http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/articles/8145807.htmlCommentary: Is soccer scripted?
Some believe U.S.-Mexico Gold Cup final appears ... predetermined, and Canada's potential game-tying goal being waved off is fanning the flames.
By Billy Witz
Staff writer
It has taken two weeks of twists and turns, but the United States and Mexico have ended up in the Gold Cup final, as if according to script.
Which, of course, is the problem.
Canadian players, incensed that a last-second, tying goal was waved off in Thursday night's 2-1 semifinal loss to the United States, chased referee Benito Archundia off the field at the final whistle.
What they couldn't chase away was the feeling that the outcome was as pre-ordained as a wrestling match.
"We had a feeling from the beginning we were playing not just against the States but against the officials," Canadian midfielder Julian DeGuzman told reporters after Atiba Hutchinson was ruled offside by the linesman - incorrectly according to television replays.
For this, the Canadians can stand in line. One of the major themes of this year's Gold Cup has been whether CONCACAF - the governing body for North and Central America and the Carribean - has rigged the tournament to ensure that Mexico, by far its biggest draw, and the United States, its sponsorship meal ticket, reached the final Sunday at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Panama coach Alexandre Guimaraes raised the issue after his team's 1-0 loss to Mexico in the final game of group play - a defeat that came with a pair of red cards and another yellow that cost Panama three starters for its 2-1 quarterfinal loss to the United States.
Then Costa Rica coach Hernan Medford charged after his team's 1-0 loss to Mexico in the quarterfinals, a game which the Ticos finished with eight players, that he was given documents before group play was settled showing that Mexico - which could have finished first, second or third in its pool - and the United States were in different brackets.
"I don't know what kind of association this is when it already has everything planned," Medford said. "I'm not saying the tournament is fixed at all, but it puts doubt in my head. It does."
Imagine those comments coming in another major sport in this country. Sure, the Duke basketball team might get a few calls, Derek Jeter's strike zone might shrink come October and in Seattle they're still wondering if those were penalty flags or Terrible Towels the officials were throwing around in Super Bowl XL.
But if Phil Jackson said he had doubts about whether an NBA game was fixed, David Stern would have both hands in Jackson's wallet.
At CONCACAF, they've responded with ... well, nothing, really. No fines, no statements, no news conferences.
C'est la vie.
Then again, that's the problem with soccer - there's nothing much to say.
In the past three years, there have been match-fixing cases in Vietnam, South Africa, Brazil and the German Bundesliga. Then there was the scandal that rocked the soccer world last year when Italian powerhouses Juventus, the Serie A champion, and AC Milan were among clubs implicated in rigging games.
"If what happened in Italy - this was a big revolution in football," said Galaxy defender Abel Xavier, who has played in Serie A, the English Premier League, the Bundesliga and Spain's La Liga. "If it can happen in one of the best leagues in the world, it will happen where the control is not so obvious or not so strong."
In other words, if CONCACAF president Jack Warner, who was investigated by FIFA's ethics committee - and his son fined $1 million - for his involvement in a ticket brokering scam at the World Cup, comes across as the emperor of a banana republic, he has got company.
As a result, when it comes to keeping an eye on referees, there is seldom a distinction between crooked and incompetent. It also helps explain why officiating is often a sidebar storyline, just as it was in last summer's World Cup. In most soccer-mad countries, one of the top stories leading into a game is who the referee will be.
So, perhaps the end result was expected Thursday night - not the United States' victory, or Mexico's tight 1-0 win over Guadeloupe. Rather this: a yellow card given to Frankie Hejduk and a straight red to Michael Bradley, which means two valuable Americans - Hejduk scored a goal against Canada and Bradley has played central midfield - will be on the sidelines against Mexico.
The cards were both handed out by Archundia, who as circumstance would have it, hails from Mexico. It says so right here in the script.
billy.witz@dailynews.com
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