players surrounded the referee like they'd just collectively had their wallets stolen.

The inexperienced referee from Tunisia, Ali Bennaceur, who FIFA really shouldn't have placed in charge of such a massive occasion, waved the English players away and allowed the goal to stand.

Maradona would shortly after dribble through a dazed English midfield and backline to score one of the greatest goals in tournament history. Argentina would win the match 2-1 on their way to being crowned World Cup champions a week later.

Although his second goal has been shown on highlight reels for the past three decades, and is rightly lauded for its brilliance, in England many still remember his first goal a bit more and view Maradona as a cheat who conned them out of the World Cup.

Whether or not England would have beaten Argentina without Diego's bit of trickery is open to question.

Following the match when Argentina's captain was questioned about his handball he responded that the goal was a little bit of Maradona, a little bit of the hand of god.

Cheating and Corruption in Football - Part 1 of 5: Anderlecht Buy Themselves an Official

2016-04-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

There's cheating, like throwing yourself on the ground to win a penalty, and then there's really using the "dark arts" to get one over on an opponent.

The following is the first in our series of five shameful tales of dishonesty in football:

Anderlecht v Nottingham Forest, UEFA Cup Semi-Final, 2nd Leg - 1984

Brian Clough's Forest side had put themselves in a good position in the first leg of their UEFA Cup semi-final in 1984, with a comprehensive 2-0 victory at the City Ground.

Clough though hadn't counted on the machinations of Anderlecht's president Constant Vanden Stock when they arrived in Belgium for the second leg.

The referee in charge that night in April was a Spaniard named Emilio Guruceta Muro who already had a bit of a poor reputation after a string of controversial decisions at home and abroad over the years. Forest's players and their famously outspoken manager weren't happy with his appointment, but were confident that they could hold on to their advantage and meet fellow English side Tottenham in the final.

There were a few borderline calls for free kicks not long after the kickoff, but nothing seemed that out of the ordinary even after Enzo Scifo had staked Anderlecht into 1-0 lead on the night on 20 minutes.

At the hour mark though Forest finally had a knife driven straight into their backs when Muro ruled that Kenny Swain had brought down Anderlecht's Kenneth Brylle for a penalty.

The problem was that Swain was at least three or four yards away when Brylle theatrically threw himself on the floor, and he was in an offside position to begin with.

With the penalty converted, and the aggregate score tied, Forest were up against it and the players began to fear that the fix was in.

With two minutes to go, Erwin Vandenbergh put Anderlecht up 3-0 on the night and ahead on aggregate, but there was one last twist in the tale.

Deep into injury-time, Forest won a corner that Paul Hart put away with a free header to seemingly win the tie. But before he could celebrate, that man Muro had blown for a foul.

What the foul was he never really explained to Forest's enraged players and with that the match, and Forest's involvement in the UEFA Cup for the season, was over.

Although Forest never staged an official protest at the time, they knew they had been cheated and Clough made sure to tell some of the equally baffled media of his suspicions.

Anderlecht for their part would lose the final on penalties to Spurs and for thirteen years the majority of the football world forgot about the controversy surrounding the Belgian side's run to the final.

The controversial Muro, who had few admirers in his native Spain either due to his suspicious handling of several big fixtures over the years, died in a car crash in 1987.

In 1997, under pressure from an alleged blackmail plot by someone close to the club, Anderlecht officials finally confirmed that they had arranged for a local gangster to pay Muro close to 20,000 pounds to fix the match against Forest in their favour.

The club were subsequently banned from European competition for one year, a fairly light punishment all things considered, and although several Forest players tried to take legal action against Anderlecht, their cases didn't make much headway.

Mid-Week Rant: 5 Divers I Can't Stand

2014-10-22T15:00:00.000-04:00

This past weekend Stoke City's Victor Moses has reminded EPL followers that football has yet to rid of the most foolish thing in its sport, the notion that you can pretend to have been tripped in hopes of fooling the referee of awarding your team a free-kick or penalty advantage. I love football with all of its blemishes and inperfections, but diving is perhaps my most hated aspect of the game, so this week for Mid-Week Rants I talk about the five footballers I hated for cheating more than most others.

#5 - Bryan Carrasco

I've only seen this guy dive just once, but let's admit it, his cheating maneuver against Ecuador while playing for his national team Chile is one of (if not the) most ridiculous things I have ever seen in football. Watch how Carrasco takes his opponent's arm and hits himself in the face with it. What's even worse is the fact that the referee fell for Carrasco's antics.

#4 - Sergio Busquets

Aside from his ridiculous hide and seek impression that time he dove in a match against Inter Milan and peeked to see if the referee bought it, Busquets has had plenty of dives to his name and what I hate most about his actions is the fact that he plays for a club that has been on the top of European football for many years and many times when he takes a dive there is absolutely no reason to do so.

#3 - Cristiano Ronaldo

There is no doubt that even the harshest Ronaldo critics will tell you that the Portuguese football "god" has very much improved his diva ways with age and has been more of a leader lately than in his younger age. But his actions during the earlier years of his career have left a stain on Cristiano's legacy with a very long list of diving, crying and other actions that suggest a strong sense of entitlement.

#2 - Ashley Young

For a number of years now Young has been at the top of the list of divers and cheaters as it seems that the Manchester United winger goes down to ground on more occasions than not. Ashley Young has been caught numerous times trying to sway the referee's decision playing both for his club and country. But as he tries to manipulate the referee's decision, it will now take a long time to change football fans' opinion about Young being a cheat.

#1 - Didier Drogba

Didier Drogba could have easily been one of my favorite footballers of all time if it was not for his diving addiction. He is exactly the kind of striker I admire most when it comes to ball control, pace and of course finishing. But his diving has gone out of hand at times, with theatrics equal to those of a Broadway play, and a few that resembled an off-Broadway one as well. Drogba, like Busquets also had been caught peeking to see the referee's reaction to one of his dives.

Peruvian Match Abandoned After Five Players Fake Injury

2014-10-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

Diving and faking injuries is, besides Sepp Blatter, the biggest scourge of the modern game.

Call me a misty eyed romantic, but I believe matches should be played with a certain degree of honesty and sportsmanship. Sure, football should be physical and those who play it should

be committed, but there's nothing worse than seeing a player roll around with nothing wrong with him.

One of the worst examples of cheating on the modern game appeared this weekend when, a referee was forced to suspend a cup tie in northern Peru after five players went down injured, eight minutes from time, in a bid to get the game abandoned.

Trailing 4-1 in the first leg of the Copa Peru semi-final against Defensor La Bocana this past Sunday, five Defensor Bolivar hit the deck in attempt to have the match abandoned.

With a side needing seven players on the pitch to complete a match the dastardly Bolivar players, who were already down by ten men thanks to a red card, decided to throw in the towel and get the result somehow wiped out.

Not only did the players go down, but they allegedly pretended to wiggle around on the grass as if they were really hurt.

Despite the referees efforts to bring order the beleaguered official had no choice but to call the match off.

With the second leg coming up on Thursday, the Peruvian FA has a big decision to make on how they are appropriately punish the offending club and sort out this general mess.

Easier said than done when dealing with such a messy affair.

Meanwhile an understandably furious La Bocana side has uploaded footage of the incident to YouTube.