Jones and Yeboah were caught intentionally earning yellow cards to profit from prop bets according to the Scottish Sun and The Athletic, which is free to read for anyone using a browser that has read mode Interestingly, Yboah is now playing for Qingdao Hainiu in China, where most of the betting syndicates come from. I think this gives air to my conspiracy theory that Amundsen was faking his injury in the play that cost us the game against Portland. Anyone who wants to completely lose faith in this game and has an interest in this topic should read The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime. It's a fantastically demoralizing good time!
I'm not sure about the Amundsen bit. Faking injury to try and stop play is as old a trick as stop running when you feel contact and rolling over 34 times to convince the ref to give someone a yellow card. Also, making an accusation like that is really serious, so I'm not there. That being said, I can't blame you for connecting those dots.
It's not an accusation at this point, just a strong suspicion that I feel compelled to share on the internet.
Everything seems suspicious when you don't know how things work. If you don't understand why someone might have a leg cramp in the first match of the season, on artificial turf, in the dying minutes... you don't know the game. Sorry.
I called my own suspicions a conspiracy and linked a book from where my thoughts come from. See jairadballerina's response for how to politely and humorously state that you disagree. We're trying to have fun in here. Keep your negativity and insulting tone on X where it belongs.
You're suggesting that a player on our roster faked an injury that cost us a match, and you're suggesting that the reason he did it was related to gambling. I'm not interested in your suggestions on what tone I should take.
Not to mention, he clearly grabbed his foot and tried to stretch out his leg on the replay, like all payers do when they have a cramp. If you're going to fake an injury and maybe try and draw a foul, then roll around on the pitch and look like you're in agony, just like soccer players do around the world and are (rightfuly) mocked for. A leg cramp isn't an injury. It's a sign you lack fitness.
Also, sometimes things really hurt for a second and it goes away quickly, like stubbing your toe. It happens. Or... maybe it was the asian gambling syndicates striking again!! They'll bet on anything!
Yeah. When Frank was running a gambling syndicate out of his Vietnamese sweatshop lol. It was sometime in the first few seasons IIRC.
I think we can all agree that Amundsen's fall is not... unexpected. Essentially it's a 50-50 on if he will get banned from the league. Either he will, or he won't. I'm trying to think back and figure out if there were other signs of our boys throwing the bit for a payday. Sanneh's kick is up there. Chad McCarty getting a yellow every other match had to get him some money. Hell, Stern John betting on himself to score whenever he touched the ball would have been a pretty penny too.
Do you want the elephant in the room? Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler Up 2-0 against Mexico and the ref points to the PK spot. There. I said it. The quiet part out loud. When you deliberately miss a PK by that high and everyone says "he knew", then two people get busted for gambling, might there be more afoot? Mark Williams also got a ton of cards. What about Emmanuel "Mad Dog" Pogatetz or did his name not live up to the billing?
I really hope you guys aren't being sarcastic and have taken and read my flier on joining the dark side.
Makes perfect sense. Also explains the whole team and Issa as well. He's actually the smartest GM in the league, and our team is the best in the league. But he has multiple futures bets on us not making the playoffs and being the first GM fired this year so he hired Rydstrom to be a patsy and sink the season for us. Picard and Canacho are clearly in on it too. Probably Gazdag. Makes sense
Honestly, this kinda worked out well for MLS. They get to come out of the gate with the messaging of "if you bet on games while employee with an MLS team you get a lifetime ban". The players our not currently on the rosters so its an even easier message to send. You don't really have to navigate the players union in the same way. Much easier of a first case then what could have been. Also, MLS has to be aware that plenty of players are making less than a small town real estate agent and have way less of a potential upside comparative to other sports.
I'm waiting for the Kalshi market on the date that Tall Chris will get kicked out of SMG for having a Palestinian flag.
I'm kind of surprised that this sort of thing doesn't get a FIFA-wide ban. Maybe there's no authority for FIFA to do so? According to the players' union, Yeboah was making $663,750 in guaranteed salary with Columbus in 2023 and $550,000 with LAFC after that. Jones was making $387,00 with Columbus last year. If it were me and I got to go from Ghana to Gahanna making six figures playing soccer, I might just be content with life and not do corrupt stuff, but that's just me.
So what I'm reading is it's ok now, not that I suggest anyone doing anything to run the risk of punishment. With that said, does anyone know if "banned for life" mean "from all activities" a la Pete Rose or is it "banned from playing"? I'd imagine there'll eventually be a 2023 team reunion like there was one in 2018 and maybe even could be in 2028.
Here is my question: why isn't the platform/company they placed, and subsequently won, bets with, able to sue the everloving shit out of them for placing bets on things they could, and did, control the outcome of. If this was the stock market, the SEC would be beating down their door. You win a prop bet for Derrick Jones getting a yellow in a match and YOU'RE DERRICK JONES? Hmm, convenient. Did some random audit of the betting platforms come up with the info? Curious as to how they were identified.
Hernandez didnt bet on his own games at least. For yaw and Jones, the betting companies might get restitution as part of the criminal case