Back in the fall, some Serbian hooligans caused a ruckus at the Marassi in Genoa where the Serbian and Italian national teams were to embark on one of the better fixtures during Euro 2012. And it really should’ve been one of the best games, if only on paper, during qualifying. Which is probably why said hooligans were given such stiff penalties for the troubles they caused on that day.

This on top of the 3-0 victory handed to Italy for showing up, watching some flares and handing their shirts into the crowd.

So that makes the Faroe Islands and Serbian hooligans the only things which can ship three goals to Italy.

Ivan Bogdanov, who earned the nickname Ivan the Terrible, was the figurehead at Marassi during the match that was called off on October 12.

Serb hooligans were determined to stop the game going ahead and invaded the team bus before kick-off, then threw fireworks and broke down barriers in the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

The tribunal in Genoa today passed a sentence of three years and three months for Bogdanov, plus Nikola Klickovis got three years, Daniel Ianic two years and eight months, while Srdan Iovetic’s sentence was two years and six months. However, due to the notoriously complex Italian justice system, it is unclear how much real jail time they will have.

‘Ivan the Terrible’ seems a little strong; seems like ‘Ivan the Extraordinary Inconvenience’ or something more mild.

But is this not enough warning for those in Italian stadiums to behave? The next game inside the peninsula should look like A Putting Green: The Opera.

France released their first away shirt in this Nike era via photo done by fashion maestro Karl Lagerfeld.

And it is a painfully, painfully good looking shirt – it’s a wonder they didn’t drop adidas decades ago.

[So Foot]

FIFA rolled out the changes in typical FIFA fashion today: there are none.

The possibility for a shuffle of allocated spots at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was opened to the floor and CONCACAF, led by the all-powerful Jack Warner, steamed into town requesting another spot at the expense of…someone. Likely Africa.

No such luck.

What’s astounding isn’t the fact that there are no change, but rather that a group led by Jack Warner within the confines of FIFA wanted something and yet didn’t get it.

Charting new waters here.

The usual suspects:

Europe will keep its 13 places—considered too many by some observers—while Africa will have five, Asia 4.5, CONCACAF 3.5 and Oceania 0.5. South American will have 4.5 places, not including Brazil.

Based on footballing clout alone, not nations/federations or population, it’s rather staggering to think Africa has more World Cup spots than South America, isn’t it?

Sounds like they have a much bigger gripe than CONCACAF.

Of all the many things accounted for in the bid for Polkraine 2012, they probably didn’t include having to consider, or being asked for, a stand exclusively for gay and lesbian football fans.

That’s changing. A movement of sorts has erupted in Poland to allow a gay fan club their own special stand at Polkraine 2012.

But other gay rights activists criticized the proposal Wednesday, saying it would single gay fans out and put them at greater risk.

Teczowa Trybuna 2012, or Rainbow Stand 2012, calls itself the first gay fan club for Poland’s national team. It says on its website that its members fear aggression from other fans and want to feel safe during the championship in Poland and neighboring Ukraine.

“During trips to matches of our beloved clubs … we unfortunately are often faced with unpleasantness, harassment and violence from the ‘real’ fans,” it said. “We dream of being able to relax in the stands—we can’t imagine not being at the Euro 2012 matches, which will be held in our country!”

Hardly the biggest story to come out of building up to Polkraine 2012 – that belongs to those unfounded rumbling which precede every major tournament: will it happen? – but it’s certainly one of the more intriguing ones. There are points to each side, but the chances that it happens are ultimately slim – the precedent would be too great and possibly too easily manipulated in the future. First sexual orientation, then religion, then milk preference (1%, skim, whole, etc). Where would it all end?

Very unfortunate they think it necessary, though.

Ask and you shall receive.

Well, so long as you’re one of the greatest players to have ever graced a football pitch with your otherworldly abilities.

Ronaldo asked the Brazilian federation for a sendoff friendly with the Selecao, and they have obliged with one of the most lopsided games in football history: the 2002 World Cup-winning Brazilian side versus a gaggle of local Chechnyans, including the President.

Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning team will play a friendly next month in the formerly wartorn Russian province of Chechnya, a local official said Wednesday.

Chechnya’s government website cited sports minister Haidar Alkhanov as saying Kaka, Ronaldinho and the recently retired Ronaldo are likely to feature in the March 10 match. Chechnya president Ramzan Kadyrov will captain a team comprising local players.

There was no word of confirmation from Brazilian officials, but if the match goes ahead it will be the third major football coup in a month for Russia’s poverty-stricken Caucasus region, which is better known for separatist violence than sport.

(It should be noted those ‘local’ players may actually be Russian Premier League side Terek Grozny; not quite as lopsided, but still wouldn’t keep anything on the table.)

No word if he’ll be bringing back that fly hair for the occasion, but it should be absolute mandatory. That and an over/under in triple figures.

The last we saw of Raymond Domenech, he was immersed in a witness protection program masquerading as some sort of poker crash course. Now that the money’s dried up from that little venture, he’s back for more cash with his very first exclusive post-World Cup meltdown interview to be released amidst pomp and several forms of circumstance tomorrow. Excerpts are available, and they’ve hooked the public with juicy nuggets in typical Raymond fashion – mostly name-calling and the pointing of unemployed fingers.

Raymond:

“Everyone is talking instead of me,” he said in extracts that appeared on the newspaper’s website. “I want to restore the truth. I’m not the moron that people are describing me as.

“Let’s be clear: I got it wrong, I mustn’t have chosen the right players nor found the words that were needed. I do not accept the criticism of politicians, nor that of former players who have turned to journalism, but that does not prevent me from drawing my own evaluation.”

Describing the day [of the training strike], and his attempts to talk his players around, Domenech said: “It was more than an hour that we had been there. It was really necessary that someone take responsibility and stop that charade. All the cameras were focused on the bus, hundreds of kids were waiting on the sidelines. We were the laughing stock of the world.”

Following the tournament, Evra, Franck Ribéry, Jeremy Toulalan and Eric Abidal took the bulk of the blame – and suspensions – for their role in the incident, but Domenech said all the players acted together.

“If there were any [leaders], I did not see them. Every time I went up [into the bus], there was no one,” he said. “At this point, I told myself that they went crazy and they don’t realise. Now I know I was wrong: they knew very well what they were doing. They even closed the curtains of the bus to hide themselves from cameras. With hindsight, I see them mainly as a bunch of foolhardy brats.

“Above all, I do not want controversy. I have had offers for the theatre, for the cinema … Nothing on TV, no. Honestly, how can we imagine me in a reality television show?” he said.

Is he intimating France’s World Cup 2010 show wasn’t reality TV?

And calling them ‘foolhardy brats’ shouldn’t create any controversy or vitriolic rebuttals flying through press channels. Not at all.

A number of outlets reported that the protesters who engaged in the initial battles with the pro-Mubarak camp were using tactics very similar to those use by Ultra’s for both Al-Ahly and Zamalek.

Football journalist Robert Layne, after watching the protests, noted:

“There were designated rock hurlers, specialists in turning over and torching vehicles for defensive purposes and a machine-like quartermaster crew delivering projectiles like clockwork on cardboard platters.”

While Ahly’s ultra’s almost immediately made clear that they were to remain non-political during the demonstrations, it seems likely that individual or even groups of Ultra’s participated in some way during the demonstrations, and likely still do today.

Moving to the pitch itself, as the violence escalated, a number of Ghanian players currently playing across the top two divisions of Egyptian football desperately sought a way to leave the country, but the Ghanian government now says that they are safe, and have no reason to be fearful. Probably easier to say for the Ghanian government in Accra, but nonetheless surely the scenes in Tahrir were nerve wracking for the players and their families back home.

In terms of the Egyptian domestic game, all matches have been called off, including Zamalek’s African Champions League tie with Kenya’s Ulizni Stars, due to the unrest.

The national team, also scheduled to host the United States in a match which would have been excellent preparation for their March AFCON qualifier against South Africa, has had to cancel the February 9th match after the Americans withdrew.

While the protests seemed to have ebbed somewhat, the situation is far from being resolved, and it will be fascinating to see how football affects, and is effected by, the ongoing revolution. Particularly fascinating will be determining exactly what role ultra’s have had on the final outcome. In a world where many desire for a separation of politics and sport, Egypt shows us that sometimes the two are simply inextricably linked, regardless of rhetoric.

*Egypt WCB Blogger Hany spent days protecting his Cairo home from looters, before he was able to fly to the United States. See his story in the comments section of his most recent article.

If you’re a football fan looking to put more than your opinion on the line on how the Sub-20 will end up, you could do your sports betting at BetUS. Montaño might be smart bet to score on the final day against Chile, who have conceded nine goals in their last four matches.

Montaño plays his club football at Belgian club KAA Gent, who spotted him at the 2010 COTIF youth tournament and signed him from his boyhood club El Nacional in Ecuador. He’s still finding his feet in Belgium and has only one appearance so far, but his performance in Peru this month may earn him the faith of his club and give him a chance to shine in Europe.

Montaño is tied for second on the tournament high scorer, and has gotten his four goals in clutch moments. To this point, he is Ecuador’s only scorer in the final group stage, and his two goals in the stage have won his country their four points. In the opening match, he blew the tournament wide open and made some friends in Brazil) by scoring the only goal in Ecuador’s 1-0 win over Argentina. And he did it with a header from a corner. Edson Montaño is not a tall man – 5′8″.

In his next match, he could be forgiven for a hero hangover. Instead, down 1-0 to Uruguay in the second half, Montaño scored an equalizer that would hold for a 1-1 draw. In Uruguay’s four final stage matches, this is the only one in which they have dropped points.

In preliminary group A, Montaño’s goal vs. Paraguay was also a game-winner, giving them the points to even qualify to the final stage. Clutch.

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This post was brought to you by BetUS

France v Brazil? Portugal v Argentina? Germany v Italy? Bosh. The big game of the international friendly week was found far off in the corner of Antalya, Turkey, where Bulgaria and Estonia scrapped it out to a 2-2 draw. Not your typical marquee friendly, but this wasn’t your typical game.

There were pregame rumblings that the fix was in, and the fact that all four goals came via penalties did nothing to quiet the whispers. Three of the four penalties seemed like perfectly dreadful tackles, with one a foul but starting just outside the box (though we’ve all seen that given as a spot kick many times), but there’s more.

The same agency which set up this friendly also set up Latvia v Bolivia. Three goals, three penalties. (Can’t quite find any highlights.)

In total: 1 agency, 2 friendlies, 7 goals, 7 penalties. No, not suspicious whatsoever.

“The situation becomes even more confusing taking into account the fact that all three goals in the previous match were also scored from penalties.”

Latvia beat Bolivia 2-1 in a friendly in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya just before the Bulgaria-Estonia game. Hungarian referee Krisztian Selmeczi was in charge of both matches.

“We don’t know this referee and we can’t say he acted intentionally when awarding the penalties,” said BFU vice-president Atanas Furnadzhiev. “We’ll inform UEFA and they will probably investigate the match.”

“The friendly was organised by an agency with whom we’ll not work anymore,” Estonia FA spokesman Mihkel Uiboleht told local media.

“We received information of a possible manipulation even before the game as the same agency also organised the match between Latvia and Bolivia and there was the same scenario there.”

Something smells rotten in Antalya.