Guatemala 0-1 Panama:
June 20 – Friday night at Q2 Stadium bore no resemblance to the venue that hosted football just 24 hours earlier. The transformation was complete, and the catalyst was simple: unbridled passion provided by the hordes of Guatemala supporters who descended on Austin. Stark contrast to the lack of interest shown by US fans on Thursday.
It is doubtless not the smartest move to begin a column you hope one or two people might actually read in the style of an IQ test or a maths exam. Just this once, however, I am going to chance it.
Sepp Blatter’s revelation that there was a deal in the FIFA executive, and in particular with Michel Platini, to vote for Russia for the 2018 World Cup and Qatar for 2022 has raised a hue and cry that the vote was a fix with Greg Dyke demanding the return of the £21 million England spent on the bid. The assumption is that the vote was bent and therefore the election invalid.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 31 – The much-publicised slush fund allegations surrounding Germany’s hosting of the 2006 World Cup have exploded into fresh controversy amid claims that Franz Beckenbauer, who led the country’s bid, may have personally endorsed a financial inducement to Malta just weeks before its FIFA member was about to vote.
So now we know who’s in and who’s out. A list that at one stage comprised only two candidates suddenly burgeoned to eight – or rather seven after the David Nakhid debacle – in the final hours before the deadline last Monday with the anticipated rush of last-minute applications.
October 30 – In the latest of a series of cherry-picked interviews, Sepp Blatter has lashed out at American-based sponsors for undermining him and his organisation with their adverse comments about FIFA’s corruption scandal.
By Mark Baber
October 30- Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano admitted to two counts of tax fraud totalling 1.5m euros in a five minute hearing on Thursday in Gava near Barcelona.
By Paul Nicholson
October 30 – AFC president and FIFA presidential candidate Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has issued a stinging rebuke of the reports that he led a task force that identified and prosecuted footballers active in Bahrain’s democracy protests in 2011.
October 30 – Lawyers acting on behalf of Eva Carneiro, the Chelsea team doctor who was verbally lambasted by manager Jose Mourinho and had her position downgraded, have served notice of a claim of constructive dismissal against the club after she failed to agree a severance package.
October 30 – The most powerful official in Asian sport says his continent and Europe should strike a deal to carve up support and avoid going head to head for the right to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 30 – FIFA’s reform guru Francois Carrard is being urged to address the question of gender imbalance as an immediate priority as part of the measures to lift football’s world governing body out of the dark ages.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 30 – The US Virgin Islands has been identified as the country that scuppered former Trinidad and Tobago international midfielder David Nakhid’s hopes of standing for FIFA president.
October 30 – Manchester City are supporting an ‘Innovation in Sport’ competition launched by Ideas Britain via its app which connects young people with great ideas to expert business coaches and brands.
October 30 – The chairman of FIFA’s Reform Committee François Carrard will make his first public appearance since his committee submitted its reform proposals at the Securing Sport 2015 conference in New York next week.
By Ben Nicholson
October 30 – Miami’s public education authority wants a piece of the Beckham action, having pitched Beckham’s group on the idea of developing a high school on the 10.5-acre city-owned site in Little Havana.
October 29 – Rejuvenated Inter Milan who currently top Italy’s Serie A after a 1-0 win over Bologna are reporting chart topping attendance records.