The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Blatter perplexed at fate of matchfixing whistleblower

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 09:02 AM PDT

ZURICH, Sept 28 — FIFA president Sepp Blatter struggled to find words as he attempted to describe the fate of Simone Farina, an Italian player widely praised last season after turning his back on a match-fixing scam.

Farina, who was playing for second-tier Gubbio when he refused a €200,000 (RM800,000) offer to fix an Italian Cup match, has been made a FIFA ambassador but has been unable to find a new club after being released at the end of last season.

"This is something absolutely incredible, it is something that could only happen in a game and...it should not," said Blatter (picture), struggling to choose his words after being asked to comment on the situation by an Italian journalist.

Blatter initially mentioned Farina's case without referring to him by name.

"We have to protect the players who disclose match-fixing," he said. "We have had some feedback where players disclosing some activities...have not been accepted again as players.

"We have to protect the players and the players also have to be protected in their clubs, their leagues, their federation. We at FIFA cannot make an umbrella over all the players, it is not possible."

Blatter admitted that players were often vulnerable, especially if they were at financially troubled clubs and were not being paid on time.

They are not happy where they are...there are some players still waiting for their wages and so on, therefore it is not an easy issue but we have to protect the players, it is essential and this is what we have to do," he said.

Farina told police he had refused the offer to fix an Italian Cup match between Cesena and Gubbio on November 30 last year. He was later invited by Italy coach Cesare Prandelli to join his squad. — Reuters

Torres treated unfairly, says Arteta

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 08:47 AM PDT

LONDON, Sept 28 — Chelsea's misfiring striker Fernando Torres has been unfairly treated since joining the west London club, Arsenal's Mikel Arteta said on the eve of tomorrow's Premier League clash.

Torres has scored only nine league goals in 51 games since a £50 million (RM250 million) move from Liverpool in January 2011, struggling to live up to the British record transfer fee.

Fellow Spaniard Arteta, hoever, believes Torres (picture) has come in for some unwarranted criticism.

"I don't like the way he has been treated because I have known him since we were 16, 17 and I really appreciate him," Arteta told Arsenal's website (http://www.arsenal.com).

"He is a friend of mine. Obviously, football is like that — it doesn't matter what you have done in the past, it is only what you have done in the last few weeks.

"He has been criticised. Mentally he is a really strong guy even if someone doubts him."

"When you play as a striker and they pay £50 million for you, you are under huge pressure," added Arteta, who also made the move from Merseyside to London when he joined Arsenal from Everton as a replacement for Cesc Fabregas.

"When the ball isn't going in the net, it is even more difficult because people always look at that.

"For a striker, sometimes it is not fair. For a midfielder or a defender it is a bit easier to adapt."

Torres did score in Chelsea's League Cup romp against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday, taking his total for the season to four, but the criticsm he received last season has surfaced again since the start of the new campaign.

Despite wishing him a return to form, Arteta said their friendship would be put to one side tomorrow when Arsenal try and inflict a first league defeat of the season on the leaders.

"Hopefully, he is going to get over that and it is going to become a better situation because it is not nice," he said.

"I talk to him a lot. When we were in Liverpool, we used to live next to each other and he is a really nice guy. Everyone would tell you the same.

"Even if he plays for Chelsea, I don't want something bad to happen to him. Obviously when it comes to the game tomorrow though, we are not friends." — Reuters

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Jumaat, 28 September 2012

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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