7.12.13
ASN Morning Read: A Bribe's the Thing
A mystery man approached three members of Belize's Gold Cup squad and offered them money to throw the game against the United States; Jozy Altidore looks good in Sunderland's "kit"; Holden is ready.
BY
Jesse Yomtov
Posted
July 12, 2013
8:21 AM
CONCACAF confirmed that players from Belize were offered a bribe to lose Tuesday's match against the U.S. The man—someone already being monitored by international officials—approached three players in Guatemala back in June but seemed more interested in befriending them. In Portland, he asked them to meet him at a mall, where he offered them money to promise to lose the match. Considering Belize's financial difficulties just to participate in the Gold Cup, it's not difficult to expect they might be marked. “I could see how they would be targets, I guess, but our minds don’t really go there. It was a big shock," said Belize's American coach Ian Mork.
In Group A action in Seattle, Panama beat Martinique 1-0 to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals while Mexico topped Canada 2-0, keeping El Tri in the hunt for the quarters. Raul Jimenez and Marco Fabian scored for Mexico, who are tied on three points with Martinique. They face off Sunday in Denver.
Stuart Holden is ready to go 90 if called upon, and acknowledged that Jurgen Klinsmann spoke to the team about managing minutes in Portland with the artificial surface. He's also raring to break into the first-team midfield. "I want to be playing. I want to push the guys in front of me. Michael [Bradley] and Jermaine [Jones] have been playing really well the last couple of years, especially the last month or so with the national team. You saw it with the qualifiers. It's made my job tough, but it is something that I sort of relish that challenge and I'm looking forward to it."
"Reports" say Tottenham has put Clint Dempsey up for sale. Given the arrival of Paulinho and the January addition of Lewis Holtby, you can see how Dempsey might be deemed surplus. Alas, this is a "report" by a British tabloid.
CJ Sapong: Now with more Orlando City.
Sunderland's Twitter account had a pretty fun string of tweets about Jozy Altidore yesterday afternoon. Big fan of the Black Cats patronizing Americans by using "jersey" rather than "kit."
