Tell Me This Isn't True!



I just came across some disturbing piece of news.

Former FIFA President Joao Havelange is claiming that the 1966 and 1974 World Cup's were fixed, in order for England and Germany to win.

The only thing I knew of the 66 World Cup was that England won, but there are some other facts that are interesting, when you consider the claim by Havelange.

Apparently, during the 1966 World Cup, during England's semifinal matchup against Argentina, Argentina's captain was given a straight up red card for arguing with the ref. During this game the ref was German, while in Germany's game the ref was English.

Havelange's quote was this, "In the three matches that the Brazilian national team played in 1966, of the three referees and six linesmen, seven were British and two were Germans."

Also, "Brazil went out, Pele 'exited' through injury, and England and Germany entered into the final, just as the Englishman Sir Stanley Rous, who was the President of FIFA at the time had wanted. In Germany in 1974 the same thing happened. During the Brazil-Holland match, the referee was German, we lost 2-0 and Germany won the title."

As we have seen with Serie A, and recently FC Porto, matches can be fixed, but the entire World Cup? That seems a very difficult task to do, even with the ref's on your side. 

Do you think the World Cup's of 1966 and 1974 were fixed?

Comments

Andrei said…
How about South Korea making to the World Cup 2002 semis thanks to some dubious referee calls in the games against Italy and Spain?
mad6986 said…
In my opinion, you always have to question the calls the host countries are getting....

South Korea was out of control though....there is no way that squad would ever make the semis without some kind of help
Anonymous said…
Everyone is complaining about South Korea, because this is a largely pro-Italian web blog.

Don't deny England their one moment of glory, surely they've suffered enough!
Anonymous said…
Hi there..

Do you mind to exchange links?

Thanks and have a great day.
Anonymous said…
South Korea was playing well in the tournament. I won't say that the game was fixed but I do feel very certain that the match referee, Moreno of Ecuador, carded Totti in extra time because Italy thrashed Ecuador earlier in group play. It was a big deal in Italy and Moreno was hounded and questioned by media if his decision was payback to Italy.

That being said if we think that sporting events are 100% truthful and fair all the time then we are kidding ourselves. Whether it was the German ref scandal, Italian calciopoly or English transfer corruption....it happens in soccer, baseball (steroids) and any other sport from time to time.

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