One for the underdogs: Crazy results in the latest round of international football

By Marcel Abboud

Celebrate for football's international minnows!

In what turned out to be a very crazy round of football (7/9/11), many of FIFA's minnows have recorded remarkable draws or even incredible wins against much more fancied opponents. Many people would have written these nations off, but they played their hearts out and triumphed (or almost triumphed) against all odds to salvage a point or to claim all three points.

Who would have known?

2014 FIFA World Cup Qualification (Asain Confederation):

Lebanon 3-1 United Arab Emirates

Jordan 2-1 China

Kuwait 1-1 South Korea

2012 UEFA European Championship Qualification:

Slovakia 0-4 Armenia

Moldova 0-2 Hungary

Azerbaijan 3-2 Kazakhstan

Luxembourg 2-1 Albania

Malta 1-1 Georgia

Iceland 1-0 Cyprus

So next time you see an underdog team and they get absolutely destroyed by the opposition, don't feel sorry for them: support them!

Falling Like Dominoes: Allegations of Matching Fixing in Football

By Marcel Abboud

Betting is (for some) an added item of luxury and excitement that's brought to the game of football. Many fans will bet on their favourite teams to win games and/or leagues, or perhaps who's going to score the first goal. There's literally thousands of options that a fan can bet on. Who knows, a five dollar multi-bet could reap dividends and make one lucky fan a quick buck in a very short return. With advancement in technologies and greater access to live scores from all over the world, it would be hard to disagree that betting is something that can't be avoided in the game of football.


But with every positive aspect that's in making money (especially when it's a quick dollar for little or no effort) there's always bound to be a negative, ugly connotation that's attached to it. In sport, there is always the sneaky suspicion (whether fabricated or not) that who knows, perhaps that a game/s can be fixed and the results already pre-determined (known as match fixing). It's as of late (the past few years or so) that match fixing has reared it's ugly head in the game of football (but this isn't to say that it hasn't always been around).



Recently, the Italian footballing world has been rocked (once again) by allegations of match fixing after calls for Inter Milan to be stripped of the 2006 Scudetto (title) due to evidence not originally included in the 2006 Italian football scandal (known as Calciopoli in Italian). These allegations are based on wiretapped phone calls by late Inter Milan president Giacinto Facchetti who FIGC chief investigator Stefano Palazzi claims tried to influence the referring sector. For those who don't recall, Italian football was rocked with a massive betting scandal in May 2006 (Calciopoli) involving its top leagues, Serie A and Serie B. The Italian police current league champions at the time Juventus as well as other teams including AC Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Reggina were accused of rigging games by selecting favorable referees to determine favourable outcomes for games. After all was said and done, Juventus were stripped of the 2006 and 2006 titles, relegated to Serie B , withdrawn from the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League and forced to play three home games behind closed doors. The other teams who were found guilty received various punishments ranging from point deductions to massive fines and withdrawal from continental competitions.

Turkey is the latest country to be rocked by betting scandals. Reports suggest that various league matches have been staged and fixed in the last Turkish football season, with a number of high profile clubs such as Fenerbache and Eskisehirspor being implicated, with around 30 people being held in this match fixing probe. Whether they are found guilty of match fixing is yet to be seen, but the investigation is still on going.


Even in the European lower leagues, suspicious activity involving clubs is active. In 2009, UEFA investigated three Macedonian clubs (FK Pobeda, FK Milano and Rabotnicki) in their losses in their Europea League ties against various opposition. FK Pobeda were banned by UEFA from continental competitions for eight years after being convicted of match fixing. In June 2011, the Finish top flight had its own match fixing scandals when Finnish officials opened up a criminal investigation against clubs suspected of money laundering.

This kind of scandals aren't limited to European leagues, in fact it can happen anywhere and in any country. In September 2010, the national team of Bahrain took on a supposed Togo national team and won 3 - 0. After total domination of the African side and having numerous goals ruled out, this supposed Togo team was found to be entirely "fake" and not even the Togo Football Federation knowing of this match that took place in Bahrian. This Togo team was linked to a match fixing allegation, who placed a lot of money on the result of the game.

This type of activity is deplorable and is a detriment to the beautiful game of football. It takes out the passion, excitement and anticipation that fans crave when they go watch a game. What is the motivation for these activities? Above all, it always comes down to money because in plain and simple terms, money makes the world go around (especially in the footballing world).


Betting is a quick and easy way to make money (and if you're good at it lots of of) and if you can fix the results to make lots of money and you can pull it off, then you're going to be rich and then-some. But when you know that your team has won a game/league/championship because results "fell" your way, it makes many fans sick and ashamed to be following that club.

Match fixing is a scar of the game of football and more must be done (both by local federations in conjunction with their governments and along with FIFA) to help stamp out such disgraceful activities.

What needs to be done in such circumstances, as always, remains to be seen.

No More Lustre: Has The UEFA Champions League Lost Its Glamour?

So as FC Barcelona managed to sweep their bitter rivals Real Madrid and Manchester United FC brush aside German hopefuls FC Schalke 04 in the 2010/11 edition of the UEFA Champions League, there’s one thing that creeps into mind when you look at the two finalists for the final at Wembely: Normalcy.

The Champions League is European football’s (nay, the world’s ) most elite and prestigious club footballing tournament, where the very best of European clubs get the chance to cut their metal and test their grit against other European footballing elite. It’s literally the stuff dreams are made of. Mouth-watering group stage encounters, nail-biting semi-finals and a melting pot of the world’s footballing elite players competing to lift the coveted trophy at the end of the tournament.


Quite romantic when you think about it. After all, imagine the prospect of a (say for example) Marseille taking on Juventus in the quarter-finals to see who will take on the winner of Chelsea FC and Valencia in the final. It could be about the “little clubs” fighting and battling against European royalty and brushing them aside to hold that illustrious trophy at season’s end.

But as recently history will tell you, it’s been far from that. The romance and the thrill of the ties in the Champions League is slowly and surely fading away. This season’s edition sees FC Barcelona take on Manchester United in what no doubt should be a very entertaining affair. But it’s become all too typical. For the past few seasons (since 2000) the Champions League trophy has only been placed in the trophy cabinets of four different footballing nations (England, Spain, Portugal and Italy), with Germany’s Bayern Munich making the final twice but losing to Inter and almost to Valencia on penalties(Valencia CF in 2000/01 and Inter Milan 2009/10).


So you can only imagine the lack of variety when it comes to the passing of the trophy. The only season when the trend was bucked was when a Jose Mourinho led Portuguese outfit FC Porto to a 3 – 0 victory over French side Monaco in 2003/04. But a tie like that hasn’t been had in a while because of the dominance in this point in history has been confined to the four footballing nations, but yet more specifically to FC Barcelona and Manchester United. Kudos to both teams making the final, an achievement for any fan of the sides to be proud of. It’s been labelled as the rematch of 08/09 final where FC Barcelona ran riot over Manchester United, beating them 2 – 0 in style.

It’s great prospect to watch. If you’re a Manchester United or FC Barcelona fan. But what about to the footballing neutral? Can it be that Europe’s prestigious club competition has become too top heavy? Or that the game of football has become the play thing of billionaires and global brands as opposed to actual teams? It would be stupid to say or even think that the game between two of Europe’s biggest teams would be anything short of entertaining. But it’s the same old thing again and again.


It’s a sad thing to say, but it seems there cannot be a variety in the Champions League anymore. Those with some of the deepest pockets in Europe can only be successful and simmer to the top of the European footballing stew.

How great would it have been to be a FC Schalke 04 or a Tottenham Hotspur fan during this season of the Champions League. Just a few mere wins away from reaching the grandest of all club footballing finals the world over. But yet look at their games in which they were knocked out. Tottenham lost a crushing 0 – 5 on aggregate (losing 4 – 0 in the opening leg) and FC Schalke, the team from Gelsenkirchen who carried the imaginations of many (including myself) were systematically thrown out of the Champions league by Manchester United 6 -1 on aggregate, despite the heroics of goalkeeper Manuel Neurer . The fairy tale run of the underdogs came to a screeching halt and those romantics who dream, dreamt for too long.


But this isn’t to take away from the skills and talents of Manchester United or FC Barcelona. They both have incredibly talent squads, brilliantly tactically minded coaches with both an arsenal of attacking weapons and an inventory of defense strategies to complement their playing styles. Both squads should be commended on their achievements because after all, you don’t become champions of your leagues by sheer luck and chance.

But on that night on the 28^th of May when both teams grace the grass of Wembley Stadium in London, one team will come out the victor. But who really loses here? Without pointing out the obvious (the team who loses), it’s the imagination of many a footballing fan who has grown tired of seeing the “topheavyness” of European football battle it out. Again.


Is there space for the imagination for the footballing romantic? Yes, but it can only exist in that form, in the imagination. Reality can deal a cruel blow for many a fan.

By Marcel Abboud