Over-Under Canada

By Ben Knight Onward!

Soccer gambling comes home
And so, the story breaks from Macedonia, that the referee in Canada’s recent 3-0 loss to the Former Yugoslavian Republic had more on his mind than the fair arbitership of an international soccer friendly.

The over-under number on the game was 2.5. The ref – and a large international gambling syndicate – had “over.” Four penalty kicks – some outright odd – were whistled. Canada (bless them!) were gifted two, and squandered both.

Nobody’s innocent like us, eh?

Yeah, I know. What if some of the Canadians had “under?” Declan Hill, in his definitive book “The Fix,” points out reassuringly that you rarely get action going both ways on a fixed game. It’s far more likely that a player, team or ref gets bought, and the smart money overloads on one particular result.

As I write this, there’s no reason to believe anyone other than the ref was involved in pole-screwing what should have been a decent little outing for two sides that didn’t get invited to the World Cup dance in South Africa next year. Canada just happened to be on the field at the time.

Next time, though, we may not be so lucky.

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