Top-10 biggest football mistakes of 2005

2005 has been a year where many have brought negative attention upon themselves in the world of football. This is my top-10 list of the so-called "turds":

• 10) Referee Yoshida: The Japanese referee did not know the rules in the World Cup qualifier between Uzbekistan and Bahrain. He annulled a penalty goal for Uzbekistan because a player ran onto the pitch. The game was cancelled, and in the end Bahrain qualified.

• 9) Gambia fans: The fans of Gambia also have the privilege of being on my cool-top-10, for exactly the same reason they are on this list: their stunt of faking an emergency landing in Peru, in order to make it to a match on time.

• 8) Jorge Fosatti: Uruguay did not qualify for the World Cup, and is a great football nation that will be missed in Germany. They lost their final play-off match against Australia. Before the play-off match, the Uruguayan coach Fosatti, had been very arrogant and had spoken lowly of the Australia team, only to be beaten on the pitch.

• 7) Abel Xavier: The Portuguese defender of Middelsborough was tested positive for doping in November, and he was suspended for 18 months.

• 6) Wayne Rooney: He is undoubtfully a wonderful player. But this year his temper has run off with him too many times, which has brought unwanted attention on him. First was his attack on David Beckham during the Northern Ireland-England World Cup qualifier, and then his foolish red card in the Manchester United-Villarreal Champions League match. It seems lately he has managed to control himself, so I hope he can avoid getting on this list next year!

• 5) Referee Robert Hoyser: This German referee brought forth the specter of corrupt referees in football. Scandals also emerged in Brazil, but what makes Mr. Hoyser special, is that he was sentenced to 2 years in prison because of his admitting to fixing nine matches. And this was in the country that will host next year's World Cup...

• 4) Turkish fans: A disgrace when Turkish fans showed themselves as bad losers, and threw many things at the Swiss players who had just beaten Turkey to qualify for the World Cup in Germany.

• 3) Turkish players: More pathetic that their own fans, were the players of the Turkish national team. When the game between Turkey and Switzerland ended, with Switzerland qualifying for the World Cup, the disappointment of the Turkish players turned into blind rage, and they were caught on camera attacking Swiss players. Turkey should be suspended.

• 2) Italian fans: Racism in football has continued growing this year. While last year it was the Spanish fans, this year it has been in Italy. The issue came to a high in November, when the Ivorian player of Messina, Zoro, was reduced to tears by Inter Milan's fans racist chants.

• 1) Paolo Di Canio: With racism being the scourge of football and European society nowadays, it is pathetic to see the captain of Lazio, one of Italy's leading clubs, do a facist salute to the openly racist fans whenever he scores a goal. He has been fined and suspended for it, but he says he will continue doing it.

The list has not been that difficult to do. Unfortunately, many have done stupid things this year. I hope there won't be that many in 2006!

Gambia in the U-17 World Cup

In the U-17 FIFA World Cup in Peru, we have now reached the semi-finals, which look like the following:

• Turkey-Brazil
  
• Netherlands-Mexico

Brazil-Turkey should in particular be an interesting match, as Brazil are defending champions, and Turkey has played marvellously.

However, there is something more interesting that happened in the first round to the African champions from Gambia (whom I do not have the greatest sympathy with because of how they won the African Cup):
After defeating Brazil and Qatar in their first two matches, African Champions from Gambia were only a step away from the quarterfinals before their last match against the Netherlands. Gambia lost the game 2-0, and was out on goal difference.
But prior to the final match, the Gambians had displayed true fanaticism in the match against Qatar. To support the team, the Gambian president decided to send 300 fans in a specially chartered plane from Gambia to Peru. Apparently the planning was not too good… The match was being played in Piura, many kilometres from Lima, and in order to get to the stadium, the plane decided to fake an emergency landing in Piura (which has no international airport), in order to get to the game.
The fans did get to watch the match though, while the plane apparently was impounded to the airport in Lima.
After hearing this story, I was considering to nominate the Gambians as the biggest football-fanatics or not. But I must say that such a daring act of stupid football fanaticism must deserve a nomination!

Gambia-Ghana (U-17)

On May 22nd Gambia and Ghana were playing the final of the U-17 African Championship. They were playing in Gambia. Watching it in Ghana, I was of course supporting the Black Stars. But a very curious thing happened: In the last minute of the match, the score was 0-0 when Gambia was awarded a corner kick. As they were taking it, a spectator ran into the penalty area. Amid the confusion, Jallow Ousman emerged and scored the winning goal for Gambia. The spectator, he ran off the pitch amid the cheers and quietly watched by the security. He has not been found.
Ghanaians were understandably extremely angry, but the referee from Lesotho accepted the goal. And Gambia are U-17 champions of Africa. What do the rules say about these things!?
These are not exactly the things African football should be known about. At the same time, it is sad that Gambia, an otherwise very talented young team, have won the title in such a disgraceful way. I hope they are ashamed.