ZURICH – FIFA and Nigeria's soccer federation are investigating Argentina's 4-1 loss in Nigeria on
Wednesday after betting patterns suggested it was targeted by match fixers. It is the highest profile
match yet in a wave of suspicious recent international exhibitions, often with
goals scored from penalty kicks.
The match "was one
that we had an active interest in, and forms part of a wider ongoing FIFA
investigation," soccer's world governing body said Saturday.
FIFA was "working
closely" with its betting monitoring agency, Early Warning System, which
tracks wagers placed with more than 400 operators worldwide.
A second-string Argentina team was outplayed by Nigeria, which
earned its first victory over the South Americans in a one-sided match.
The Nigeria Football
Federation, which organized the match, said it would help FIFA's investigation
and also set up its own inquiry, but denied any knowledge of match fixing,
stressing it was "unaware of any suspicious motives in this game."
"We will put all these
measures (the inquiry) in place in the spirit of fair play and
transparency," NFF General Secretary Musa Amadu said in a statement.
"But we would still insist that, until it is proven beyond doubt, we
believe that we won this match fair and square ... There remains, to the best
of our knowledge, no untoward motives to this game than to play it fairly and
win it fairly."
Argentina coach Sergio
Batista, talking Saturday at a press conference in Warsaw ahead of his team's
exhibition against Poland on Sunday, said he "did not notice anything
alarming" during the Nigeria match.
Hours before kick-off at
the National Stadium in Abuja
on Wednesday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter launched his "Zero
Tolerance" campaign to stop corruption in soccer.
FIFA's 208 member nations
in Zurich also
passed new rules to control the organization of international matches,
including the power to veto referee appointments.
Referee Ibrahim Chaibou of Niger awarded two penalties — one to each side —
in Wednesday's game between two teams who played each other at the 2010 World
Cup in South Africa.
Nigeria took a 2-0 lead with a 26th minute spot-kick after Chaibou
awarded a foul against Argentina
defender Federico Fazio.
Five minutes of stoppage
time were announced at the end of the match, with play continuing until the
98th minute, when Argentina
scored with a penalty kick from Mauro Boselli.
Argentina's spot kick was awarded by Chaibou
for a debatable handball after the ball appeared to strike a Nigerian defender
on the shin and then bounce up and hit a teammate on the thigh.
Argentina fielded a below-strength lineup
without star forwards such as Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel di Maria.
However, there was no
suggestion that players from either team were involved in manipulating the
match.
Chaibou is one of the most
experienced FIFA-approved referees with 15 years' service on the international
list. He was born in 1966 and must step down this year on reaching FIFA's
referee age limit of 45.
As match-fixing investigations
develop across the world, FIFA announced last month it would pay Interpol $29
million over the next 10 years to educate referees, players, coaches and
officials in how to resist corruption.
"FIFA is currently
receiving lots of information and cooperation across Europe, Asia, Africa and
South and Central America, and as an
organization we are committed to tackling this problem in the most vigorous way
possible," the governing body said.
Associated Press
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