Written by Branko Tomasovic
World Cup 2014 is just around the corner, and soccer fans everywhere are waiting in anticipation to cheer on their teams. In December, the World Cup draw took place which saw Croatia paired with hosts and tournament favourites, Brazil. Following the draw, questions about the legitimacy of the draw exploded around the internet with talk about the draw being fixed. FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke hosted the draw, along with Brazilian actress Fernanda Lima, which was televised around the globe. Valcke’s job was to open the balls with each country’s name enclosed, while Lima was in charge of opening the balls, which then determined each country’s position within each group. What became evident very quickly is how each did their job. Lima preformed her job with open transparency while Valcke did not. As a result, the draw’s integrity was left in doubt, due to the fact that the Secretary General’s hands could not be seen taking the paper with the country’s name, out of the ball.
What was also very interesting, is the fact that before the draw, a twitter account, “Brasil 2014 Fraude” curiously, predicted elements of the draw, with fantastic accuracy.
Tweeting in Spanish, the account started with:
‘We’re going to make public Argentina’s group via this account. We deeply lament that such a pure sport can be stained by an organization with economic interests. We don’t have the intention to take away the emotion and euphoria from the World Cup; however, if this corrupt organization continues we will be obliged to announce the competition’s winner, which has already been decided by Blatter and company in Switzerland. In the same vein, neither is it our intention to ruin all of the expectations surrounding the World Cup draw, so we will only publish Argentina’s group.
The account also prognosticated that Italy would be moved from Pot 4 to Pot 2, which turned out to be accurate.
Some skeptics claim that fixing a World Cup draw is impossible. However, these very same skeptics also argued in the past that fixing high level soccer matches was impossible too. The Serie A Calciopoli match fixing scandal that engulfed the soccer world in 2006 proved that it was indeed possible. It was revealed that Serie A, then the soccer world’s leading domestic league, had been fixing the results of it’s games for years. Soccer giants like Juventus, AC Milan and Lazio, were all revealed to be involved in this clandestine operation.
Nevertheless, could a World Cup draw or any other high level soccer draw really be fixed? Former UEFA soccer referee, turned Turkish media pundit, Ahmet Çakar, clearly believes it can. In an astounding demonstration on live Turkish television, Ahmet Çakar replicated both the Champions League and Europa League draws, to the amazement of all. “UEFA manipulated the draw for both the Champions League and Europa League,” Çakar said on Turkish station Beyaz TV. His theory is that the big soccer club teams are purposely kept apart until the later parts of the tournament, in order to create match-ups which will generate greater fan interest, push story-lines and increase television viewership.
If UEFA is manipulating the Champions League draw, as Çakar proposes, is it then possible that FIFA is doing the same with the World Cup draw? Clearly, being placed in an easier group is a distinct advantage in a tournament such as the World Cup, which is why the “luck of the draw” is so important. If one can avoid the tougher teams until later in the tournament, it gives that team a distinct advantage in progressing further. Clearly, teams like Brazil, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and Argentina, are always big favorites to win any World Cup tournament. Nevertheless, if the draw is being manipulated as such, do teams like Croatia, which are talented but have a much smaller global appeal and population, have a legitimate chance of success in a tournament like this?
Some will argue that World Cup 1998 and Croatia’s 3rd place showing, is evidence of fair play, but is it? Could Croatia’s strong showing in 1998 also be attributed to the fact that the Balkan war story-line was being pushed, a small country overcoming the odds to finish third at the tournament? Let’s not forget Croatia had some luck that year: a favorable draw, a questionable penalty shot against Romania and a red card against a strong German team that enabled that accomplishment. Since the 1998 World Cup, Croatia has never managed to progress from the group stage, despite having some very talented teams.
What changed? Perhaps Croatia just ran out of “luck.”
2006 also Niko Kranjcar, Anthony Seric below average.
We have lacked a creative very good midfielder since 1998 Robert Prosinecki and Zvonimir Boban that’s the real problem not the defence or forwards it’s the lack of talent in midfield. 2002 WC Squad mids Stjepan Tomas below average, Milan Rapaic not bad, Robert Prosinecki 33 aged at the end of career at Portsmouth then, Niko Kovac, Zvonimir Soldo 34 then , Jurica Vranjes below average. 2006 World Cup mids Darijo Srna, Jurica Vranjes you serious lol, Marko Babic lol Niko Kovac 34 then, Luka Modric 20 then only started out, Ivan Leko another below average player , Jerko Leko same story. Now since Luka Modric has emerged Euro 2008 we got to the quarter finals mainly due to him he carried that side controlled the midfield. Look at Euro 2008 best player Xavi from Spain and 2012 best player Andres Iniesta from Spain both mids theres the evidence.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2553714/Referee-dismissed-Cristiano-Ronaldo-Real-Madrid-match-Athletic-Bilbao-La-Liga-suspended-month.html
And you guys say their is no fix….give the big team and the star player a red card and get suspended for a month and banned from officiating Real Madrid games. This ref was clearly not told that he cant do that to Ronaldo and Madrid. However, he will learn fast to do the bidding of his paymasters and officiate “appropriately” next time.
There is also rumour that there is a cock and two balls down my pants
Rumor has it eduardo might go to qpr?
Im talking about sports journalism here dude?!
What are you trying to get at thats related to this subject?
I’d love an example of a soccer writer that’s as funny as David Hirshey…
@Poglavnik, WTF are you talking about? You yourself are a member of the Political Correctness congregation.
Being Croatians, I’m pretty sure we can all weed through a soccer writers political correctness quite easily.
What is it that you find is being hidden by ESPN’s soccer writers anyway?
There’s better writers on the internet who don’t get paid for it. And they are much more influential b/c they aren’t encumbered by our established religion of Political Correctness – i.e. they can tell the truth, & that is precisely why they don’t get paid.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the draw was fixed, but to orchestrate the entire World Cup doesn’t make sense. Apply the risk/reward ratio: there’s A LOT to lose & not much to gain by doing that. What do you gain? a rating point?
And the reason why the big countries typically get favorable draws is b/c they win their groups in qualifying which gives them the top seed, & of course the W.C. group is always going to look more favorable to the top seed compared to the bottom seed.
^ ^
Agreed.
All good writers.
Do you ever read “Kicking and Screaming” by David Hirshey on ESPN?
He’s a die hard Arsenal supporter.
Probably my favourite weekly soccer column.
This was his latest one…
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/kickingandscreaming/id/708?cc=5901
@ Poglavnik – That was written by Sid Lowe, who also writes for The Guardian and is their LaLiga corespondent. He is a great writer and a great source within La Liga. Check out The Guardian podcast, “Football Weekly”. They have a collection of great writers covering all the top leagues throughout Europe. Jonathan Wilson and Rafael Honigstein are amazing as well.
Latest rumour has Brazil starting goalie leaving QPR to go on loan at Toronto FC of MLS, getting no playing time with Robert Green in front of him.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/sources-brazilian-goalkeeper-cesar-to-join-tfc/
Not sure if this is good or bad for Cro…..
It will fun to watch World Cup this early summer days nice drunk days in victory and defeat uvijek se pije.
Lukica getting some love…
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/1461?cc=5901
The bosnia situation is interesting. tough economic situations often lead to revolutions. this was the case in the former soviet union and also what lead to the break up of yugoslavia. an eventual recession was the spark to light the match of a delicate situation. a similar thing has been going on through the middle east where initially food inflation was causing people to flood to the street to protest the government.
it would be interesting if a true revolution were to occur in bosnia. would the croat section attempt merge with croatia or instead strike up an independent state? would croatia actually want them to join (cro has enough problems as is with their econ situation)? And finally, would the international community ever allow this border reconfiguraton? …my guess is no
Kreso, you bet your ass He did
What country is the bih team going to represent? That “country” and I’m using the term loosely, is finally tearing at the seams, a faked country and political situation since the beginning. I heard that now they’re going to drop the bih coat of arms and wear a logo on the front of their jerseys from Elmir’s Cevapi House, which makes sense. “…and now for the national anthem representing Elmirs Cevapi House….”
@Adame, i like your prediction.
I predict that we will get 2nd in our WC group. The croatian national team is filled with skill. Now that we got the change and chance we needed. They’ll capitalize and make it out of the group. Second place is my prediction.
@Ante B. God didn”t say that.
And of the 7th day, God said SVETO IME DINAMO and the Earth was complete.
fuck yeah, kick these cunts in the head, sorry you serb cunts
Hvala Branko for the article. Here is a related one Tata sent me in December:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/12/09/was_the_2014_world_cup_draw_fixed.html
@Armada, i’ll take your side; Bronbk your a fuckhead
@ Bronk
Thanks for the shoutout on that 98-99 season. That was BY FAR the biggest robbery in HNL history. Rijeka should have one title, maybe two….
Best midfielder in Spain and another the captain of another Spanish team, their Brasilian but cheeks must tighten up a bit!
Spanish say Modric is best midfieder, coming from the best league we look good instead of shit!
How fucking gay is it that the WC2014 game is only on last-gen ?? fucking fags.. i need it on xbox one.. cunting cunts !
Also if you are gonna talk about worst misses ever..
i think we’re all forgetting olic v turkey in ’08.. remember that bag of shit miss that had lil luka smacking the ground in disgust afterwards??
Mornar wasnt as bad as Krpan.. at least with Mornar’s miss he did do a nice spin befrorehand away from a defender to actually create the chance (from what i remember).. krpan just missed right in front having done nothing to create a chance even..
We have had stupid coaches in tournaments and bad luck but. Passing groups was always possible post 1998. 2002 should have beat mexico and ecuador or drew. 2004 should have beat swiss and Otto baric was an idiot. 2006 Cicos politics. 2008-2012 bad luck. 2014????
Good point!
That makes me feel a bit better…
We totally shoulda won that game though.
Not only was Tudor’s back pass incredibly bad but Trezeguet handles the ball with his arm when he controls it.
Oh well. To Mornar’s credit, that potential game winning goal wouldn’t have made a difference since we needed a result against England anyway (thanks to that nil nil draw against Switzerland).
^ ^
Well said!
Fuckin Mornar!
At least he was the most intimidating looking player to ever suit up for us. I remember my non-Croatian friends saying who the fuck is that criminal! 🙂
@Mate
You’re absolutely right. People forget things so easily. Croatia destroyed Romania that game, and it wasn’t even close. Romania’s goalkeeper, Bogdan Stelea, had the game of his career.
I remember even the generally anti-Croat Sports Center broadcasters even admitting how this game could have easily been six or seven nothing.
I remember Romania having only once chance the entire game, and it was more of a half chance really.
We had some excellent shots on target and Stelea made some unbelievable saves. Krpan was also a majmum for missing those two point blank shots from 4 feet in front of the net. I’ll never forget the commentator “Krpan!…Krpan!” for each kick at the can. The commentator was convinced (like any normal person) that it was going to be a goal.
Krpan’s double point blank misses in that game against Romania and Mornar’s gaffe kick over the net in the Euro2004 France game (where it was harder to miss than to score) are easily the two most incompetent misses I can think of from our Cro players.
The dangers of being addicted, it’s not too late Zach Gilfix or Iggy for Ante Kvartuc to give you a hand. God Bless Americans of the Croatian soccer players. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TQt3SyYOWQ#t=35
Given the quality in Croatia’s side, we should make the Sweet Sixteen. This is a realistic expectation. And If we don’t make it, then we should be disappointed.
I dream’t we upset Brazil the other night. Man that would be something.
Recently I had a dream that we beat Mexico 3-0 in this upcoming world cup. And I woke up happy.
Lets see if dreams do come true…….or if I have Croatian football on my mind way too much.
Armada87 If you read the Fix….Read The Fix Is In by Brian Tuoghy. Both books together give you the whole story of what is going on with pro-sports these days.
As an Armada booster you of all people should understand the fix. Look what happened to Rijeka in 1998-99 season. FIXED!
Croatia’s success at the WC98 was aided by a number of “breaks.” If one remembers Croatia barely qualified for the WC. We were placed in a very easy group. Argue all you want but the refs helped us against Romania and Germany. Asanovic totally took a dive and got a suspect PK. Yes Suker had to retake it, but its still a PK which he easily scored again. The red card against Germany was a big factor in that victory. Germany played a man down for 3/4 of that game. I can’t see anyone denying that.
The run ended against France the host nation with two of the most bizarre goals I have ever seen by Thuram. Finally we beat Holland after getting dominated the entire game 2-1 for the bronze and the golden boot.
Story book ending.
As yourselves why hasn’t Croatia got a call since that tournament?
Does the fact that Croatia hasn’t had a good storyline since that tournament have anything to do with that?
Just look at what happened to us against Spain in the Euros.
No 2 non-calls on obvious PKs. 6 yellow cards against Croatia to Spain’s 0 and an offside/handball goal by Spain to boot which put us out of the tournament.
We didn’t qualify for South Africa in large part with England losing to the Ukraine in their final game ending their undefeated run and gaining revenge on us.
Euro 2008 Ref didn’t give Bilic his final substitution and added an additional 20s which crashed us out of that tournament.
WC 2006 Australia scores an offside goal which puts us out in a 2-2. Not to mention Stjepan Tomas thought he was playing beach volleyball that game.
Euro 2004 Tudor thought he was playing for France and sniped one past our keeper sending us crashing out there with a 2-2.
WC 2002 We beat Italy then conveniently lose to Ecuador allowing Italy to go through the group stage.
Can’t seem to catch a break since 98.
@Armada and a Top 5 (10?) CB in the EPL in Lovren this season
I still believe that one day we would be able to win a Euro one day maybe.. A World Cup will never happen even if we our the best
If anyone ever watched that game against Romania or remembers , that was by far our best match of the 98 tournament.. @ Denis we did not slightly outplay them, we were all over them and Romania were lucky to have only lost 1-0 to us.. There goalie had a huge part to that.. If any of our games were fixed it deffinently was the game against France Fifa does not want a small nation like Hrvatska to ever play in the final of a world cup especially our first ever one where much of the world never even heard of us before.. Ex. Boban giving up the ball like that is still very skeptical to me then taking him off.. Plus the second goal could have easily have been a foul.. Fifa is fixed the sport is fixed not always but to some extent, but this goes for all sports not just soccer. Although it is probably the most corrupt sport in the world
Its not a conspiracy theory if you can prove it.
You had the top domestic soccer league Serie A on record fixing for years. Why are people surprised by this?
Check out these recent articles on soccer corruption:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/22/us-soccer-fifa-matchfixing-world-idUSBREA0L1GH20140122
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/03/3910363/32-accused-as-match-fixing-trial.html
http://www.thestar.com.my/Sport/Football/2014/01/21/Fenerbahce-boss-links-soccer-matchfixing-case-to-Turkey-corruption-probe/
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1408535/china-epicentre-global-soccer-match-fixing-say-experts
http://www.worldsoccer.com/247/ali-sabbagh
@jm
Unless Mexico absolutely blows me away in their friendlies running up to the WC I wouldn’t give them more than 20% to get out of their group….absolute dogshit in qualifying.
I stand by my previous comments that this is NOT the same Mexico that people have come to know as a top footballing country.
Niko Kovac said that he will not look at if a player plays for club rather than that players importance to the team based on that i believe the following are locks to go,
Pletikosa,Subasic
Srna,Corluka,Lovren,Pranjic,Strinic(ill still want to see what he does under Kovac was ok under Bilic but neznalica hated him),Sifo,Vrsaljko,
Modric,Rakitic,Kranjcar,Kovacic,Perisic
Mandzo Ola Dudu. That leaves 6 spots open maybe 7(strinic).
Odds i would take on exiting the group
brazil 95%
cro 40%
mexico 40%
cameroon 20%
you gotta rank cameroon a little bit lower than the rest. they just ahven’t shown anything to be placed otherwise and are arguably up there for weakest team in the wc. the catch of course is cro is seriously disadvantaged with the game in the amazon
Granted I’m not a big believer in FIFA rankings meaning that much, to put it in perspective our group falls out as follows today in terms of world rankings:
– Brazil 10th
– Croatia 16th
– Mexico 21st
– Cameroon 50th
My personal prediction is that we shock Brazil in the opener with a tie, then go on and win the next two against Mexico and Cameroon.
Ja vjerujem u Niko!
Well said Iggy!
My expectations aren’t that high.
Maybe I’m just jaded.
I’m hoping for the best but wouldn’t be surprised to be done after 3 games.
u guys are wayyyyy too confident of us beating mexico and cameroon
my opinion is we won’t get out of the group – sorry but i just dont see it happening.. i’d say it’s even between those 3, any one of those 3 teams can get thru so maybe we have a 33% chance or so .. i think we’ll know after the first half against brazil how we’re gonna play this tourney (altho knowing us we will be great one match and then dogshit the next)
i def wouldnt consider it a huge failure to fail to get thru, a bit disappointing perhaps but not a huge failure.. i hope im proven wrong but i think we’ll struggle against every team in our group : /
*exits
@Croatia vs. Antwerp
For those ’02 and ’06 squads, just review some of these names:
-Bosko Balaban
-Stejepan Tomas
-Ante Seric
-Mario Tokic
-Jerko Leko
-Ivan Bosnjak
We relied on some of these guys to get us to the promised land…. Enough said.
Serious lack of talent on those squads with us still relying on a Golden Generation that was clearly out of gas led to those early edits.
Lovren back practicing with Southampton….appears to be a very quick healer!
http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/pair-recuperating-well-reveals-boss-1344202.aspx
As far as us getting lucky against Germany with the red card, yeah well pay back’s a Bitch. We gotta a red card against ’em in Euro ’96, and ended up losing in that quarterfinal match. So consider ’98 as evening the score.
Next up for some payback is Mexico. And judging from the looks of it, that account is long over due.
As far as us not doing well in ’02 and ’06, I don’t think it was because we were unlucky. Rather are players performed poorly.
@apeman
he has a Croatian girlfriend whereas you can’t get anyone
you poor thing
Cameroon in the jungle is gonna be tricky as hell!
I can’t help but feel they’re gonna cope with those conditions better than us.
@Armada
Just finished The Fix a few months ago and felt the same way. Seemed like so much speculation, and nothing too concrete. I mean I completely agree that there’s corruption at just about every level of professional sports wherever you go but something about his writing style just didn’t appeal to me that much.
I wanted to like it more or at least feel like I learned something I didn’t already know.
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhs03U5ys3du70T9YW
the superbowl is fixed, david stern is fixing the NBA even the Croatian hockey league is fixed, whats next the Olympics ?
Man, Croatians LOVE conspiracy theories. I think only the Arabs might be worse.
This was so stupid… “a questionable penalty shot against Romania” that he ref made us take twice…good fix…retarded.
@ JM
pretty nutty when you think about it, in terms of our NT overall…
-Croatia has 2 of the top 5 best midfielders in La Liga
-Croatia has one of the top scorers in the Bundesliga
-Croatia has one of the top 5 best young talents in Serie A
Obviously, that’s not our whole team and the above doesn’t mean we automatically cruise into the Round of 16, but jesus – can Mexico or Cameroon make similar claims with their starting XI? Yes, club form is different from NT form, Yes, we’re talking about about stats on paper, but this group of players we have now has been intact since Euro 2008, they know each other, they’ve had enough time to gel – in my book, if we don’t make it out of the groups, it’s a huge failure.
Rakitic La Liga’s player of the month: the most interesting thinga bout the article is it reminded me he is just 25! if kovac can get rakitic ticking the way he does in sevilla, him and modric make a powerhouse midfield
http://talksport.com/football/manchester-united-target-la-ligas-player-month-and-contender-best-season-14020578693
chatter of rakitic to barcelona. i hope not. from what i can see, rakitic seems to benefit from high usage. taking all the set piece.s getting a lot of touches in the middle fo the pitch etc.
@ Branko
Just read your bible, “The Fix” by Declan Hill and it was a pretty decent read. Didn’t turn me into a disciple, but definitely scary to see how deep fixing is in modern footbal….
oh geez.. is it time for one of these again is it ?
@King Bronk,
Nice story. I agree that the WC is fixed. I dont know what exactly FIFA would get to pick a winner before the WC starts but it wouldnt surprise me.
As far as Croatia, I don’t think the world really cares if we win or lose. The ratings wont change and there’s not much in it for FIFA or anyone else in a fix. If you look at the pots, we drew Argentina from pot A, Japan from pot C(drawing Argentina meant that we couldnt draw colombia, chile or paraguay) and Jamaica from pot D. Yes, Jamaica was the easiest side, however, Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia and the USA(finished dead last in that WC) are not much better.
I still think that 98 side was the best Croatian side ever. We outplayed Romania slightly and we rode a hot keeper in Drazen Ladic. The only game that could be fixed is Croatia-France. Also, France-Brazil. The Brazilians kind of rolled over. Yes, France was awesome, but 3-0 in the final?
.
interesting story (heard it all before), but the last paragraph is comedic. You’re right, Croatia has had terrible luck since 98, with somewhat tough qualification formats and group draws, and lets not forget we were screwed over in the Euros. As talented as we are, other teams are very much near the same level (something which didn’t exist in 98, every European team that qualifies nowadays is a team to beat). We certainly didn’t have luck in 98 either. Scraped past 2 easy teams in the group stage and then went on to beat Germany after they fell apart from the red card (which was more than a fair call, Woerns trying to take Suker’s shoulder apart). Our loss against France, leave that to the skeptics…
It’s long been accepted that WC draws are fixed. When’s the last time France or Switzerland had a tough group? It’s more than the group structure as well, it’s virtually every match. Eg – Spain vs Croatia. Stark had clear instructions to make sure Spain go further in case they couldn’t do it on their own, which ended up being the case. What an odd way to dismiss a perfectly blatant penalty call and allow an offside goal! Imagine the negativity the sport would’ve faced if a ‘racist’ team like the Croatians beat the defending champions, waved their flag around and went on at their expense? U