Page "Match fixing" Paragraph 20

The FIFA tie-breaker, or any goal-differential scheme, can cause problems, too.

There have been incidents ( especially in basketball ) where players on a favored team have won the game but deliberately ensured the quoted point spread was not covered ( see point shaving ).

Conversely, there are cases where a team not only lost ( which might be honest ) but lost by some large amount, perhaps to ensure a point spread was covered, or to grant some non-gambling related favor to the victor.

Perhaps the most famous alleged example was the match between Argentina and Peru in the 1978 FIFA World Cup.

Argentina needed a four goal victory to advance over Brazil, an enormous margin at this level of competition, especially since Argentina had a weak offense ( 6 goals in 5 games ) and Peru a stout defence ( 6 goals allowed in 5 games ).

Yet somehow, Argentina won 6-0.

Much was made over political collusion, that the Peruvian goalkeeper was born in Argentina, and that Peru was dependent on Argentinian grain shipments, but nothing was ever proven.