Liberia to "Throw" Mali Game???

The Daily Observer Sports has gathered “classified reports” from a group calling itself Concerned Citizens for the Promotion and Development of Football (CCPDEF) that the Mali’s decisive final qualifying match with Liberia next month is on the verge to be sold.

The group’s spokesperson, who begged anonymity told our reporter, that they obtained the “classified information” from an inside source.

According to CCPDEF Spokesperson, the Malian delegation had been in the country since two weeks under the disguise of visiting their Muslim counterparts on the holding of a successful Ramadan, which ended on Tuesday, August 30, 2011.

The group stressed that mathematically, Liberia’s last game with Mali at home on Saturday, October 8, 2011, is a ‘mere yarn,” owing to her poor position on the table of the Group One’s African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

They said the group topper, Mali, who is hanging with nine points, because of Zimbabwe closeness on the log, with eight points, desperately needs a win against Liberia to grab the lone seat.

“A victory for Mali will qualify her with 12 points, while Liberia remains the underdog with 4 points and received an undisclosed amount of money.

“We therefore, want to use this medium to advise the Musa Bility’s leadership not to sell our birthright for peanut, or else, Liberia will be too small for him,” the group spokesperson warned.

Accurately, a draw or lost for Mali against Liberia, will qualify Zimbabwe, with 11 points, if she thrashes Cape Verde in their decisive final qualifying match away in Praia, Cape Verde.

But, if Zimbabwe bows, Cape Verde is online of grabbing the lone seat, if she wins with at least 3 goals difference.

The pending game between Liberia and Mali will be the second leg game. It can be recalled on Saturday, October 9, 2010, Mali got their 2012 Africa Cup of Nations Group A campaign back on track with a hard-fought 2-1 home win over Liberia.

After a shock 1-0 away loss in the Cape Verde Islands last time out, the Malians desperately needed a win to keep their hopes of winning a place in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon alive.

They made the perfect start as Abdou Traore gave them the lead inside two minutes, enough to settle the nerves that would have been prevalent in the side.

But Liberia never stopped trying and they pulled level just before the break as 20-year-old Theo Lewis Weeks netted to stun the home crowd.

Mali was ahead again soon after the break as Russian-based Dramane Traore scored in the 52nd minutes.

The game flowed from side to side, but in the end there were no more goals, and Mali could savor a precious victory.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, September 5, 2011, in Harare the Lone Star of Liberia was thrown-out from the 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, when she was convincingly beaten by the Warriors of Zimbabwe.

The Roberto Landi’s boys were convincingly whipped 3-0.
Up to press time, the football house is yet to be reached for respond, when our reporter tried to contact the Secretariat of the Liberia Football Association (LFA) and the offices of the Director of Communication via mobile phones.

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Munya Mbanje lights up Leeds:

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FIFA's zero tolerance? More like zero scruples

When history books are written, this should go down as the week when FIFA's last scraps of dignity and credibility withered and died.


Because this was the week that world football's governing body exposed itself: It professes to "zero tolerance" of corruption but, from its actions this week, "zero scruples" appears closer to the truth.


This May, football officials called to a meeting in the Caribbean were offered brown envelopes stuffed with $40,000 in $100 notes and told not to breathe a word. We know this because some but not all of the officials later blew the whistle.


FIFA investigated. Its conclusions, leaked this week, were that the payments seem to have been bribes and that two of its most senior and influential executives - FIFA vice president Jack Warner and Asian football chief Mohamed bin Hammam - were apparently neck-deep in the dirt.


Evidence, FIFA said, was "comprehensive, convincing and overwhelming." Bin Hammam wanted Sepp Blatter's job as FIFA president. For that, he needed football officials' votes. From FIFA's report, it appears he was ready to pay for them.


Warner, one of football's most powerful men, allegedly used his clout and contacts to act as bin Hammam's facilitator. FIFA's report accused him of arranging the May 10-11 meeting at a hotel on the Caribbean island of Trinidad and of condoning the payoffs.


If FIFA put football's interests first, Warner should have been hung out to dry as an example to others, packed off in disgrace, good riddance.


FIFA's report even suggested as much.


"Corruption affects the very core of sports and is to be considered as nothing less than life-threatening for sports and sports organisations. Thus, if there is considerable suspicion that offenses related to corruption might have been committed, immediate action is imperative," it said.


"FIFA has a direct and pressing interest in barring the persons concerned from sports immediately and effectively," it added. "In this regard, FIFA and the FIFA Ethics Committee adhere to a zero tolerance approach."


You can almost hear Warner laughing. He got a free pass. He walked away, resigning this week from football duties and taking with him his secrets from 28 years inside the most discredited governing body in sports. Whatever knowledge Warner may have of any misdeeds within FIFA, the "football tsunami" of embarrassing revelations that he threatened to unleash, he can now keep for himself.


Good deal for Warner, an insult for football. Warner is not banned from football stadiums or from contacting buddies still working in the game, officials who owe him their jobs and may still do his bidding. It seems, although FIFA's press office won't outright confirm or deny this, that Warner may even still be eligible for his FIFA pension, payable for as many years as he served on the Executive Committee - 28.


The biggest scandal is that FIFA waved off Warner with kind words of thanks, saying his football work was "appreciated and acknowledged."


FIFA's statement completely omitted mention of its own report, which it was sitting on, that accused him of knowing about, facilitating and condoning the alleged bribery in the Caribbean. Nor did it recall the 2006 World Cup ticket scam that Warner's family was fined for, or the other financial misdeeds that critics linked him to over the years.


FIFA closed its ethics probe of Warner. Because Warner is no longer involved in football, FIFA said it no longer has any authority to investigate him. That may be true. But FIFA surely didn't need to go the extra mile and state, as it so obligingly did, that Warner's "presumption of innocence is maintained."


FIFA has not been so forgiving with others, like Michel Zen-Ruffinen, Blatter's former right-hand man forced out for crossing swords with his boss a decade ago. Last November, FIFA declared Zen-Ruffinen "persona non grata" after he told reporters that countries bidding for the World Cup were secretly trading votes.


So why was Warner accorded such a face-saving send-off? Out of fear that he might, if dealt with strictly, pull down others in FIFA, too?


More worrisome is why Warner and bin Hammam apparently felt safe that they wouldn't get into trouble for the alleged bribery in May and that officials offered wads of cash wouldn't double-cross them. Does that suggest that, in the past, officials simply took the money? And is this how FIFA presidential votes are won?


These are questions Warner no longer needs to answer.


How can that be zero tolerance?