A convicted match-fixer claims he arranged for a referee to influence the result of Australia's friendly defeat to Egypt in 2010, reports The Guardian. Wilson Raj Perumal made the allegations in a book on his career as a match-fixer. He said he and his accomplices placed bets on three goals being scored during the match. With Egypt 2-0 up, they were awarded what many commentators saw as a soft penalty, which was duly converted. There are no allegations that any players were involved in fixing the score.
Mark Schwarzer, who was the Socceroos' goalkeeper for the match, told ABC's 7.30 that at the time he found some of the officiating puzzling.
"The game in itself was very much a game that was one-sided and in a game which you thought the officials probably didn't referee it in the fairest way," Schwarzer said. "It's hard to take when you're there playing it, but also it's very difficult to read after the event and ... I suppose it justifies your beliefs at the time."
