Somehow the soccer seems just a sideshow.
The World Cup rumbles on with so much going on off the field - ticket fraud arrests, violent fans in court, the threat of political demonstrations, quarrels between players and one even kicked off his squad.Oh, and Austria tied 1-1 with Chile and Italy downed Cameroon 3-0 Wednesday.
With his team almost certainly tumbling out of the World Cup, Austrian substitute Ivica Vastic fired an injury-time goal against Chile after Marcelo Salas got his third of the championship.
Christian Vieri tied Salas atop the scorers list with two late strikes after Luigi Di Biagio headed in the first goal as the Italians went to the top of Group B, where the other three games have been draws. They also welcomed back Alessandro Del Piero after a monthlong absence for a thigh injury.
Thursday's games feature host France against Saudi Arabia at Saint-Denis and Denmark against South Africa in Toulouse.
Before Wednesday's games kicked off, police sources announced the first arrests in an international scandal that left thousands of fans without paid-for World Cup tickets.
French authorities arrested three people, including a consultant for a subsidiary of FIFA's exclusive marketing partner, ISL. A large amount of cash and about 100 Cup tickets were found and more arrests were expected.
The fallout continued from the fan violence involving English and Tunisian fans in Marseille three days ago.
More than 100 people remained jailed, some having received sentences of at least two months and others kept behind bars until the World Cup ends July 12.
The political significance of Sunday's U.S.-Iran game at Lyon now has two angles.
The Iranian government remains upset with the broadcast of a U.S. film, "Not Without My Daughter," which paints an unflattering picture of Islamic Iran. It considered pulling Iran from the championship but then decided against it.
Then it was the turn of Iranian exile groups to threaten unspecified demonstrations against the Tehran government at Sunday's game.
The Patrick Kluivert-Lorenzo Staelens dispute, which started with the Dutchman's expulsion from the Netherlands-Belgium game, took a new twist.
Kluivert, sent off for elbowing the Belgian defender in the chest, reportedly explained their exchange of words during the 0-0 tie at Saint-Denis.
"Staelens called me a rapist," Kluivert told the Algemeen Dagblad for Wednesday's edition. "I heard this and I could no longer control myself."
Kluivert was accused, but never charged, last June in a case involving an alleged gang rape in Amsterdam.
While Kluivert was serving a two-match suspension for his expulsion, Colombia's Faustino Asprilla would take no further part in the championship after mouthing off about his coach.
The feisty forward was upset at being replaced late in Monday's 1-0 loss to Romania. So he voiced his dismay on the radio and was told by coach Hernan Dario Gomez not to come back.
"There is a limit for everything, and this time he went over the limit," said Gomez, who was pressured by the president of Colombia to reconsider, but, backed by his soccer federation, he stood firm.
For the second game in a row, the Austrians scored an injury-time tying goal. Against Cameroon it was Tony Polster, this time it was Vastic.
The Chileans, who were unlucky to concede a late Roberto Baggio penalty kick after leading 2-1, were sickened by another late equalizer.
At Montpellier, Vieri got two goals in the last 15 minutes.
Cameroon lost Raymond Kalla Nkongo for a controversial red card for a cleats-first, two-footed slide into Di Biagio for the fourth expulsion of the World Cup in the 20th game.