What? Not Basketball?

Now for my award-winning in depth blog to be revealed and it is about…Soccer? Yes folks your favorite basketball godfather is taking a look at a different sport. Why do you ask? That is because the 2006 World Cup in Germany is going to take place beginning on June 9th, only a week from today. But the World Cup is not the topic of my in depth piece. I referenced an article from the Washington Post by Sarah Delaney for my info. The topic is the controversy that has been disclosed taking place in Italy. Trust me you will understand how I tie this all in to me by the end. Now let me explain what’s happening.


The Italian league the past couple of years has seen a couple of teams fall on hard times where they are unable to make the payments on the money they owe their players, this doesn’t ultimately tie to what I am going to explain, but it just shows that some of these Italian teams are already questionable to begin with. At the forefront of the Italian league is the team Juventus of Turin. This team can be considered the New York Yankees of Italian Soccer. They buy expensive players and so they tend to be favorites to win championships year after year. The General Director of that team is Luciano Moggi, who is also known as “Lucky Luciano.” The fact that was also the nickname of Charles Luciano a former Mob Boss and at one point in time the Chairman of “the Commission” that organized the crime families during the Mafia’s heyday doesn’t go beyond my notice. Mr. Moggi has been accused of being the mastermind behind corruption that includes; having favorable referees working specific games as well as influencing the transfers and sale of players. Juventus won their 29th Championship this year, but Moggi resigned a couple of weeks back due to the controversy and Juventus will be stripped of its two most recent titles.


There are also three other teams in the Italian league that are under investigation at this point, those teams being Lazio of Rome, Fiorentina of Florence and AC Milan from Milan. They are under investigation for game-fixing during the season of 2004-05 as well as betting on games, coercion, threats and even kidnapping. Now does this sound like Soccer or more like the Mafia connection I made earlier. This doesn’t stop at the teams though. The top two people in the Italian Soccer Federation also stepped down, as well as two of the officials (referees). Gianluigi Buffon is the starting goalkeeper for the Italian National team and he is accused of wagering over 2 million Euros on sports, but reportedly not soccer, but still a violation of the player agreements under the league. Here is a World Cup tie-in.


Now back to Moggi. He has a son by the name of Alessandro who is the runs the player agency GEA. Supposedly this is where the coercion and threats come in as they used these tactics to bring in and retain many of the Italian soccer players. Juventus is in for some potentially some harsh retribution for the alleged actions. Should they be found guilty will be sent down from the first division to the second division which is usually for the last place teams in the division. Of course criminal action will also be applied to the individuals should they be found of any wrong doing. There are 41 people in total that have been asked to come in for questioning in this matter, so there is a long investigation that will be taking place in the days to come.


So how does this tie into me now? That is easy. I am an American and therefore I am going to be supporting the United States of America in their quest for their first World Cup Championship. In their group is none other then… Italy. Yes Italy, the same country that is under investigation. Why does this matter to the USA? It will either be beneficial to the United States or detrimental. Italy is a soccer power and with this controversy they could get so wrapped up in it that the team underperforms and the U.S. could steal some very valuable points that allow them to move to the next round. On the other hand, the Italians could become very angry with the situation and come out with something to prove to the world and be more focused then ever. So this is a very important idea going into the Cup. The U.S. already has it hard as I believe they have the toughest group of the 8 groups with Ghana and the Czech Republic also being a part of the group. This should be an interesting subplot to watch going into the cup. Consider yourself informed.