FOOTBALL
South African ref Victor Gomes blows the whistle on bribe offer
Gomes reported the matter to the Confederation of African Football
South African football referee Victor Gomes was approached to fix the result of the African Confederation Cup first-leg tie between Nigerian side Plateau United and USM Alger of Algeria, but rebuffed the advances and reported the matter to the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Gomes was in Lagos with his assistants Johannes Moshidi, Athenkosi Ndongeni and Thando Ndzandzeka when they were approached before Saturday’s game with an offer of $30‚000 to fix the result‚ but immediately turned down the approach and reported the matter to CAF. Plateau United won the game 2-1 and now face a difficult away trip in the second leg on April 17. The attempted manipulation of referees is a long-standing problem and just recently SA fell foul of this. Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey was found guilty of match-fixing in SA’s 2-1 World Cup qualifier victory over Senegal in November 2016. He did this on behalf of betting syndicates and when Fifa ordered the match to be replayed SA lost 2-0. Time...
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