Nicholas Birch meets players brought to Turkey on agents' promises that are swiftly broken
It was set to be the big grudge match: for Nigeria, the opportunity to repeat last year’s 2-0 victory; for Guinea, the chance of revenge. Then, 36 hours before the August 18 kick-off, came news of the big police swoop on the central Istanbul slum of Tarlabasi. Guinea’s entire midfield was among the 60 people arrested.
Dear WSC
Does anyone else have deep misgivings about the development of recent years that expects players to put the ball out of play whenever a team-mate or opponent is injured, rather than relying on the referee to stop the game? What could once have been construed as a sporting gesture has been ruined and abused by dishonest players feigning injury and the resulting gesturing of their team-mates, pressuring their opponents to put the ball out of play. It is easy to finger Villarreal as prime proponents of this form of cheating, but there are many other Champions League and Premiership teams who take advantage of the current understanding to break up play and unsettle their opponents. Unless a player has suffered a head or other serious injury requiring immediate treatment, then the game should be allowed to continue until the next stoppage in play. If the team-mates of an “injured” player wish to put the ball out of play so that he can leave the pitch or receive treatment, fine – but they shouldn’t expect their opponents to give them the ball straight back from the resulting throw-in. Give the control back to the referee who, in the absence of a foul, can decide whether to stop the game or let it continue, using a drop ball to restart play if necessary. There are few more irritating sights in football than a team building an attack only to be confronted by their opponents waving and gesturing towards their team-mate sitting on his backside in the other penalty area, causing play to come to an unnecessary halt.
Steve Townsend, Barton-le-Clay
The European champions won't be in Germany after a dismal World Cup campaign but, as Paul Pomonis writes, Otto Rehhagel isn't throwing in the towel just yet
On July 9, 2004, five days after winning the Euro 2004 trophy, coach Otto Rehhagel announced that he had turned down a €5 million (£3.4m) offer from the German FA in favour of leading the Greece to the 2006 World Cup finals. Although this unprecedented vote of confidence to Greek football was greeted with universal enthusiasm (“It is a second victory within a week,” commented Stelios Giannakopoulos) many questioned the wisdom of King Otto’s decision. Having just masterminded one of the biggest upsets in the history of international football, Rehhagel had voluntarily undertaken the task of proving that Greece’s Euro triumph was no fluke. Mission Impossible II, an Athens newspaper called it.
Europe's minnows can sleep easy for now as Leinart Johannsson saw his UEFA presidential term extended. But according to Steve Menary, it's only delaying the inevitable
Europe’s minor nations can breathe a sigh of relief as doomsday has been temporarily averted. At last month’s congress in Tallinn, UEFA changed procedures for replacing Lennart Johansson as president and delayed Franz Beckenbauer’s seemingly inevitable advance to European football’s top job.
Ben Lyttleton looks at the corruption scandal rocking Turkish football
Turkey’s national coach Ersun Yanal has been forced to deny allegations that he received illegal payments for fixing matches when he was Ankaragucu coach four years ago. Yanal claimed the accusations against him, made by former Ankaragucu player Cafer Aydin, were part of a plot to oust him from his current post. Yanal is under fire for poor results since replacing Senol Gunes as Turkey coach. The side that finished third in the last World Cup are looking unlikely to qualify for the 2006 tournament: they are currently fourth in Group Two, eight points behind leaders Ukraine. “It is very clear that this has been done for certain purposes,” said Yanal. “I have never been involved in any such dealings.”