“What a coincidence AFA wanted Boca’s Manager as the New National Team Manager, and they win the title comfortably”
Former Independiente President Ducatenzeiler said in an interview a while back (you can read the full interview on this website under Code Breaker and Code Breaker part 2).
He was referring in advace to what transpired later. Argentina gets eliminated in the quarter finals of the 2006 WC and Pekerman resigns as Manager.
It was well known previous to the world cup, that unless he won the title, Pekerman was leaving.
The title in question was the Clausura 2006, the Manager Alfio Basile. At the end of the tournament, AFA’s boss Julio Grondona, appointed Basile as the successor of Pekerman as Manager of the National side.
The next tournament was the Apertura 2006/07 and Boca had in La Volpe, a new Manager.
Before round 6 and Boca are the leaders with 15 points of 5 games. Perfection.
River arrived with 10 points and Estudiantes with 9.
In round 6 the fixtures crossed Gimnsia de La Plata and Boca; Estudiantes and Banfield; River and Quilmes.
River beats Quilmes 2-1 and Estudiantes drops 2 points drawing with Banfield 0-0.
Stadium: Ciudad de La Plata
Home team: Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata Away Team: Boca Juniors
Referee: Daniel Gimenez
After a very competitive first 45 minutes, Gimnasia leads 1-0. So competitive it was, that Gimenez showed 6 yellows to the home side and 1 to the visitors.
During the half time break, news came from the referee dressing room that he has suspended the game for lack of security.
Once the smoke has cleared, we learnt from Gimenez that he received a visit from Gimnasia’s President threatening him, for all the yellow cards. The referee said his life was threatened. That he asked the President of Gimnasia to leave the room, but he declined stating that it was his house.
Serious accusations, very serious. Many countries would investigate, and try to clarify what happened. And eventually apply sanctions where required.
Here, the game was suspended, nobody was punished for anything, and the second half of the game was completed, in the same stadium, with the same referee, but after all games of round 14 of 19 have been completed.
Up to there, suspicious way to manage the league, where anyone can either threat a referee or a referee can claim he was threatened and no one gets punished. And everything was so brushed under the carpet that the same ref was appointed for the completion of the game.
So the second half of the game gets rescheduled for the 8th of November 2006.
After all teams had completed 14 rounds (apart from the 2 team involved here with their pending game)
So after 14 of 19 games were played the league table looked as follows
Boca (1 game in hand) 29 points
Estudiantes 28 points
River 28 points
Just to add spice to the situation remember Boca and River are the biggest teams in the country and the biggest derby too.
And Gimnasia and Estudiantes are a huge derby themselves.
Previous to the completion of the game, word has gone out that River were offering the Gimnasia players money in order to try harder and win the game.
Only rumours though. But Barras Brava (name given to the violent section of any club in Argentina. Equivalent of Hooligans) of Gimnasia went to the last training session of the team, and carrying fire arms and knives, and threathened the players and their families.
If Gimnasia won then Estudiantes will have a chance to be crowned champions.
The violents, demanded that their own players lose the game or face the consequences.
With only 45 minutes to be played and Gimnasia leading 1-0 from the suspended game, Referee Daniel Gimenez restarts the game. Within a minute Boca were level.
Final score was Gimnasia 1- Boca 4.
The players and Manager indirectly said after the game that they played under threat, and could not concentrate. That they “tried their best”, but it was difficult.
We don’t blame the players in this occasion. Football to them is a job, a passion, something they like doing. But not something worth doing if it means risking your health, or your family’s life.
Julio Grondona, after the game, said. “ if there were threats to anyone, they should have told us before the game”
Is that the attitude of a man running the football of one of the top countries in the world on that sport? What message is it sending to the violent sectors of Argentinean society? Violence in football, is welcome, unless we are informed before hand!
We viewed that game at least a dozen times. The Gimnasia players did not want to lose; they wanted to lose by a humiliating margin to make a point. They did exactly that.
However that is not all the controversy surrounding that tournament.
After that game and with 5 to play, Boca were leading Estudiantes and River by 4 points.
Then a rumour started doing the rounds that an Argentinean international playing for Boca has failed a doping test.
Boca had agreed with a European team all the details for the sale of that player at the end of that season.
The positive doping rumours needed to be stopped or denied with proof, in order to not jeopardise that sale.
I mean Boca, the biggest club in the country, could not suffer such humiliation internationally, and apart from it all, they needed the money that sale would generate.
So we are now on round 18. Boca 4 points clear of Estudiantes in second place, with 6 to play.
Estudiantes gets 4 points of the last 2 games, while Boca got….0. Yes, they lost their last 2 games of the season against Belgrano de Cordoba and Lanus.
We had a tie at the top and a deciding game was needed which Estudiantes won 2-1 and were crowned champions.
So let’s recap.
Boca beats Gimnasia, after Gimnasia fans threatened their own players and demanding they lose that game.
Boca winning was damaging to Estudiantes chances of winning the title.
Boca player, that was 99% sold to Europe rumoured to have failed doping test.
Boca loses 4 points lead when there where 6 points to play for.
Estudiantes catches them (they did not even overtake them) so they needed a deciding game (i.e another pay day for the clubs)
Estudiantes are crowned champions (justice made executively?)
Boca’s player moves to Europe and the positive doping test rumours die out.
Really if Hollywood presented us with that script, we will laugh it off, as being a movie.
However all the facts mentioned here today, are easily available to those wanting to do a little research.
So in parts 1 we mentioned that in order for fixing to take place, there needed to be more than one party involved.
By the end of part 4, we had referees involvement, federation involvement, players involvement, and fans involvement.
Tomorrow’s chapter will bring the last link, the clubs involvement.
Former Independiente President Ducatenzeiler said in an interview a while back (you can read the full interview on this website under Code Breaker and Code Breaker part 2).
He was referring in advace to what transpired later. Argentina gets eliminated in the quarter finals of the 2006 WC and Pekerman resigns as Manager.
It was well known previous to the world cup, that unless he won the title, Pekerman was leaving.
The title in question was the Clausura 2006, the Manager Alfio Basile. At the end of the tournament, AFA’s boss Julio Grondona, appointed Basile as the successor of Pekerman as Manager of the National side.
The next tournament was the Apertura 2006/07 and Boca had in La Volpe, a new Manager.
Before round 6 and Boca are the leaders with 15 points of 5 games. Perfection.
River arrived with 10 points and Estudiantes with 9.
In round 6 the fixtures crossed Gimnsia de La Plata and Boca; Estudiantes and Banfield; River and Quilmes.
River beats Quilmes 2-1 and Estudiantes drops 2 points drawing with Banfield 0-0.
Stadium: Ciudad de La Plata
Home team: Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata Away Team: Boca Juniors
Referee: Daniel Gimenez
After a very competitive first 45 minutes, Gimnasia leads 1-0. So competitive it was, that Gimenez showed 6 yellows to the home side and 1 to the visitors.
During the half time break, news came from the referee dressing room that he has suspended the game for lack of security.
Once the smoke has cleared, we learnt from Gimenez that he received a visit from Gimnasia’s President threatening him, for all the yellow cards. The referee said his life was threatened. That he asked the President of Gimnasia to leave the room, but he declined stating that it was his house.
Serious accusations, very serious. Many countries would investigate, and try to clarify what happened. And eventually apply sanctions where required.
Here, the game was suspended, nobody was punished for anything, and the second half of the game was completed, in the same stadium, with the same referee, but after all games of round 14 of 19 have been completed.
Up to there, suspicious way to manage the league, where anyone can either threat a referee or a referee can claim he was threatened and no one gets punished. And everything was so brushed under the carpet that the same ref was appointed for the completion of the game.
So the second half of the game gets rescheduled for the 8th of November 2006.
After all teams had completed 14 rounds (apart from the 2 team involved here with their pending game)
So after 14 of 19 games were played the league table looked as follows
Boca (1 game in hand) 29 points
Estudiantes 28 points
River 28 points
Just to add spice to the situation remember Boca and River are the biggest teams in the country and the biggest derby too.
And Gimnasia and Estudiantes are a huge derby themselves.
Previous to the completion of the game, word has gone out that River were offering the Gimnasia players money in order to try harder and win the game.
Only rumours though. But Barras Brava (name given to the violent section of any club in Argentina. Equivalent of Hooligans) of Gimnasia went to the last training session of the team, and carrying fire arms and knives, and threathened the players and their families.
If Gimnasia won then Estudiantes will have a chance to be crowned champions.
The violents, demanded that their own players lose the game or face the consequences.
With only 45 minutes to be played and Gimnasia leading 1-0 from the suspended game, Referee Daniel Gimenez restarts the game. Within a minute Boca were level.
Final score was Gimnasia 1- Boca 4.
The players and Manager indirectly said after the game that they played under threat, and could not concentrate. That they “tried their best”, but it was difficult.
We don’t blame the players in this occasion. Football to them is a job, a passion, something they like doing. But not something worth doing if it means risking your health, or your family’s life.
Julio Grondona, after the game, said. “ if there were threats to anyone, they should have told us before the game”
Is that the attitude of a man running the football of one of the top countries in the world on that sport? What message is it sending to the violent sectors of Argentinean society? Violence in football, is welcome, unless we are informed before hand!
We viewed that game at least a dozen times. The Gimnasia players did not want to lose; they wanted to lose by a humiliating margin to make a point. They did exactly that.
However that is not all the controversy surrounding that tournament.
After that game and with 5 to play, Boca were leading Estudiantes and River by 4 points.
Then a rumour started doing the rounds that an Argentinean international playing for Boca has failed a doping test.
Boca had agreed with a European team all the details for the sale of that player at the end of that season.
The positive doping rumours needed to be stopped or denied with proof, in order to not jeopardise that sale.
I mean Boca, the biggest club in the country, could not suffer such humiliation internationally, and apart from it all, they needed the money that sale would generate.
So we are now on round 18. Boca 4 points clear of Estudiantes in second place, with 6 to play.
Estudiantes gets 4 points of the last 2 games, while Boca got….0. Yes, they lost their last 2 games of the season against Belgrano de Cordoba and Lanus.
We had a tie at the top and a deciding game was needed which Estudiantes won 2-1 and were crowned champions.
So let’s recap.
Boca beats Gimnasia, after Gimnasia fans threatened their own players and demanding they lose that game.
Boca winning was damaging to Estudiantes chances of winning the title.
Boca player, that was 99% sold to Europe rumoured to have failed doping test.
Boca loses 4 points lead when there where 6 points to play for.
Estudiantes catches them (they did not even overtake them) so they needed a deciding game (i.e another pay day for the clubs)
Estudiantes are crowned champions (justice made executively?)
Boca’s player moves to Europe and the positive doping test rumours die out.
Really if Hollywood presented us with that script, we will laugh it off, as being a movie.
However all the facts mentioned here today, are easily available to those wanting to do a little research.
So in parts 1 we mentioned that in order for fixing to take place, there needed to be more than one party involved.
By the end of part 4, we had referees involvement, federation involvement, players involvement, and fans involvement.
Tomorrow’s chapter will bring the last link, the clubs involvement.