On Tuesday, the most notorious match-fixer in the world had admitted that he has no evidence to support his claim that the Cameroon national team had fixed all of its three group matches at this year's World Cup.
According to a report by the Telegraph, convicted fixer Wilson Raj Perumal said through his official biographers that he had told a German journalist that he believed there were "seven rotten apples" in the Cameroon team who had fixed all of the squad's three matches in the tournament against Brazil, Croatia and Mexico. However, he categorically denied predicting the 4-0 outcome of the Croatia-Cameroon match prior to its actual game on June 18.
The paper's Telegraph Sport had seen screengrabs of a series of conversations between Perumal and the German journalist who had written the story on Facebook and noted that the exchanges took place just after the game. Perumal has since denied that he had talked to the journalist between June 11 and 20.
""The Facebook chat with the Der Spiegel journalist took place a few days after the match - June 21st, as confirmed by my Facebook log - and was but an informal assessment of the behavior of the Cameroon team at the Brazil 2014 World Cup after they had played two of their three group stage matches, including the one with Croatia. At no time did I make reference to four goals being scored or to a red card being issued. At no time did I suggest that I had any way of corroborating or substantiating what was meant to be an educated guess based on my extensive match-fixing experience. Last but not least: at no time was I informed by the Der Spiegel journalist that our chat was going to end up in the German publication. I apologize to the Cameroon FA and to its fans if I inadvertently offended them; it was not my intention."
Perumal is said to be in Hungary assisting with inquiries on match-fixing. He is also set to release his match-making memoir titled "Kelong Kings."
One highlight in the game is Cameroon player Alex Song elbowing Croatian player Mario Mandzukic. A source close to the Barcelona player has since denied Song's involvement in the alleged match-fixing.
Der Spiegel, on the other hand, has since released a statement and is standing by with its claims.
