German soccer will be glad to see the end to a year which broke the 2006 FIFA World Cup scandal and saw the world champions experience the Paris terror attacks first-hand.
After the high of winning last year’s World Cup came the low in October when Der Spiegel broke the cash-for-votes scandal surrounding the awarding of the 2006 World Cup hosted by Germany.
The magazine claimed that an unexplained 6.7 million euro (US$7.2 million) payment to FIFA was used to purchase the votes of four executive committee members in 2000 — days before Germany narrowly won the right to host the 2006 finals.
Photo: Reuters
The German Football Association (DFB) strenuously denied the claims, but Wolfgang Niersbach soon resigned as president, while police made a series of raids and FIFA launched an investigation.
Results of an independent audit of the 2006 bid, ordered by the DFB, are expected next month to hopefully shed light on what happened 15 years ago.
As politician Dagmar Freitag, who heads the Bundestag’s sports committee, put it: “The damage is done, but the question for me is: How big will this get?”
On the pitch, Germany finished top of their group to book their place at Euro 2016 in France, but with two defeats it was their worst campaign since finishing second to the Czech Republic in their Euro 2008 qualifying group.
The Republic of Ireland poached a 1-0 win over Germany in October, before Loew’s side held their nerve to beat Scotland 3-2 away, then were made to work for a 2-1 win at home to minnows Georgia.
Germany finished their international campaign on a low last month.
Their friendly against the Netherlands in Hannover was canceled due to a bomb threat, just four days after Loew’s squad spent the night at the Stade de France in the wake of the Paris terror attacks after a meaningless 2-0 defeat against the hosts.
Domestically, Bayern Munich again dominated the Bundesliga and are on course to become the first team to win the title four times in a row.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
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