By Terry Maddaford, Sapa-AFP and Reuters
Charles Dempsey received a "death threat" in Zurich - and it killed South Africa's 2006 World Cup hopes. The threat and an envelope, containing a bribe, pushed under his hotel room led to Dempsey betraying South Africa by refusing to vote for us, as he had been told to do.
Together they put the 78-year-old Oceania Football Confederation representative "under unsustainable pressure", as he put it in an interview on Friday.
So he stayed silent.
This cost us the Cup on Thursday - and will on Sunday almost certainly cost him his job as Oceania Football Confederation representative when he tries to explain why he defied his confederation's order to vote for South Africa once England had been eliminated.
Fifa is investigating all aspects of the voting, but the bad news for South Africa is that, whatever the outcome, there will be no re-count.
By Friday night, a picture of a bewildered, scared old man far out of his depth in Zurich ("it was like Hollywood") was emerging.
In his interview on Friday, Dempsey tried to explain his action to an enraged South Africa, his prime minister and his football friends.
"I was under tremendous pressure. I never thought the World Cup was so important to so many people," he said. "The pressure I was under was unsustainable. It was like a Hollywood production. I made a decision (to abstain) that I think was right."
Dempsey flew to the Euro 2000 final and a meeting of Uefa (the European Confederation) before going on to Zurich for the World Cup vote.
"On the last evening (before the vote), my life became unbearable. My night's sleep was interrupted by five phone calls. I got an envelope under my door which offered gifts if I voted for a certain country, which I won't name. They also gave me a phone number to call.
"As far as I know, I was the only one to receive such an offer. I did not make any calls, as I feared my phone might have been bugged and people could have made assumptions.
"I was scared standing there at 5am with this thing (envelope) in my hand.
"I immediately gave it to David Will, who is a Fifa vice-president and a Scottish lawyer, and asked him to take it straight to Fifa.
"As far as I am concerned, I did the right thing," said Dempsey. "I made a clear statement before any ballot that I would abstain once England was eliminated.
"If this is football, I will really have to consider my future. I would never go through this again. If I get back into New Zealand alive, I will make a statement at a press conference on Monday.
"If I had cast my vote in that final ballot, I was going to be damned whichever way I voted. I am disappointed that so many people are jumping to conclusions.
"You have known me for 100 years and what I have done for football," added Dempsey. "You know I would not play games like this. The field is too big."
Dempsey's decision to abstain proved decisive, as a tied 12-12 vote would have left Fifa president Sepp Blatter with the casting vote - which would have gone to South Africa.
Meanwhile, Fifa communications director Keith Cooper implied that Dempsey had received death threats before the vote.
Cooper, who attended Thursday's executive committee meeting, said: "Charlie referred at the beginning of the meeting to legal advice which he had taken because of the difficult personal situation he found himself in, and I would absolutely subscribe to the description he has given of intolerable and unbearable personal pressure."
Asked to describe the pressure Dempsey was under, Cooper said: "Think of your own personal safety and that of the people who are close and dear to you."
When asked if Dempsey meant death threats, he replied: "If you want to interpret it that way, I would not disagree with it."
Fifa said yesterday it was opening an internal inquiry. In a separate announcement in Johannesburg, South Africa's unsuccessful bid committee said it was launching its own probe.
But a Fifa source said: "At the moment, nothing is putting the decision to award the 2006 World Cup to Germany in question."
Meanwhile, a German satirical magazine, Titanic, has claimed responsibility for "hoax" bribe letters sent out the night before the voting.
And German bid committee chief Franz Beckenbauer denounced claims that Germany had engaged in dubious tactics to obtain the tournament as "primitive and ridiculous", adding that the German people were sorry for South Africa.
Dempsey's failure to back the South African bid met with consternation in New Zealand. The country's sports minister, Trevor Mallard, branded him "an international embarrassment".
"I'm shocked that one individual seems to have abused his voting right by disregarding instructions on voting requirements," he said.
"As Oceania's representative, Mr Dempsey was under instruction to support the South African bid once England had dropped out."
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said she was upset and had phoned President Thabo Mbeki to commiserate.
However, Mbeki said Dempsey's role should not be blamed on her government. "It's not a New Zealand thing. It is Mr Dempsey," Mbeki told reporters in Pretoria.
Mbeki also promised Clark he would caution South Africa soccer fans against misdirecting their wrath. He said the New Zealand High Commission in Pretoria had received several abusive calls.
Uefa president Lennart Johansson, of Sweden, said on Friday he would "strongly favour" European support for an African candidate to host the 2010 World Cup. He made it clear he wants the introduction of a rotation system.