MAMELODI Sundowns’ Nyasha Mushekwi says he asked to be substituted in one of the matches investigated by the Zifa Ethics Committee for alleged match-fixing in Asia, as “he was uncomfortable playing for a pre-determined result”.
Report by Sport Reporter
Mushekwi, responding through his lawyers Hogwe, Dzimirai&Partners after yesterday’s article which stated that he had escaped a life ban, said he only played three matches instead of the nine and was never a core figure in match-fixing.
“On the single trip he made to Asia, he played three games. The Warriors lost the match 0-3 and won the second game 3-0 with our client scoring a hat-trick. We understand the third game was at the centre of match-fixing allegations. The Warriors lost that game 6-0. Undisputed evidence is that our client requested his own substitution because he was uncomfortable with playing for a pre-determined result.
“When the coach of the day refused to substitute him, he feigned injury thereby forcing the coach to substitute him.”
The game in question – the 6-0 loss – is part of trips undertaken under a cloud of secrecy in December 2009. The first stop was in Bangkok where each player was paid between $1 000 and $5 000 to lose 0-3 to Thailand.
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The national team proceeded to Malaysia during the same trip to produce another pre-determined 0-3 result against the host national side before it got worse in the third encounter in Syria where the shadowy Zimbabwean side received a 0-6 drubbing.
Mushekwi, in his initial testimony to the investigating committee said: “We . . . played Syria and (earlier) we were addressed at the hotel to lose 3-0. During the game they kept on increasing our losing margin, ie giving instructions to concede until we were down by 6-0.”