Day 18
06.26.2006Technorati tags: soccer World Cup
The World Cup has gone insane. Seriously. It's bad enough that the referees are inconsistent — except in their penchant for an incredible number of yellow & red cards. But this is madness. I missed the game (see post below), but Portugal v. Holland ended w/ only 9 players on the field for each team. 9 players!
I also missed the Germany v. Sweden, Argentina v. Mexico, and England v. Ecuador matches. But lots of cards & complaints against the referees in those games, too.
Look. Of course people complain about referees when they lose. But there's been complaints about the referees after every single match, even by disinterested parties. Legendary German player, Franz Beckenbauer publicly denounces the referees to FIFA (the governing body in international soccer), I think you've got a problem, eh?
I've also seen Australia lose to Italy on a last second (literally, the ref blew his whistle immediately after) on one of the most obvious, blatant dive by an Italian forward I've ever seen. And Italian forwards are world famous for their piscinazos. I mean, the guy jumped over a fallen defender, landed on his knees, and after seeing that the ref called a foul, smiled the most menacing, knowing smile, before his teammates congratulated him. Of course, Totti put the ball in the net. Bullocks! The Socceroos were controlling that game, and about to take it into overtime (where they'd likely beat Italy in a stunning upset).
In contrast, today's Switzerland v. Ukraine match was something of a stunner. This ref rarely used his whistle at all, prompting players to hit each other as hard & as often as they possibly could. It turned into a brutal, sloppy game that ended in penalty kicks.
Anyhow. As of today, I've caught up on the World Cup news. All the scores are noted on my BBC World Cup wallchart. Tomorrow I get to root for Ghana (because why not root for the African underdog against Brazil?) & Spain (because I think France shouldn't even be in the Final 16).
Posted by Miguel at 09:21 PM
Comments
Even I, who know shit about soccer, was able to notice numerous faking in Portugal v. Netherlands game. It was good TV, but it wasn't sport. That's why I love today's article about it in The New York Times. So true.
Posted by: Nenad at June 27, 2006 09:44 AM
Argh. I was so sad to see Spain go down today. While I'm not as knowledgable as you regarding the sport, I've been enjoying following the cup when I can. I was really rooting for them as they've played a couple of good games in the past and well...I just really didn't want to see France proceed any further.
I didn't catch Ghana vs. Brazil...well, I ended up deleting it from my moxi after they announced the 3-0 win Brazil won during Spain vs. France. While expected, its too bad to see Ghana go. I would have liked to have seen an upset at that game.
Anyway, I hope all is well.
Best,
Josh
Posted by: JoshU at June 28, 2006 02:12 AM
Post a comment