World cup 2010 news

FIFA.com previews the 34 internationals being played on Tuesday, ten of which are qualifiers for UEFA EURO 2012 and the rest friendlies, with the England-Ghana clash topping the bill.

China PR will play three friendlies in four days - against New Zealand, Honduras and Costa Rica - after coach Gao Hongbo split his squad of 40 players into two teams.

France v Brazil? Portugal v Argentina? Germany v Italy? Bosh. The big game of the international friendly week was found far off in the corner of Antalya, Turkey, where Bulgaria and Estonia scrapped it out to a 2-2 draw. Not your typical marquee friendly, but this wasn’t your typical game.

There were pregame rumblings that the fix was in, and the fact that all four goals came via penalties did nothing to quiet the whispers. Three of the four penalties seemed like perfectly dreadful tackles, with one a foul but starting just outside the box (though we’ve all seen that given as a spot kick many times), but there’s more.

The same agency which set up this friendly also set up Latvia v Bolivia. Three goals, three penalties. (Can’t quite find any highlights.)

In total: 1 agency, 2 friendlies, 7 goals, 7 penalties. No, not suspicious whatsoever.

“The situation becomes even more confusing taking into account the fact that all three goals in the previous match were also scored from penalties.”

Latvia beat Bolivia 2-1 in a friendly in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya just before the Bulgaria-Estonia game. Hungarian referee Krisztian Selmeczi was in charge of both matches.

“We don’t know this referee and we can’t say he acted intentionally when awarding the penalties,” said BFU vice-president Atanas Furnadzhiev. “We’ll inform UEFA and they will probably investigate the match.”

“The friendly was organised by an agency with whom we’ll not work anymore,” Estonia FA spokesman Mihkel Uiboleht told local media.

“We received information of a possible manipulation even before the game as the same agency also organised the match between Latvia and Bolivia and there was the same scenario there.”

Something smells rotten in Antalya.

There were few friendlies played in the last weeks and therefore very little movement in the Ranking, with only South Africa making major advances.