Day 9 - Brazil is Punished for Ignoring the Rules

 

After the game against Brazil, the management of Maccabi USA filed a formal complaint with the Maccabi World Union. After an exhaustive investigation, the following information was obtained. Brazil's player #18 was given a red card in the prior match against Argentina. The card was not entered into the book and game sheet by the officials. No one really knows why but it is suspected that there was some foul play at the end of the game. Both the Argentinians and Peruvians were contacted to submit statements that the red card was shown and the player was ejected. They cooperated, the appeal was upheld and the 3 points for the victory and the 6 goals were taken away from Brazil leaving them with no points and needing to win their final game against Peru. USA was not awarded any points. It was uncertain as to whether the player was suspended for the tournament or whether he would still play. Brazil did go on to beat Peru 2-0 eliminating them from the competition. Had the points not been taken away, Brazil would have played Israel in one semi-final and the USA would have played Argentina. Without the points, Brazil plays Argentina and USA plays Israel. USA has caught a break but more importantly, justice has been served and a message sent by Maccabi that cheating will not be tolerated. In an interesting subsequent twist, Brazil came forth and admitted that they played a boy with a red card in the previous game in one of the other divisions but no formal complaint by the opposition was filed. Brazil then filed a formal complaint against themselves and was forced to give up the points. We're they being honest and coming clean or was there an ulterior motive? Rumor has it that they did this to change the seeding for the semi-finals in order to draw an opponent that they preferred to play. WOW BRAZIL. Go figure...