Richard Mackson – USA Today Sports
While a report survived stating a man attempted to bribe Belize into throwing their 2013 Gold Cup match against the United States, two separate but obvious match-fixing incidents occurred in Nigeria.
Two soccer teams in the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Plateau United Feeders and the Police Machine, were fighting for promotion, and it looked like goal differential would come into play. Because of that, both were looking to out-score their opponents by a wide margin. However, both teams along with their opponents have been suspended independently by the NFF for obvious match-fixing.
In case you were wondering the scores, Plateau defeated Akurba FC 79-0 with 76 second-half goals, while the Police Machine won against Babayaro FC 67-0. 61 of their 67 goals came in the second half.
Some past match-fixing incidents have not been as obvious, but did either of the teams really thing no one would take notice at the outrageous scores. Plateau scored almost two goals per minute in the second half alone, while Police Machine scored a goal about every forty seconds.
It is blatantly obvious that someone on each of the winning sides paid off both the losing teams and the referees to keep their mouths shut. However, the NFF caught on real fast and has launched a full investigation into the matches and all parties involved.
The NFF called it “a mind-boggling show of shame”, while the NFF’s director of competitions commented saying, “anyone found to have played some role in this despicable matter” would be “severely dealt with”.
In the end, neither Plateau nor Police Machine will be promoted and they could have severely affected their future by cheating in the most obvious way. As of now, no charges have been brought forth, but stay tuned to Rant Sports to updates on this and other soccer stories.
Phil Naegely is a sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Like him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter @pnaegelyRS and add him to your circles on Google.
