Live World Cup Qualifying Scores

Here, the latest scores from the latest round of 2010 World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers…

The joint qualifying campaign will decide which five teams will join hosts South Africa at the World Cup in 2010.

The qualification process will also decide the 15 teams who will join host Angola to take part at the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

From FIFA, some results from today …. Is South Africa out of the Cup of Nations already??

The already-qualified Nigeria maintained one of only two 100 per cent records in African Zone qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, and made it five clean sheets from as many outings in Port Elizabeth. Ikechukwu Uche scored the only game as the Super Eagles inflicted a 1-0 defeat on South Africa, who, although through to the next world finals as the Host Nation, are all but out of the running for a place at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2010.

Burundi kept their faint hopes of reaching the final phase of regional qualifying for South Africa 2010 alive, at least until later today, by eking out a 2-1 victory away to Group 9 tailenders Seychelles. Henry Mbazumutima and Claude Nahimana put the Swallows firmly in control, before a 63rd-minute Philip Zialor goal ensured a nervy finish for the visitors.

Burundi now need leaders Burkina Faso to beat Tunisia at home in the seciotn’s other Matchday 5 game to have any chance of progressing. Seychelles, meanwhile, remain pointless with just one game left to play.

Kenya went three points clear of Guinea, who play in Zimbabwe tomorrow, at the Group 2 summit courtesy of a 1-0 reverse of Namibia, who are unable to advance.

Mauritius and Tanzania may have entered their Group 1 game with no chance of progressing to the next phase of African Zone qualifying for South Africa 2010, but that did not stop them serving up an enchanting first half at the King George V stadium in Curepipe. It produced five goals, all of them in a frenetic 22-minute period and four of them in favour of the Taifa Stars.

African Zone Qualifying, Matchday 5 results
Saturday
South Africa 0-1 Nigeria
Kenya 1-0 Namibia
Seychelles 1-2 Burundi
Mauritius 1-4 Tanzania

Friday
Djibouti 0-3 Malawi
Libya 1-0 Ghana
Algeria 3-2 Senegal

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African World Cup Qualifiers

With Europe getting their World Cup qualification schedule under way, I thought it’d be fitting to see where Africa is in their drive to South Africa. Remember, the Africans started their Cup qualification months ago. 

Group 1: Cameroon will make sure of top spot if they beat Cape Verde Islands in Praia on Saturday. But what on paper would seem a routine assignment for a team of the Indomitable Lions’ status is far from a straightforward task. The Cape Verdeans have proven feisty opponents, and also have hopes of making it through to the next phase. Three wins in their four matches to date demonstrate the remarkable progress achieved by Portuguese coach Joao de Deus. The meeting between Mauritius and Tanzania in Curepipe is of academic interest only.

Group 2: The outcome of this group will likely be determined on the final matchday in October, but Kenya and Zimbabwe will be seeking to use home advantage to maneuver themselves into favourable positions. The latter have been told they need to tighten up on discipline if they are to beat Guinea in Harare on Sunday. “This game is like a cup final,” said Zimbabwe’s Brazilian coach Valinhos. Kenya, who share the group lead with Guinea, will expect to beat Namibia at home.

Group 3: It is a crunch weekend for Angola, whose dreams of a second successive trip to the sport’s showpiece event will end if they lose in Benin on Sunday. Black Antelopes coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves departed for Cotonou in determined mood. “We will throw away caution, we are going for victory,” he declared. “It is going to be a hard game and Benin are difficult adversaries, but our objective is to win.” Uganda’s hopes of staying in contention also rest on avoiding defeat when they visit Niger, who have yet to collect a point in the campaign. Benin lead on nine points, two clear of both Angola and Uganda.

Group 4: Nigeria have already banked pole position, but still have pride to play for when they meet South Africa in Port Elizabeth. The Super Eagles squad for Saturday’s game has been depleted by injury, while South Africa have doubts over the fitness of key striker Benni McCarthy. Sierra Leone will strive to unseat the South Africans from second position when they entertain Equatorial Guinea in Freetown on Saturday. Equatorial Guinea lost three successive qualifiers in June, and have appointed former Spanish international Vicente Engonga as their new coach.

Group 5: The top-of-the-table battle between Libya and Ghana is one of the main attractions of the weekend’s packed programme, pitting Faouzi Benzarti’s ambitious charges against the formidable Black Stars. The Ghanaians have recalled Stephen Appiah after a nine-month absence, although they will be hindered by the absence of defender John Mensah, which could dictate that Michael Essien operates at the back. Libya have put in extensive preparation for Friday’s match in Tripoli, scoring nine goals in two friendlies last month. Gabon, three points behind the top two, will keep their hopes alive if they beat Lesotho.

Group 6: Algeria may be former continental champions and two-time FIFA World Cup participants, but their reputation has suffered in recent years. Failure to win at home to Senegal in Blida on Sunday will sharpen their decline, and all but end hope of reaching South Africa 2010. Rabah Saadane has assembled his strongest squad in years, largely owing to the returns of Brahim Hemdani and Nader Belhadj, but the coach admits it will nevertheless be tough against the Lions of Teranga. “The quality of our play and our behaviour on the field must be at the highest level,” said Saadane. Gambia are still eying a ticket to the next phase, and will be fancied to beat Liberia in Banjul on Saturday, a result which could move Paul Put’s impressive squad joint-top of the section.

Group 7: After a slow entry into the qualifying rounds, Ivory Coast have steadily gathered steam. With 8 points in 4 games, Ivory Coast is 3 points better than Botswana, who reside in the second spot. Mozambique, with 4 points and Madagascar, with 3 points, still have a chance with two playing days to go.

Group 8 : The group top spot is being contested between Morocco and surprise package Rwanda, each with 9 points. Ethiopia with 6pts can still hope but Mauritania, with 0 points have been eliminated. Rwanda are turning heads, rivaling the North African giants in what was seen as a group Morocco would easily win when the draws were made.

Group 9 : The Stallions of Burkina Faso are surprising group leaders with 12 points, outsmarting 2004 African Champions Tunisia. The North Africans are 3 points shy of the Stallions, who may be determined to go all the way. Burundi (3 pts) and Seychelles (0 pt) are already eliminated.

Group 10 : After the disqualification of Chad by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the group has been thrown wide open. Leaders Mali (6 pts) as well as Congo and Sudan (3 pts) could still make it to the next round. Frédéric Kanouté’s side seem to have the better option in the group.

Group 11 : This is another group of three teams, which is maintaining its suspense. Swaziland (4 pts), Zambia (4pts) and Togo (3 pts, with a delayed match) are locked in a struggle. The team that better manages the situation will surely come out on top.

Group 12 : The Democratic Republic of Congo sparked some life into African football after their satisfactory performance at the 2006 African Cup of Nations in Egypt. The Simbas are in good form and are topping the group (as a result of a better goal advantage than Egypt). Both nations have 9 points. Malawi is still in the running with 6 points but Djibouti are out with 0 points and a –21 goal advantage after 4 playing games.

For full group standings, please click here. 
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Ghana Denies Match Fixing Allegations

In yesterday’s post, we talked about allegations that the 2006 World Cup match between Brazil and Ghana was fixed.

Today, a strong statement by the Ghana Football Association (GFA), who say they are going to take legal action against Canadian author Declan Hill and his publishers over claims the Black Stars 2006 World Cup clash with Brazil was fixed.

The GFA is denying claims made in Hill’s book ‘The Fix’ that has been serialized in the German news magazine Der Spiegel.

The claims are that an Asian betting syndicate influenced the result which led to Ghana’s 3-0 loss to Brazil in the second round in Germany.

The football association has also lodged a complaint with the Ghana Police Service to investigate the matter in view of the allegations made against the FA and players of the senior team.

“Without prejudice to the foregoing, we have decided to seek the advice of our lawyers on any further cause of action that may be available against Declan Hill, and publishers of the defamatory statements.”

Randy Abbey, a GFA spokesman, said that as much as it was a serious allegation, the FA would not jump to hasty conclusions but will read the book before investigating.

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Ghana-Brazil 2006 World Cup Match Fixed?

I’ve been away from the blog for a bit too long. That’s life.

So today, Day One of a little project I’m going to undertake, where I post on the blog for 31 straight days. So dear reader, stick with me.

Today’s big news, besides the ongoing transfer talk and the huge acquisition of Manchester City by a United Arab Emirates business group concerns the accusation of match-fixing at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

According to German weekly news magazine Der Speigel, the 2006 World Cup knock-out stage match between Brazil and Ghana was influenced by an Asian betting syndicate. What do we mean by influenced?

Fixed.

The magazine reports large sums of money had been bet on Brazil winning by at least two goals and a former Ghana international acted as an intermediary.

Ghana lost the last 16 round match 3-0 in Dortmund on June 27, 2006 which put Brazil into the quarter-finals, where they lost to finalists France.

The information in Der Spiegel comes from Canadian investigative journalist Declan Hill, whose book about betting on sport around the world is published in German on Tuesday.

Der Spiegel also claim their investigations show two matches in Germany come under suspicion after huge sums were placed on them by a Malaysian who has been convicted of attempted match-fixing.

According to the report, William Bee Wah Lim placed 2.8 million euros (.1 million US dollars) with Asian bookmakers on Kaiserslautern losing a first-division match at Hanover in November 2005.

As a result of Hanover’s 5-1 victory, he won 2.2 million euros.

Lim placed almost 4 million euros on Karlsruhe beating Sportfreunde Siegen in a second-division match in August 2005. Karlsruhe won the game 2-0.

A Frankfurt court gave Lim a two years and five months prison sentence in June 2007 after he was convicted of attempted match fixing in the German regional league and Austria’s first division.

He was released on conditional bail, but has since left the country and a warrant for his arrest was issued in January.

The German Football Federation (DFB) have said they will investigate Der Spiegel’s allegations concerning the two Bundesliga games in 2005.

“DFB and the German League have so far no reference points that the matches mentioned are to have been manipulated,” said a statement on the DFB website.

“Immediately after becoming known of the suspicious factors DFB president Dr. Theo Zwanziger and German League president Dr. Reinhard Rauball affirm both federations aim at a comprehensive clearing-up of the affair.

“Already on Saturday morning an inquiry was started to look into the games concerned.”

German football endured the most serious crisis in its history in 2004 when referee Robert Hoyzer admitted having received 70,000 euros to influence the results of 23 matches, mainly second and third division games, between April 10 and December 3, 2004.

MY POV: This would be absolutely devastating news. No one wants to see professional football turned into professional wrestling, especially at an event as big as the World Cup.
If this story is true, all the work FIFA’s undertaken to prevent this very situation will be for naught. An immediate inquiry needs to be undertaken, much like Germany’s doing, to make sure world football isn’t polluted by gambling syndicates.

I found this excellent interview on Der Speigel’s website with the author of the book, Declan Hill. Here’s the whole interview. I’ve included a small excerpt. It’s a riveting account of Hill’s attempts to track down the characters involved in the scandal. It reads like a James Bond 007 spy thriller.

SPIEGEL: You have spent three years investigating the international betting mafia. Have you lost all pleasure in football?

Declan Hill: I love football the way one loves a woman, but by now I ask myself quite early on in a match, whether there is anything suspicious going on. There are no precise statistics about betting manipulation in football, of course, but it is shocking how often people in the world of betting talk about matches that have been manipulated – not just in Asia or Eastern Europe, but also in the major football leagues, such as in Germany, and even during world championships.

SPIEGEL: On June 27, 2006 the match ended 3:0 for Brazil.

Hill: The Ghanaians played as though they were putting their whole heart into it, but then there were a number of stupid mistakes: passes didn’t succeed, the defense was careless, the team collected three stupid goals. After the game I was in the stands in Dortmund with tears in my eyes because I was convinced, at least emotionally, that the match had been fixed. I phoned Chin from the stadium: “I didn’t believe you, but you are a genius.” He said: “How can I be a genius if I earn so little money with this?”

SPIEGEL: Did you speak with (Ghana Captain Steven) Appiah about the accusations?

Hill: Not just with Appiah, but also with the goalkeeper Richard Kingson and other national players too. They all assured me that they were completely unaware of the manipulation of the team in Germany. However one of the players did admit that he had been approached by Asian betters in 2004 during the Olympic Games. And they all said that Appiah was the captain of the team and that you would have to talk to him. I then met with him in an industrial area in Accra. We talked in his car and he said that he had been approached a number of times in the course of his career and that he had taken money too. The first time was in 1997 during the under-17s World Cup in Malaysia and also in 2004 at the Olympic Games in Athens; however he had been given money in order to win games, not to lose them. He had then shared the bonus among the players.

SPIEGEL: Ghana’s team captain, who was until recently signed to Fenerbahce Istanbul, says that he has accepted money from third parties twice during his career?

Hill: That’s exactly what he says. I had trouble comprehending this, so I spoke to him again over the phone, and he repeated his account.

SPIEGEL: And during the 2006 World Cup in Germany?

Hill: He was approached there too, but he says that he refused. I also asked him whether the Malaysian had gone to other players too. He replied: “Yes, I think he did the rounds.”

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Video of the week: Italy’s top 100 goals at the World Cup

With the Olympics going on and National Team fever ready to sweep back in when Lippi makes his first call-ups of his second tenure on Saturday, I thought I’d dedicate this video of the week to the Nazionale. With World Cup 2010 qualifying just around the corner, here’s a segment from a Gazzetta dvd called “La Grande Storia della Nazionale” showcasing Italy’s top 100 goals in World Cup qualifying and in the final tournaments. The videos count down from 100. Enjoy:

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