A controversial game in New York provided a taste of what we can expect from referees at the World Cup, as Nick Patience explains

Watching the New York/New Jersey Metrostars play the San Jose Clash on April 25th, it quickly became apparent the referee – literally, for once – was watching a different game to the rest of us. There were seven goals, three red cards, eight yellows and 17,380 fans in Giants stadium wondering what would happen next, and why what had happened previously had happened at all. In a game that swung one way then the other, the much-maligned Alexi Lalas, in his first season with New York, scored the winner with just 11 seconds to go, which in most fans’ opinion was the only thing he did right in the entire game.

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Richard Mason reports on the scandal of the season in Serie A

There is a crisis in Italian football. An unprecedented series of refereeing errors (or “favours”, as many would prefer to believe) nearly all of which have benefited Juventus, has led to a degree of soul searching rare even in a country so frantically passionate about football as Italy.

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Fans going to the Boleyn Ground this season will have to dig even deeper for tickets, reports Darron Kirkby

There it was, lying on the mat next to the application form for an American Express card and the letter about how to become a millionaire by stuffing envelopes – the annual missive from the West Ham United ticket office telling us how much we would have to pay next season.Skimming past the platitudes about how much our support meant to the club, I came to the prices. Fortunately I was sitting down. My ticket had gone up from £370 to £520, a slightly out-of-line-with-inflation in-crease of 41 per cent.

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Jeffrey Prest reflects on his day out at the football roadshow

“Anyone who’s coming will be here by now,” said a voice behind me. “It’s all over bar the shouting.” It was late on the final day of the BBC Match of the Day Live exhibition and the owner of the voice was either flogging classic football shirts or clichés of a similar ilk. Rest assured, he was selling something.

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With huge numbers of fans travelling to France without any hope of getting a ticket, the process is clearly favouring the rich and famous. Without a system change, the streets of Paris could be full of angry fans from all nations. A recipe for disaster?

You'll remember the advert broadcast before the England v Chile friendly in March. After running down a list of the qualities to be found in the England squad, the narration ended in a sneering challenge: “Come on Chile, the boys are waiting.” It could just as easily have been an invitation to a fight as a football match. As a symbol of arrogance headed for a fall (you’ll recall the result too), it was a neat example of how the build-up to this World Cup has gone.

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