http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-soccer27jun27,0,7688345.story?track=mostviewed-homepage イタリアがオーストラリア戦で、試合終了間際にPKを貰いオーストラリアに勝ったのは、 2002年に韓国がFIFAとつるんで審判を買収してイタリアを敗退させたお詫びにFIFAがイタリアに埋め合わせとしてFIFAがイタリアにあげたプレゼントである。 2002年に韓国とFIFAは、ホスト国の韓国をなるべく長く行き残す為に、工作をしていた。 今回犠牲になったオーストラリアの監督が、当時の韓国の監督であったヒディンクであったのも単なる偶然では無い。 The seed for Australia's 1-0 World Cup defeat by Italy on Monday on a blatantly incorrect penalty kick awarded by Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo in the final seconds was sown in South Korea four years ago. Anyone with any suspicion of just how things are manipulated at soccer's highest level, including the outcome of games, needs only to look back to 2002. That's when Italy was robbed blind in a 2-1 overtime loss to South Korea in a second-round World Cup game that was atrociously refereed by Ecuador's Byron Moreno. Given the massive public support for the team, keeping South Korea alive as long as possible was very much in FIFA's interests. So Italy paid the price. This time around, the price has been paid back. Things are all square with Italy. Australia will get the makeup call next time around, at South Africa in 2010, assuming it qualifies. That's how it works. Australia's coach is Guus Hiddink. He was on the other side of the "conspiracy" in 2002. Back then, he was South Korea's coach when Italy was stiffed.