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THE FAILED CONSPIRACY As much as FIFA World Cup finals have unforgettable matches, the qualifiers sure have games that would leave your mouth open. A Selecao of Brazil is the only team in the World to participate in all 21 FIFA World Cup finals. There were times they were at the brink of missing out of the party but none can really be scary like the conspiracy that would have kept the Samba boys out of the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals in Italy. Brazil was hosting Chile on the last day of the CONMEBOL Qualifiers for the Italia 1990 FIFA Wolrd Cup at the Maracana. A draw would take Brazil through and Chile could only make it by winning in Brazil. You would say that’s almost impossible? Yes, so I thought but the Chileans had another plan. On the day, the whole stadium was filled, the Argentine referee, Juan Carlos Loustou commenced the match and it was tough between both sides but you know Brazil was the home team who only needs a draw to qualify. The first half ended goalless....

AHN JUNG HWAN: WHEN COUNTRY ALLEGIANCE COSTs YOU A JOB Telling the 2002 FIFA World Cup stories, you will be telling no stories without talking about the underdogs who shocked the world and made it to the Semifinals, South Korea. Someone would say they were one of the hosts but Japan was the co-host and they could not go past the second round in spite of easier opponents. From the Coach Guus Hiddink, to goalkeeper Lee Woon Jae, Captain Hong Myung Bo, World Cup revelation Ji Sung Park and the whole South Korean team, none other became popular like the former Perugia star. Ahn was an attacking midfielder who also played as a supporting striker. When Ahn was going to represent his country at the 2002 South Korea/Japan FIFA World Cup, he could not imagine that he would never play for Perugia again due to a goal he would score in the tournament. Ahn Jung Hwan joined Perugia on loan from Busan Daewoo Royals in his native South Korea in the 2000/2001 Season. He had always had racism ...

THE BATTLE OF BERNE: NO NEED FOR TOTAL FOOTBALL Date: 27th June, 1954 Venue: Wankdorf Stadium, Berne In a global and established competition like the FIFA World Cup, there are bound to be a lot of controversial games. Even though those controversies always act as hangover going into subsequent competitions and matches between the teams involved but they are part of what set the round leather game apart from other sports Among the controversial games in the FIFA World Cup history, the battle of Berne is one of the most prominent and memorable. To think this interesting match did not make it to the top 5 ranking of our most controversial games of the World Cup in our soon to be released exclusive FIFA World Cup Magazine, THE MUNDIAL (Watch out), should raise our curiosity about which games made the list. The Battle of Berne was the quarter final match between Brazil and Hungary in the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland. The fixture had the type of expectation you will have whe...

THE FIFA WORLD CUP, SOCCER AND THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE Nobel Peace Prize is one of the categories of the prestigious award given to both individuals and organizations whose action or works has contributed immensely to world peace. The youngest recipient of this award is the 17 year old Malala Yousafzai in 2014. Considering the activities of FIFA, the world governing body for association football, can we say it is justifiable that neither FIFA nor any of its Presidents ever won the award? Alfred Nobel was born in 1833 at Stockholm in Sweden and he died in 1896 after a heart failure and stroke. Nobel made huge wealth from sale of arms and ammunition. By the 1880s Nobel already had a very bad reputation in the world despite his wealth. In 1888, Nobel's brother Ludvig died and various Newspapers reported that Nobel had died.  That Nobels premature obituary was read was not as tragic as the hatred shown for the man in the manner in which the obituary was published. A particular Fren...