@Tribune Newspaper

Written by Dipo Ogunsola with Agency reports
Sunday, June 5, 2011

THE decision of Nigerien referee, Ibrahim Chuaibu to prolong last Wednesday's international friendly between Nigeria and Argentina in Abuja till the 98th minute has raised suspicion in Zurich, FIFA headquarters, where allegations of match-fixing is dangling on the 4-1 scoreline.



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World football body, smarting from allegations of corruption in recent days, yesterday claimed that it had evidence that the international friendly was extended to allow Argentina score a consolatory goal, just the way betters and gamblers had predicted.

As the match was going on, FIFA investigators discovered a surging betting pattern which predicted an impending fifth goal even as Nigeria led the scores 4-0 till the dying minutes of the game.

Meanwhile, the behaviour of the match officials fuelled suspicion. While the reserve referee signalled five minutes of added time, Chuaibu allowed the game to drag on till the 98th minute and made a spurious penalty call against Nigerian defender, Efe Ambrose.

Ambrose had defended an Argentine move with his thigh but Chuaibu strangely claimed handball against the player as Argentine's Mauro Bosselli eventually scored from the spot. FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, said there would be fair hearing on the issue but that the body will be ruthless on those involved in spite of the fact that both Nigeria and Argentina are big names.

''We have voted huge funds on investigations of match fixing and there will be zero tolerance on corruption, '' he said

Meanwhile, a Nigerian football official told Sunday Tribunesports the country was willing to defend its name.

''We will be willing to defend the country, we don't do business with gamblers, what happened against Argentina was purely a football issue,'' he said.

meanwhile, THE Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, has called suspicions of match fixing by FIFA against Nigeria and Argentina in last Wednesday's international friendly game "quite disturbing."

The NFF, which organised the match, said it would help FIFA's investigation and also set up its own inquiry, but denied any knowledge of match fixing, stressing it was "unaware of any suspicious motives in this game."

"We will put all these measures (the inquiry) in place in the spirit of fair play and transparency," NFF Acting General Secretary Musa Amadu said in a statement.

"But we would still insist that, until it is proven beyond doubt, we believe that we won this match fair and square , There remains, to the best of our knowledge, no untoward motives to this game than to play it fairly and win it fairly."

Argentina coach Sergio Batista, talking yesterday at a press conference in Warsaw ahead of his team's friendly against Poland today, told reporters he "did not notice anything alarming" during the Nigeria match.



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