Volley

Chapter six: Bribes took the World Cup to Germany                A RIO RACEHORSE OWNER was paid $1 million to strangle Brazil’s faint hopes of hosting the World Cup. The dark campaign to give the 2006 tournament to Germany involved the humiliation of Brazil and …

The Trinidad and Tobago national women team’s bizarre preparation for the 2014 Caribbean Cup tournament will continue for at least a few days more as the “Soca Princesses” continue training with its squad and staff split between two continents. Fourteen players and team manager Vernetta Flanders are in Houston where …

Earl Best examines current CPL form and looks at the implications for the West Indies’ imminent home series: It’s hard to say today just which team will emerge victorious in the 2014 Limacol Caribbean Premier League. Any one of the top three can still do it. Despite one or two …

Earl Best watches the Limacol CPL and draws conclusions about the West Indian captaincy: I am obsessed with the idea of Denesh “Shotta” Ramdin as West Indies captain. No. Go back and read that again. Not West Indies Test captain but West Indies captain. Period. This ailment is so serious …

Anil Roberts resigns as Sport Minister and MP but admits no wrongdoing in Life Sport programme. To: Honourable Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, I write to you today with a heavy heart to inform you of my desire to resign as Minister of Sport and as Member of Parliament for D’Abadie/ …

The Trinidad and Tobago national women’s football team represented the country’s best chance to qualify for a FIFA senior tournament since the men’s Germany 2006 World Cup. Today, it arguably represents something else entirely. Over the past 24 hours, the national women left for Houston in a fashion that is …

Chapter five: Ricardo’s favourite shoemaker  IF YOU BELIEVE Ricardo, he discovered the world’s most generous bank. It was located in Vaduz, in Europe, it lent him millions and charged interest, in the words of the Senator Alvaro Dias investigation, ‘absurdly below market rates.’ In fact, he never paid any interest …

Dwayne Bravo spends as much time in the clouds as most pilots. The analogy works at two levels for the frequent flier who is either diving after cricket balls on the field or hopping off planes en route to assignments all over the globe. His CV, at present, includes West …

Twenty-three year old James Rodriguez became the most expensive Colombian footballer of all time yesterday when the former Monaco attacker was unveiled as Real Madrid’s latest Galactico. Rodriguez marked his coming out ceremony at the Estadio Bernabeu by kicking footballs into the crowd and saving one exuberant spectator from being …

Chapter 4: How Mobsters João and Ricardo got rich  Baur au Lac hotel,Zurich October 2010 ‘Mr Teixeira, Mr ‘Teixeira!’ Ricardo turns to look. It is a scruffy, grey-haired man in a Joe Colombo-style beige raincoat shouting at him from the hotel gateway. ‘Mr Teixeira, did you take your bribes through …

The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) continues to operate at the edge of financial ruin as, despite general secretary Sheldon Phillips’ sunny disposition, the local football body seems clueless about how to pay its bills while it allegedly dodges debtors. In January 2014, TTFA president Raymond Tim Kee agreed …

Trinidad and Tobago national football team head coach Stephen Hart admitted that the “Soca Warriors” will struggle to keep up with its rivals if the present financial woes continue. Last month, Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president Raymond Tim Kee and general secretary Sheldon Phillips promised camps for the …