World Cup round-up: Cameroon investigating match-fixing, Yaya Toure bemoans refereeing

Cameroon forward Samuel Eto'o reacts after missing a chance to score during their match against Mexico in group play at the 2014 World Cup. Yuri Cortez / AFP / June 13, 2014

Cameroon

Cameroon’s football federation said it will investigate allegations of match-fixing by its team at the World Cup and the possible existence of “seven bad apples” in the squad.

Fecafoot said in a statement on Monday it had instructed its own ethics committee to open an investigation, although it said it had not been contacted by Fifa. Cameroon were eliminated after losing all three of their group-stage matches at the World Cup: 1-0 to Mexico, 4-0 to Croatia and 4-1 to hosts Brazil.

“Recent allegations of fraud around Cameroon’s three 2014 Fifa World Cup preliminary games, especially Cameroon v Croatia, as well as the ‘existence of seven bad apples [in our national team]’ do not reflect the values and principles promoted by our administration in line with the Fifa Code of Conduct and the ehics of our nation,” Fecafoot said in the statement.

“Our administration has already instructed its ethics committee to further investigate thes accusations.”

Fifa refused to confirm there was an investigation by its security department, which should take the lead in any inquiry into a World Cup match.

The match-fixing allegations stemmed from comments convicted match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal allegedly made in a Facebook conversation with German magazine Der Spiegel before the Cameroon-Croatia match in Manaus on June 18. The magazine said Perumal, a Singaporean with ties to Asian and eastern European gambling syndicates, had accurately predicted the result of the Croatia match and that Cameroon would have a player sent off in the first half.

Cameroon midfielder Alex Song, who plays for Barcelona, was sent off before half time for striking Croatia striker Mario Mandzukic in the back.

Perumal did not give a source for his allegations. In the chat, he also referred to there being “seven bad apples” on the Cameroon team, Der Spiegel said.

Ivory Coast

Yaya Toure said no one cared about Ivory Coast being knocked out of the World Cup through refereeing mistakes because they are African. “I desperately wanted the referee to spot Samaras’s simulation,” he wrote in his weekly column in France Football, referring to a controversial stoppage-time penalty, which Greece’s Georgios Samaras converted for a 2-1 victory over the Ivorians. “Once again, the refereeing was not on our side. We had at least two penalties denied in our match against Japan, and this time, one is invented against Greece. Of course, it does not upset anyone because we’re an African team.”

Chile

Mauricio Pinilla has chosen to embrace his narrow 119th-minute miss off the crossbar during Chile’s shoot-out loss to Brazil. The Chilean forward has had a tattoo inked on his back showing his shot slamming off the bar with the words, “One centimetre from glory.” The defeat was Chile’s fourth to Brazil in the knockout stages of the World Cup. They also lost in 1962, 1998 and 2010.

Costa Rica

The goalkeeper Keylor Navas, hero of a penalty shoot-out against Greece that put Costa Rica in their first World Cup quarter-final, is ignoring talk of a possible transfer to Real Madrid while the World Cup is on. The Ticos play the Netherlands on Saturday. “There are more important things right now,” Navas said, “like the honour of a nation and wanting to make history for Costa Rica.” The side will be thin in the back on Saturday. Oscar Duarte is suspended with a red card and the left-back, Roy Miller, will not play because of a leg injury, a Costa Rica official said. Navas said: “We’re going to give our lives against Holland. Anything can happen, but we’ll try to win, it will be one of the most beautiful games of our lives.”

Nigeria

Poor decisions in the selection of Stephen Keshi’s squad contributed to Nigeria failing to advance beyond the last 16, the former international Jonathan Akporborie said. “I don’t believe the coach had confidence in every player he took to the World Cup because there were changes he ought to have made at the start of the second half against France, but he could not because the quality on the bench was suspect. Overall, I will say we did well, but we have reached the second round in the World Cup previously so it’s no news and not worthy of celebration.”

France

Didier Deschamps, the coach, has dismissed conjecture that Karim Benzema is unhappy because he played for an hour on the wing in the victory over Nigeria, rather than his preferred central attacking position. “Benzema sulking? This is your impression,” Deschamps told reporters. “After an hour we got more space and he found himself in the central position.” The France coach also said a fit Mamadou Sakho will be back in the squad for the quarter-final match with Germany on Friday.

Netherlands

Nigel de Jong’s World Cup is almost certainly over after tests confirmed the Netherlands midfielder has a tear in his groin muscle. The Dutch football association yesterday said the injury likely will sideline the AC Milan player for two to four weeks. De Jong limped off in the ninth minute of the 2-1 Netherlands victory over Mexico.

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