Montreal's Marco Di Vaio is attending match-fixing hearings in Italy (CBC)
It looks like the Italian match fixing scandal may be washing up on the shores of MLS, albeit ever so briefly. Montreal Forward Marco Di Vaio will miss this weekend's match with the Philadelphia Union as he is in his native Italy answering charges related to the most recent allegations of match fixing in that country.
The charges stem from Di Vaio's time with Bologna. Much like Conte for Juventus, he is not charged with participating in the actual match fixing, but failure to report the activity to the Italian Footballing authorities. If found guilty on these charges, Di Vaio could face a six month ban from playing football anywhere, even in MLS. His MLS salary would also be subject to fine.
Di Vaio maintains his innocence and unlike Conte, has not sought a compromise or plea bargain. The Impact are confident that he will be cleared, and he's expected to return to Montreal on Sunday. Impact manager Jesse Marsch says he hasn't given it a second thought.
Di Vaio has struggled thus far in his first MLS campaign. He's only scored once in eight games, but his goal came in the Impact's last match against the Red Bulls, and the Impact were hopeful that he was finally finding his feet in the league. Rookie Andrew Wenger will start in his place against the Union.
Related to the same charges. Bologna captain Daniele Portanova faces a three year ban if convicted.
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