As there is now the ‘President’s precedent’ and a little known FIFA rule that allows red card match suspensions to be assessed by a committee and possibly suspended (not rescinded), surely the FA should request that Quansah’s red card to also be considered for ‘suspension’, as should the French for the dubious second yellow card, rather than just mumble that they are considering it. Especially so as there’s probably some unknown, and possibly flexible, deadline for making the request that no one apart from a senior FIFA official is aware of. I’m sure the FIFA ‘committee’ would reject the request, even if they even considered it, but surely FIFA would then have to either produce the assessment criteria, or explain the reasoning why it was granted to the USA, and not to other parties. Also quite glad Belgium were able to administer a drubbing to the beneficiaries of the unknown FIFA rule….
Much like football he doesn’t understand the rules of NATO and his constant reference to that bar graph comparing the US’s total defence spending to every other country in Europe is nonsensical. The US has no real need to defend its own boarders and so projects its might globally and the British empire is evidence that that is bloody expensive! So if he wants to carry on projecting that might he can’t really do that pulling out of Europe and he can’t really turn his back on NATO but then expect to be able to keep his European bases? anyway, back to the footie……
Egypt v Argentina. What a match that was! Egypt were a tad annoyed and I understand why. The officiating has been bent as fuck.
I felt desperately sorry for Egypt, but my mood was lightened by the following match, Colombia v. Switzerland, trending online as “Charlie v. The Chocolate Factory”.
Mine isn’t, as Columbia is just a federal district of Washington. Colombia (the country) is spelled and pronounced with an “O” and, as I can attest having had a girlfriend from that country, ColOmbians WILL correct you!
An international advisory body has flagged seven potential match-fixing notices following the conclusion of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. [1] The Group of Copenhagen, an independent international network operating under the Council of Europe's Macolin Convention, raised seven alerts regarding possible match manipulation from potential betting irregularities across the tournament's 104 matches. However, FIFA has clashed with these findings, maintaining that its own Integrity Task Force found zero evidence of match manipulation or suspicious betting activity. [1, 2, 3] Details of the Flagged Incidents While the Group of Copenhagen’s full report has not yet been published, a summary of its conclusions released by the Council of Europe reveals several flagged events: [1] South Africa vs. Mexico: A red card shown to South Africa's Themba Zwane in the 84th minute of their tournament-opening match was flagged for evaluation. [1] Spain vs. Cape Verde: Heavily irregular betting activity occurred on the cryptocurrency-based prediction market Polymarket, where over $4.5 million (£3.6m) was wagered on Spain not winning the group-stage game, which ultimately ended in a 0-0 draw. [1] Spain vs. Saudi Arabia: A prolonged, three-and-a-half-minute Video Assistant Referee (VAR) delay that disallowed a goal scored by Spain's Ferran Torres raised alarms. [1] Folarin Balogun's Red Card Overturn: Concerns were also raised regarding betting market activity following the unusual political intervention to overturn a one-game suspension for USA striker Folarin Balogun. [1] FIFA's Position FIFA has explicitly denied the validity of these concerns. In a public statement, Senior Integrity Manager Liam Rich praised the FIFA Integrity Task Force—which collaborates with law enforcement and watchdogs like the FBI and Interpol—stating that real-time tracking during the competition showed "no suspicious betting activity or indications of match manipulation". [1, 2, 3] Separate Investigations Involving the 2026 World Cup Aside from betting manipulation, several other separate investigations are ongoing surrounding the tournament: [1] Post-Final Brawl: FIFA’s disciplinary committee launched an active probe into the Argentina national team after players and backroom staff engaged in physical altercations with Spain's squad following their 1-0 defeat in the final. [1] FBI Financial Probe: The Argentine Football Association (AFA) is facing an active FBI investigation looking into potential fraud, structuring, and money laundering involving roughly $300 million moved through US-based entities during their title defense. [1] Ticket Price Gouging: The State Attorneys General of New York and New Jersey have subpoenaed FIFA regarding allegations of artificially inflating MetLife Stadium ticket prices by an average of 34% and misleading fans about seating maps. [1]
