After seeing the damage done by their coach, Cluj were quick to fire him and apologize “sincerely to UEFA, Basel, the fans, and everyone involved in football”. I don’t think anyone would have thought badly of the club as a whole, but the Romanians seemed very quick to separate their image from the uncontrollable Cartu, who had only been at charge of the club since September.

An overreaction from both sides? Possibly. Smashing up the home team’s dugout certainly isn’t becoming of any professional, let alone one that is supposed to represent the club. But getting fired simply for that? One thinks there must have been other incidents or circumstances that played a factor in this decision, and maybe this was simply the last straw. Cluj have had a mixed season in the Romanian league, and after winning the double last time around, maybe the president’s patience was wearing thin in terms of results too.

Perhaps you are wondering if the title means Ajax striker Luis Suarez will be starring in the next Hollywood vampire flick, but no. He openly bit an opponent during a match between his club Ajax and PSV in the Dutch league.

You can see the incident clearly in the video, where after a heated exchange between their teammates, in which an Ajax player was shown the red card, Suarez leans in and takes a quick bite into midfielder Otman Bakkal’s shoulder. The latter was just surprised as everyone else from the incident, but does not get too worked up. He shows the referee the bite marks, but apparently the ref did not have time to deal with this incident. Or maybe he did not know how to – is biting a red card offense in football? Or even a foul? In any case, it’s weird.

The commentaries compare the incident to the famous Tyson-Holyfield boxing example, but in fact, this is not the first time a footballer has bitten an opponent. English striker Jermain Defoe did the same to Argentina midfielder Javier Mascherano back in 2006. One can’t imagine why this is the way some of these players chose to let their frustrations be shown, but I suppose it’s better than punching or elbowing someone in the face.

The incident in the Dutch game was pretty much the highlight of the match, which ended in a 0-0 draw.

They have decided to fight back, however, and by all accounts it seems like next weekends fixture of games will not go ahead, because there will be no referees to officiate the games. The protests from the refs is that they can not do their jobs under so much pressure, and have shown that they do indeed still hold a lot of power in football. Like many professional, they are a necessary element for an institution to keep functioning, and everything grinds to a standstill when they refuse to do their jobs.

They have the full right to refuse working, but hopefully the talks that will ensue will yield positive results that will improve the refereeing standards in Scotland, and maybe have an effect on other leagues in Europe. Surely new ideas must be introduced that will help officials make better decisions, which in tern will soften the criticism against them. The worst that can happen is a standstill, where no changes are made, but the referees are simply pleaded into continuing their jobs. Unfortunately, that is also the more likely outcome, but nothing is known for sure yet.

Following the Celtic-Dundee United match ,in which Celtic won 2-1, McDonald claimed that his decision to reverse his penalty decision initially awarded to Celtic was because he was convinced to do so by his assistant referee. In a recorded phone call later that night, however, it was revealed that he lied about that fact in order to make his decision seem more “credible”.

He was given an official warning by the Scottish Football Association, but for the first time we have clear evidence of a referee lying in order to cover up a mistake. It was not something with too great a consequence for the match itself, but it might erode a lot of that “credibility” McDonald was so worried about, not just for him, but for the entire SFA. A harsher penalty would have served to suggest that this was an isolated incident and McDonald’s conduct is not how the other Scottish referees act, but since no such punishment came about, the public is left to wonder. Calls have been made for both McDonald and members of the SFA to resign, but no one has taken on this responsibility yet.

The fact that this is an English organization that is doing this makes it even more curious, and maybe FIFA will pay more attention to them. An independent panel is set to analyze these new findings, but for now most of this is just speculation and mystery. But what could be in this report that would shock FIFA and the world footballing body so much? Bribes, corruptions, unsafe stadiums…there are many possibilities, but nothing concrete so far.

As for why a British organization would be doing this to its own bid – well, that’s probably even more unanswerable. Suffice to say, not everyone in the country has the same interests, and the FA getting such a huge victory as securing the World Cup in England doesn’t sit well with everyone.

Regardless of how serious this report turns out to be, some FA members have admitted that all this controversy has already damaged their chances quite a bit.

He went as fair as to say that the last six World Cups have been poor showing, which may be a bit much, but objectively speaking the Champions League has been stronger for a while now. Players play more freely, teams are not afraid to challenge the top dogs, you get incredible goals and amazing games where anything could happen. Take for example Tuesday’s game between Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos. It finished in a 0-0 draw, but the level of football and the number of chances were greater than most of the matches at this year’s World Cup. Not to mention Tottenham beating cup-holders Inter 3-1. At the WC, you only get surprise results when the favorites play abysmally bad.

Experts can give different reasons for why that is, and the World Cup will continue being viewed as the biggest football competition, but objectively it has fallen far behind the Champions League in terms of the quality and excitement of the games. Sir Alex sometimes says some crazy things, but he’s spot-on on this one.

The full list consists of: Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).

It’s quite the solid list, and I don’t thin anyone can have big complains about it. For the first time in a long while, there are no English, Italian or French players, which makes sense, considering how horrible these countries performed at the world cup. The only player I’m not quite sure belongs on that list is Asamoah Gyan, who was more of an inspirational talisman at the World Cup than a real world-beater. He still can’t break into the first team at Sunderland this season. Perhaps France’s Malouda would have been a better inclusion, though he’s only real been on top form this season for Chelsea.

As for who is going to win the whole thing…I think Iker Casillas might have a shot. He has secured his place as the world’s best goalkeeper, and is a great leader both for Spain and Real Madrid. Most importantly, he is rarely out of form and performs both for club and country, and very few other players can say the same.

He plays for Real Madrid’s youth setup, and by all indications he is destined to become a top player himself. Real Madrid would love to keep him, but the bigger question is which country is he going to play for – France or Spain? His father, of course, was one of France’s greatest legends, and Enzo was born in France, so the decision may seem straight forward. However, his mother is Spanish (which is why he is also called Enzo Fernandez), and he has lived the greater part of his life in Spain.

The French are desperate to have him join them, but the funny thing is, they now know the feeling that many African countries have when they see their own players who were born in Africa choose to play for France because they have lived and played there long. At the end of the day, what matters is who the player wants to represent (provided he can), and Enzo may just pick Spain over France. Not that the Spanish need anymore amazing talent, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to have some extra.

This leaves both countries in prime positions to host these tournaments, with the only real competition coming from Russia and the joint efforts of Spain and Portugal. Given Spain’s world cup triumph this summer, the latter’s bid may actually pick up some steam, so it’s not decided yet. England have not hosted a World Cup since the only time they won it, back in 1966, and as they have some of the best stadiums in the world, it’s high time that they get the chance. And while still not being part of the mainstream, football in America has grown a lot since 1994, and it would be pretty grand to see them host another tournament.

In my opinion it’s a bit of a shame though the FIFA abandoned plans to rotate who they choose as hosts through each continent, as I think this creates a better balance. But at the end I guess having the best possible tournament is the most important thing. Some continents, like Africa and Asia, really have only 1-2 countries capable of being hosts.

While condemning the actions of its fans, the Serbian FA has claimed the Italians failed to properly organize the security of the match, and that’s why they want a replay. But in my personal opinion, such a request is absurd. I don’t usually agree with punishing teams for the behavior of a select few of its fans, but when it goes to such extremes, some actions have to be taken. Italy must be awarded a 3-0 win at the least, and a more severe but still justifiable punishment would be to throw Serbia out of the qualifiers all together.

There are many reasons being cited for their fans’ behavior, one of which is attacking goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic, who, as reported earlier, joined Partizan after playing for Red Star Belgrade. It seems that some fans are determined to not let such betrayal go unpunished, but they are harming all of Serbia this way. It’s crazy that such acts of hooliganism continue happening in this day and age in Europe, but there you go.