Posted on 02/04/2013 10:56:36 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
Soccer’s American detractors have accused the sport of being too slow, too low-scoring and too full of diving players. They can now add corruption to the list.
Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, released today the upsetting findings of a match-fixing investigation that began last summer. The probe found 680 suspicious soccer matches, including qualifiers for the World Cup and European Championship, as well as two Champions League games. The report indicates that 380 of the suspected matches were played in Europe.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Maybe I’m over cynical, but I just assume all professional sports matches are rigged.
They rig the results and laff at the "loser" Americans.
The contracting and design of the stadiums (funded by taxpayers) certainly are.
How do you throw that many games were most of the scores are 1-0 or 0-0 ties, short of self-goals?
The only difference between athletics and politics is at least the athletes have some talent.
However, both are corrupt beyond recognition and anyone of believes either group is naive beyond description.
I still can’t figure out how soccer is such a popular sport . . . 90 minutes of continual loss of possessions (if this happened in football, no one would watch), and every so often, some lucky guy in some position in some place on the field has the dumb luck of kicking the ball past a skinny player in front of a 50 foot wide goal and scores, at which time 65,000 fans go nuts and the guy who scored the half-assed goal runs around the field like he won the Super Bowl. And, if you’re lucky, after 90 minutes, the score might be 1 to 0 (excuse me . . ) 1 to nil.
1 to nil or 3 to 2 after 90 minutes and everyone is singing and chanting and swaying and acting like fools.
Good God-Almighty, what the hell’s the attraction? If they’re ginning up the game to . . . say . . . 4 to nil . . . then may God bless ‘em.
I don’t get it. They say the reason there’s so many people playing soccer is so that they don’t have to watch it.
Especially when the same la Familia is involved on both sides of the field as last night.
Dog bites man.
It’s European - of course it’s corrupt.
Ok, so I’m have spazmo typing attacks.
Let’s try that second sentence again.
However, both are corrupt beyond recognition and anyone who believes either group is naive beyond description.
(P.S. I’ve got free pictures of the Obamadork skeet shooting for believers.)
I’m actually a fan (of soccer, not the match-fixing!), but, unfortunately, I would think the generally low scoring nature of the game would make it easier (and more vulnerable) to be “fixed” - by a player, referee, or both.
And we cant understand why baseball and gridiron are so popular with Americans. To us, they are boring sports that take half a day to complete and stop all the time. And the latter is a poor man’s rugby.
shame, it’s going to be interesting to see what the punishment is going to be. If the world cup is affected
Pete Rose a Euro was he?.
I was talking about the fix being in for Super Bowl, and referencing Lucy Van Pelt’s comment about things being run by a big Eastern syndicate. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy! But you know, that is a LOT of money changing hands on Super Bowl Sunday. You can’t tell me they don’t at least try to influence the game.
...wonder if it had damaged the football pool in the UK? I used to play the pool when I was stationed there
What a load of drivel.
Soccer is a game of skill, like any sport. Its top players are brilliantly talented athletes with incredible skill.
Its not 90 mins of tedium (sometimes it is, just like any other sport), at its best it is a great game of pace and skill. Goals are created by moments of great skill, not lucky randomness. BTW, who told you the goals are 50ft wide?.
And the fans sing and dance just like any other sports fans, because they follow their team with passion and pride and love.
Soccer can be boring, but it can also be a great game of falir, skill, excitement and passion.
Oh, and congrats to the Ravens of being ‘World Champions’ (snigger snigger). There’s another thing that makes us Limeys/Euros laugh: the insistence on your teams being ‘World Champs’ when you play in national leagues and only you play the game. Do you grasp just how ludicrous/arrogant that sounds to us?.
Dont you grasp just how dull and boring we find baseball, gridiron or does the fact that your sports might be equally as tedious to others never enter American heads?.......
I would like to see rugby take off in the US. It’s a great game, and they know how to tackle without all of the padding.
I think it is an uphill battle for that to happen due to the continuous action, which does not allow for much commercial time (which is why the popular US sports thrive, as the commercials pay the bills).
Sorry, but I can't imagine a dumber and more boring sport than soccer . . . as far as looking for skill, just love watching the "skilled" play stand right in front of the net and then kicking the ball way the hell over the net into the stands.
Can't imagine what a coach does except send in and take out players. What possible plays could a coach go over with a bunch of people that are all over the field giving up possession 80 to 100 times a game?
They can bounce the ball all over their heads and then drop it to the foot and then kick it back up to their head all day, but none of that "skill" is asked for in the game. Just dumb luck with an occasional lucky kick into a horribly wide goal. And even then, it'll probably go over the net and into the stands. Just my opinion.
Are they wider? (sarc-)
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