Graft raid mars 'beautiful game'

Latin America is the cradle of some of soccer's greatest stars, but Wednesday's arrest of top FIFA officials from the region in an international corruption sting underlines the ugly side of its "beautiful game."

Of the seven soccer officials hauled in by Swiss police in a dawn raid at a Zurich luxury hotel, five are Latin American, including Uruguay's Eugenio Figueredo, executive vice-president of FIFA, and Brazil's Jose Maria Marin, a member of the FIFA organizing committee for Olympic soccer.

Paraguayan Nicolas Leoz, a former FIFA executive committee member and ex-president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), is also facing charges but has so far avoided arrest because he is in Paraguay, where he was hospitalized after hearing the news.