The Fan

The Italian Football Federation’s prosecutor has called for all four clubs at the centre of the match-fixing scandal to be thrown out of Serie A.

From: BBC

 

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England crash out on penalties again

England 0 - Portugal 0 (Portugal win on penalties)

England lose in the quarter finals (again) on penalties (again) to Portugal (again). The inquest started immediately with the prime villains being Eriksson, Rooney and Ronaldo.

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Johan Cruyff has blamed Holland’s World Cup exit on the country’s immigration minister for not allowing Ivory Coast-born Salomon Kalou to become a Dutch citizen.

Not being allowed to include players from another country, is quite some excuse…

See: BBC

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Puyol, Aragones and Spain were unhappy at the free-kick awarded to Thierry Henry that led to France’s decisive second goal.

The striker [Henry] was angry at the referee for not taking action over the rough treatment he received from Puyol in May’s Champions League final in Paris, which Barcelona won 2-1.

After the match, Henry said: “Next time I’ll learn to dive maybe, but I’m not a woman.”

From: BBC

 

It was a stupid, unnecessary foul by Puyol, but it was hugely disappointing to see Henry go down holding his face when he clearly was not struck there.

There are beginning to be too many sour tastes being left in the mouth after games in this World Cup.

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Fifa president Sepp Blatter has hit out at referee Valentin Ivanov’s handling of Portugal’s match against Holland.

 

Ivanov did not have a good game, but the players from both sides need to be condemned too. Holland and Portugal showed a great deal of indiscipline, and both teams were guilty of atrocious play-acting
(or ‘simulation’ if FIFA would prefer it called that) and some horrendous fouls.

The referee was strict from the outset and some players tried to abuse that by diving and feigning injury. If the 2 sets of players choose to try and out-cheat each other, then they must accept culpability as well.

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Beckham free kick sends England into last eight

England 1 - Ecuador 0

England continued to do the minimum necesary to qualify for the quarter finals. A David Beckham free kick providing the only goal of the game.

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Coach to gamble on team changes

Eriksson to make change to formation for last 16 game

Reports in the news today suggest Sven Goran Eriksson is to switch to a 4-1-4-1 formation against Ecuador on Sunday. It is closer to the formation that many feel he should have been playing prior to the World Cup, but he risks the allegation that he is trying to pick the best players and then fit a formation around them.

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Italian football heavyweights Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina will all face a sports court over allegations of corruption in the game.

Twenty-six unnamed people - but no players - are also set to stand trial.

Hearings will begin next Wednesday, with those found guilty facing the prospect of fines, bans and relegation.

From: BBC

 

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Italy’s football federation are to the name the clubs and individuals to be charged with match-fixing.

Any clubs charged face trial at a sports tribunal in Rome next week and could face bans, fines, relegation or be stripped of any trophies.

Champions Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina have been investigated.

 

The announcement is set for today when the Italian stock market closes (4:30pm BST), ironically coinciding with the end of Italy’s match against the Czech Republic.

Related: Italian FA placed under administration

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Tony Blair today condemned violence against England supporters in Scotland after incidents at the weekend in which a boy and a disabled driver were assaulted for wearing England shirts.

From: The Guardian

 

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