Football News: Review Of The Day 19th February 2018
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Review of the Day
Hibs Trio Best Midfield In Scotland Says Boyle
Hibernian winger Martin Boyle has claimed that his team-mates in central midfield are the best in Scottish football. Dylan McGeouch, Scott Allan and John McGinn make up Hibs central midfield. "It's unbelievable having those three in midfield feeding me on the wing," Boyle said, despite the three only having played together twice. "You can't ask for a better three in Scotland when they're at their best."
Jose Tells McLeish To Call Up McTominay
Jose Mourinho has told Scotland's new head coach Alex McLeish to get Man Utd's young midfielder Scott McTominay in their team before England do. McTominay is English but qualifies to play for Scotland through his grandparents. Mourinho said: "Because it looks like England is missing him, if I was Alex McLeish, the first thing I would do would be to come to me. I think Scott deserves more than what he is getting," the Portuguese said after a 2-0 win in the FA Cup. "Maybe it's because he's this kind of kid profile: a normal haircut, no tattoos, no big cars, no big watches, humble kid, arrive in the club when he was nine or 10. Last season, he was almost leaving the club to go somewhere, who knows where, who knows in which division he would be playing now. He has now played already, I don't know, seven or eight 90 minutes - he's not played five or 10 minutes - in every competition: Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, Capital One Cup."
Hawkeye Apologise For Incorrect Image
After a wait of around a minute saw Juan Mata's goal against Huddersfield Town for Manchester United ruled out for offside on the advice of VAR during their FA Cup 5th Round match, an image was handed out to broadcasters which made the situation into a laughing stock around the world. A graphic with lines that did not run parrallel to the goal line and looked like they were freehand drawn by a small child on a train journey, was given to broadcasters as evidence that the correct decision was reached. Hawkeye have apologised for providing the wrong image: "A technical error led to an incorrect graphic being provided by Hawkeye to BT Sport on Saturday. To confirm, the VAR saw the correct image with the correct lines to make the decision. This was a case of the wrong image being provided to the broadcaster and we apologise."
Juve Hit By Double Injury Blow
In a hotly contested 1-0 derby win over Torino, Argentine strike Gonzalo Higuain was injured just 2 minutes into the game after colliding with opposing keeper Salvatore Sirigu. His replacement, Frederico Bernardeschi, was also subbed after suffering an injury late in the game from a challenge by Tomas Rincon. A Juve statement suggests Higuain could well be a doubt for the return leg of their Champions League match up with Spurs at Wembley: "During today's derby against Torino, Gonzalo Higuain sustained a sprain and bruising of his left ankle, while Federico Bernardeschi sustained a knock to his left knee. For both players, further tests are planned in the coming days."
Juventus To Release Basketball Jersey
Just to show that English teams are not the only ones willing to fleece fans with any old tat pumped out with a club badge on it for suckers to buy, Juve have announced they will be producing a basketball jersey for next season. This despite not having a basketball team. So, basically, they are putting a sleeveless top out, a vest, in the club's colours, with a badge on, and charging you a premium if you choose to buy one. All you need is a knotted hanky on your head and you can look like a proper old school English tourist.
Paulinho Sets La Liga Record
Barcelona's former Tottenham midfielder, Paulinho, has set a new La Liga record by becoming the player to have played the most Spanish top flight games without losing any. The Brazilian has now played 23 times in the league and been a part of 18 wins and 5 draws for the Catalans.
Gattuso Gives Dating Advice To Young Starlet
AC Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso has advised his star striker, 20 year old Patrick Cutrone, on matters of love. Gattuso said: "We are taking it easy on #Cutrone. He must not get distracted by the fact that he is the youngest player in AC Milan's history to score that many goals. He has to work and to rest. I hope he finds a beautiful girlfriend so he can rest and make love." Rest and make love? He might find it difficult to keep said beautiful girlfriend if he does both at the same time!
Match Abandoned In Brazil After Ten Red Cards
The Bahia state championship match between Vitoria and Bahia was not exactly like watching Brazil, unless your idea of Brazil is not the 1970 World Cup team but instead their BJJ team. A first half which was spiky saw 6 bookings and a goal for Denilson for Vitoria, but it was nothing compared to a second half which was chaos. The away side were awarded a penalty in the 50th minute and Vinicius converted it. All well and good until he chose to celebrate the goal by dancing in front of the opposing fans. A mass brawl ensued between both sets of players, punches flying around and delayed the match for 16 minutes as the referee sent off 8 (eight players) for their part in the melee. Three of the red cards were shown to subs. The game re-started but had to be abandoned as 2 more red cards were shown to Vitoria players, bringing the total to 5 red cards each team.
UEFA Match-Fixing Investigators Receive Death Threats
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin was worried enough about anonymous death threats received by disciplinary inspectors that he released a statement: "We will never allow UEFA staff working on these matters, or any other matters, to be subject to threats or intimidation from any third parties. They have the full backing of the organisation, including 100% personal support from me," said Ceferin. The inspectors had re-opened the match-fixing probe into Albanian club KF Skenderbreu, who were banned from UEFA competition for the 2016/17 season due to their involvement in match-fixing. After the case was taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), in a landmark case testing the data produced by UEFA's Betting Fraud Detection System (BFDS), UEFA's decision was upheld due to CAS ruling that the volume of abnormal betting patterns BFDS's evidence highlighted was 'overwhelming evidence of match manipulation'. New data for BFDS has prompted a further investigation of Skenderbeu, as UEFA look for an extended ban for the club. Skenderbeu were also stripped of their 2015-16 Albanian league title by the ALbanian FA and deducted 12 points from last season's total for "conspiring to influence the outcome of matches contrary to sports ethics for the season 2015-2016." Skenderbeu had won Albanian Superliga six seasons in a row starting from the 2010/11 season and are suspected of fixing more than 50 domestic league matches.
Serie B Players Claim Match Result Fixed By Club
Two players for Castel di Sangro, a club whose rise into Serie B was not just surprising but held hints of shady goings-on according to a book on the subject by Joe McGinniss, have confessed that a 3-1 defeat to Bari in 1997 was fixed "by the club". With di Sangro safe from relegation, Bari needed a victory to ensure their promotion back to Serie A and TV programme Non e l'Arena has interviews with two players from that game admitting on camera to taking part in a fixed game. Luca Albieri said: "The order that came down directly from the club caused us a lot of problems," Albieri told the television crew. "Going to play a game knowing we had to lose, and lose 3-1, really hurt a group and a Coach who had worked well that season. It was a week building up to it that was not done as professionals, as a serious team that we should've been." The other confession was from an unnamed player caught on hidden camera discussing the events of that week: "The order reached the 'senators' of the team and then we realised in the locker room on Saturday morning during the training session, they said it'd end like this. We received a bonus for achieving Serie B safety and another bonus for Bari. At least he was honest and did what he had to! He said: 'I'll leave you 300, you split it up between yourselves based on who played and who did what.'" The president of Castel di Sangro at the time was Gabriele Gravina, who is now President of Lega Pro, the Italian 3rd Division and only last month came close to being elected as FIGC President! Bari could be in serious trouble, as they were only penalised last month for match-fixing several games in Serie B during the 2010-11 season.
Gomis Collapses During Game But Is Allowed To Play On
For Swansea City striker Bafetimbi Gomis collapsed during a Turkish Superliga clash between Galatasaray and Kasimpasa on Sunday, but was allowed to retun to the game and play on. Gomis, now playing for Galatasaray, fell to his knees and then collapsed to the ground in the 7th minute of the game as players prepared for a corner. After receiving treatment on the pitch he was taken off for further treatment and, after several minutes, given permission to return to the match. Gomis was diagnosed in 2009 as suffering from vasovagal syndrome, which can cause his hart rate and blood pressure to drop suddenly and lead to a temporary loss of consciousness, which has seen him collapse in previous matches.
Written by Tris Burke February 19 2018 05:00:31
