TOKYO: The latest twist in a La Liga match-fixing investigation has left the Japanese Football Association and head coach Javier Aguirre (pictured) in an awkward position with the Mexican’s future unclear less than a month out from their Asian Cup title defence.
Aguirre was among 41 people named by Spain’s anti-corruption prosecutor, who filed its case in a Valencia court on Monday following a probe into Real Zaragoza’s 2-1 win at Levante on the final day of the 2010-11 campaign.
The victory ensured Zaragoza, coached by Aguirre at the time, avoided relegation.
The prosecutor alleges that the Levante players were paid a total of 965,000 euros in cash to deliberately lose the game with the Mexican named as one of three people who distributed the money to their opponents.
Aguirre has repeatedly denied the claims, and on Monday said he was not concerned about the long-discussed case after naming his 23-man squad for the January 9-31 tournament in Australia.
“At the Asian Cup I will just be concentrating on the sports and competition side of things,” he told reporters.
But with the prosecutor’s filing coming hours later, uncertainty arose about whether the JFA might be tempted to temporarily -- or permanently -- remove the coach they only appointed in July to avoid the situation overshadowing them at Asia’s biggest soccer tournament. Many fans of the Blue Samurai, a record four-times Asian champions, took to social media calling on the former Atletico Madrid and Mexico coach to be stood down.
Attempts to contact the JFA yesterday went unanswered.
Earlier this month, the Mexican and his lawyer had a two-hour meeting with the JFA and their lead attorney Yutaka Miyoshi about the case.
Reuters
