FIFA Probes Nigeria’s 4-1 Defeat Of Argentina

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 NFF Denies Allegation Of Match-fixing

WORLD'S football ruling body, FIFA, is investigating whether, or not, Nigeria's historic 4-1 victory over Argentina at the Abuja National Stadium last Wednesday was fixed.

This is the question world football ruling body, FIFA, is trying to find out following what it termed unusual betting on the outcome of the game.

The Super Eagles defeated an under-strength Argentina with goals from Ikechukwu Uche (two goals), Obinna Nsofor and Emmanuel Emenike, with the Argentines converting a controversial penalty late into the added time.

According to agency reports, when the score was 4-0 in the friendly game, a large number of bets were placed on there being a fifth goal.

The reports say FIFA became suspicious when the match did not end after the five added minutes, and that the referee signaled for the end of the tie after awarding Argentina the penalty eight minutes after normal time. Mauro Boselli scored to end the game 4-1.

A FIFA statement read, "This match was one we had an active interest in."

Argentina's involvement in the Copa America tournament meant they sent a largely sub-strength side, captained by Manchester City defender, Pablo Zabaleta.

Reacting to the FIFA investigation yesterday, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) denied any wrong doing, saying it had no reason to suspect any foul play in the game.

Referring to a story in yesterday's Daily Telegraph newspaper of London, the NFF said it was disturbed by such insinuations, adding, "and we feel duty-bound to release this statement, even in the face of our own specific focus of the moment. This is going by the fact that, after having executed successfully the Argentina friendly – both in terms of organisation and result – we are already focused on the next task at hand – to travel to Ethiopia and continue our pursuit of qualification for the next Africa Cup of Nations, and we believe that this is an unwanted distraction for us that we could have done without."

According to the statement signed by NFF's Acting Secretary General, Musa Amadu, "We are concerned at the seeming attempts by unscrupulous elements to play down the feat that our national team performed in beating Argentina on Wednesday.

"This match was shown on many television stations, including ESPN, and in front of a crowd of 50,000, and we are certain that Nigeria's Super Eagles deservedly won that match, playing to the rules, and clearly outplaying our opponents."

"From here at the Nigeria Football Federation, we are unaware of any suspicious motives in this game. The game was competitive enough, and our team showed resolve. We also believe that the Argentina team came in and showed a clear intention to win that game, and we are therefore disturbed by the allegations of match fixing that is seen by us as a calculated attempt at ruining our moment of triumph."

The NFF promised to do everything it could to assist FIFA in its investigations into this matter, saying it would also set an internal enquiry to look into the match.

"We will put all these measures in place in the spirit of fair play and transparency. But we would still insist that, until it is proven beyond doubt, we believe that we won this match fair and square, against an Argentina team that also came to play and win, and there remains, to the best of our knowledge, no untoward motives to this game than to play it fairly and win it fairly," the statement added.



Source: FIFA Probes Nigeria's 4-1 Defeat Of Argentina