Scandals in World Cup leadup

England
Sven-Goran Eriksson, hounded out of the England manager's job by a cheap media "sting", may yet have the last laugh and leave the FA with egg on its face.
With two wins, a spot booked in the Round of 16 and gun striker Wayne Rooney back on the field, England are the happiest they've been since winning the 1966 World Cup. The News of the World fit-up, where a journalist disguised as an Arab sheikh extracted an embarrassing confession from the Swedish-born England boss, might well backfire.
Sure, Eriksson had been previously accused of bedding an attractive secretary, and might be naïve off the field. But does it really matter? The FA Establishment is far too "straight" and lacks toughness when it comes to the English press. If they really thought he was guilty of breaching their standards, they should have had the guts to sack him. Instead we have a manager who has been given his marching orders leading a team into the world's most important football event. That just seems bizarre to me. Would you work as hard as you normally do if the boss had given you notice? What happens if England wins? How will the FA look then? Let's start cheering for Sven!

Italy
Italy has scored a shocker of an own-goal at the worst possible time, with the match fixing scandal continuing to erupt as the World Cup unfolds.
Former Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo was questioned by the Italian federation's chief investigator Francesco Saverio Borrelli on Monday (June 12).
Borrelli said he hopes to wrap up the investigation and present his findings by the end of next week. His report, expected to contain sensational allegations, will be presented on the eve of the Cup Round of 16, with 13th ranked Italy already qualified.
Italian manager Marcello Lippi has said the team decided to cease discussing the scandal during the Cup campaign and concentrate on winning. But with five Juventus players in the squad, one wonders how Lippi will achieve that.
Four clubs, including top team Juventus, have been implicated. Phone call transcripts were released of Juve's former general manager Luciano Moggi telling referees' chief Pierluigi Pairetto which officials he wanted assigned to Juventus games.
The scandal has engulfed about 40 people, including two players, and encouraged stockholders to dump their shares in Juventus, a publicly listed company. The share price for the Turin-based club has plummeted 25%. Two likely results will be the introduction of tough new laws and Juventus creating the unwanted record of being the only club in history to be relegated after winning Serie A.
Nevertheless, manager Lippi can draw some comfort from history. In the 1982 World Cup, Italian forward Paolo Rossi came back from a two year ban for match fixing and scored a hat-trick when they shocked hot favourite Brazil 3-2 in a quarter final, before going on to beat West Germany in the final.

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