Big Question: Are the Referees Ruining the World Cup?

I do not think the constant yellow and red cards have taken anything from the games.

If FIFA is to look at the amount of cards given they should also look at the players seeking these cards using diving as a strategy. It seems that many teams are intentionally creating fouls instead of using skills to create a strategic advantage, and this I find very annoying.

Korea’s opening game is a good example.

No. It’s not the refs

I think the refs did all they could to get fair plays.

The problem is the players are too “smart”. The refs was cheated by the players.

Solutions: (1)give the refs more tools (ie: new technologies) (2) give coaches power to object ref’s calls at least 3 times a game.

I have seen few unjustified yellow/red cards in this World Cup. The violence has escalated from 2002, and FIFA has instructed the refs to clamp down on this even more.

If the referre can win a game, the referee should be the champion, not de italians, who usually play disty.

I don’t think the quantity of cards is a problem. If they are deserved, then fair enough. But is this the case? I don’t think this is the case, at least not always. What I am more annoyed, extremely annoyed, is at called penalties that do not exist, existing penalties that are not called, offsides called after goals that later on prove to have the players perfectly enabled and so on.

And do they learn from one game to the next one? No. They do the same again and again. Anyone thinks they are really so idiots or it looks more like intentional?

And has anyone noticed how frequently after 80 minutes of a game a controversial action is done by a referee that decides (or has a major impact in) the result of a game? Why this happens most frequently in the last minutes than in the first ones, when there is not time to recover for the unfairly treated team?

Sorry but this looks like a joke. But no surprises after all. It is not the first time. And I am not that optimistic as to think this is the last time either.

I truly believe that the worst part of the World Cup is the role of the referees. They are having terrible performances in many games. So I agree… Referees are ruining the world cup by far!

Ask me again after tomorrow’s matches.

I don’t think football just became more aggresive overnight. The cards are excessive. Whatever Fifa is doing in terms of guidance for refs, clearly isn’t working. Cards are not the first resort for game control a good ref is.

Wow, I read through the comments and so far I am very surprised. The refereeing has been very suspect. Its not necesarily that too many yellow cards or red cards. Its the inconsistency behind it. I have watched several games and it’s been amazing how bad some of those calls have been. There has to be some type of pre world cup training and/or clinics.

The one blatant game that I saw which the refereeing was extremely poor was the USA/Italy game. In this case I believe the referees ruined the game. Lets hope these last few games that the refereeing is better. Last thing I ever want to see is have the referees decide the match.

E4L

Luis said: “I don’t think football just became more aggresive overnight.”

I agree. The players are still playing with the intensity and mentality that carried over from qualification. In their heads, they’re playing “by the laws of the game”.

If FIFA decided to “crack down” and enforce the laws more vigorously, then that should have begun during the run-up to the Cup, during the qualification stage.

That would mean that everyone would have had plenty of time to adjust to the new interpretations.

It’s just silly to begin officiating a brand new way at the culmination of the the event.

It is a given – and also part of the game – that referees are going to make some mistakes. Face it, it is a hard job differentiating honest tackles and physical challenges from bad fouls; especially when most players seem to be waiting for the slightest contact to flop around as if shot by a sniper bullet.
I have no issue with the yellow cards; the problem comes when mistakes by the referees end up defining game after game.

This world cup is horrible. These refs, i think they smoke crack at halftime. It makes you wonder about those refs headpieces they have on to communicate with each other. the fifa is corrupted up the ass. Blatter wants the perfect last 8, the perfect last 4, and the perfect final. Which would only see the traditional teams play. In return equal money and ratings for sir asshole blatter. Lets face it every worldcup is fixed. Always has always will be. Yet i still love watching it, go figure. I from Mexico, and i couldn’t bare 2 watch the argentines dive like little girls. Or the yellow on heinze which should have been a red. Its was a great game for both teams. great goals. In the end who would want 2 see Mexico against germany? fifa doesn’t. Again fifa is corrupt. they are your typical drugdealers out to sell u cheap crack and we all still comeback 2 them because we all need are quickfix of futbol. Even if it means waitng another 4 years.

i cant really blame the referees. they are under so much pressure to control games and like someone said, the players are so smart at diving. i’ve wondered if increasing the number of linesmen to 4 [one for every side] would improve their performances i.e. if referees get more imput from linesmen.

It’s not the refs, it’s the rules. The rules are flawed because they make the consequences of a penalty too severe (almost-guaranteed goal on penalty kick, playing shorthanded the balance of a match for a red card, etc) which motivates players to seek drawing penalties from the opposition by flopping or diving). Plus, there’s only one ref on a giant pitch. It’s impossible to expect reffing not to become a controversy under these circumstances. And it puts too much of the game in the ref’s hands. Check every World Cup – the reffing is a big a story game as the play. And it’s because the rules all but guarntee it.

Soccer will never not have reffing issues unless it implements rules that make so much determinative on a single ref. It could start by moving the penalty kick spot back to a place where the outcome is about 50/50, not an 80% chance of a goal. This would mitigate the consequences of a dubious call.

Couple of typos in that post of mine. The most important: the last para should be – “rules that DON’T make so much determinative on a single ref.”

John,

Respectfully. I disagree with you. Moving PK spot further away makes PK not a penalty any more. Like today, Swiss missed 3 PK in a row. At current PK spot, it’s good already.

Damn Ukraine Switz game came off clean as a whisle. Card free although plenty of chances to give more than a few if going by some of the latest games standards. Good job FIFA!

Sad day for football – Australia kicked out by an incomptent referee and an Olympic dive. 2 incompetent teams, Switzerland and the Ukraine, boring the fans for over 2 hours. These 2 teams should have never made it this far. A cake walk from here on for the diving Italiens (cheaters!)

futbol,

I’m told that penalty kicks are generally converted at about a rate of 80% (the Swiss notwithstanding). This is ridiculously high. It’s almost automatic. It would be like a penalty shot in ice hockey taking place with the goalie out of the net.

Of the fouls committed in the box in the World Cup to date, did the offensive players generally have an 80% chance of scoring except for the foul? I highly doubt it.

The problem with such severe consequences (i.e. near automatic goal) for a penalty in the box is that (i) it’s disproportionately high and (ii) it magnifies any mistake a ref may make.

Soccer would not lose its essence if the spot were moved back to whatever distance makes it about a 50/50 chance. It would be much fairer, would decrease the extreme value of diving in that area and make the ref less of a determining factor in the game – all good things in my view.

What did you think of the red card given to Deco in the Portugul vs. Netherlands game? Is it true that the authorities are considering pulling the card because they thought the ref made a mistake?

I agree with futbol.

Either sit a ref in front of a TV and with a radio linkup to the main ref or let the coach challenge up to 3 decisions.

Video replay is not the way to go I don’t think.

Even in the NFL and NHL, replay is not used to change a judgmental penalty decision by a ref I believe.

1. Put more than one ref on that giant field. Duh.

2. Reduce the extremely favourable reward for a penalty in the box by moving the spot back so it’s a 50/50 chance of scoring so that the refs decision is not so determinative and diving is not so heavily reward.

3. Introduce other rule changes to increase scoring opportunities so that players are less motivated to create them through drawing fouls on other players.

4. Penalize diving and fouling severely but in balance to one another.

Some good ideas here but here are the right answers:

1. Blue Card – Play Review: optionally shown by referee instead of an immediate Red – This indicates that TV camera views and expert observers will be consulted for 2 minutes to Verify the severity of foul, if any – Converts to Red card/Free Kick/Penalty as needed after review only. (Referee consults with designated FIFA experts)
[ This will also reduce faking out the referee as appropriate punishment to include Sending off or 15 minute suspension can be given subsequently to Diver/Oscar candidate] This type of process is quite efficent in the American NFL. Use Technology! – for the Ball location too!

2. Punish open Dissent by 15 minute suspension after 1st warning ignored. Subsequent offence = Red Card.

3. Have 2 Referees – Normally one ref. will run with the ball play while the other lingers back stragically for perspective view.

Refs will talk to each other over wireless /headphones – This will help catch off the ball offences. Either ref. can stop the play at any time for fouls off the ball and an obvious mistake can be overriden immediately by the off the play referee after consultation or Blue card Play review.

ref must confirm it by tv monitor before judging, i think. or somepeople who is moniting tv tell ref what is ture.
you know the ref has a headphone.

I also think with todays technology there must be a way to confirm some of these controversial decisions. The ref just has too much power in swaying the game.

Question: Are the referees ruining the World Cup?

Answer: Yes.

The refs have played a role in ultimately deciding the outcome of SOME games, but all of the FIFA ‘official’ rules have constrained them. I also blame the ethics of some teams as it’s all about winning. I understand winning is wonderful, but teams shouldn’t be trained to win all the time. I think losing matches can keep individuals grounded and it helps to develop character. Soccer is a beautiful game when cleanfully played, but some people are so driven to win that they’ll resort to brutal tactics in order to secure a goal. That type of stuff needs to changed immediately.

It is unfortunate that the Australia – Italy game was decided by a referee with only seconds to go. Someone should keep watching his bank account for extra funds appearing.
Instead it shouyld have been allowed to go to Overtimes where the players could decide the game.
Grotesque call!

Wow, these refs are gullible! The players are manipulating them like crazy. Is this a new trend or just World Cup desperation. Italy has had 2 r 3 games dropped into their laps by biased calls. Yes — refs play favorites. And this time, they like Italy. Yes — refs are degrading the competition. Where’s Collina!! I desperately wish Italy and Portugal would play each other. Let’s see how good Italy really is when they are getting their faces smashed in.

I think the fact that as spectators we can see that many of the decisions are incorrect, or that a player is diving, speaks volume that something should be done to aid the referee’s or the rules.

Players are always going to push the rules to the limit, that is the nature of competition. It is up to FIFA to provide a change.

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: The referees are having too much impact on the matches. If they weren’t, this question would not be getting asked. Just the fact that it is being asked means the referees are having too much impact. Where the blame should be placed is the better question. Is FIFA pressuring the referees too much to give cards? Are the referees being too inconsistent? I think both are true. Some of these cards being handed out wouldn’t even be a penalty at a high school match, let alone should they be at the world cup. I think that’s from FIFA’s pressure. I believe the inconsistency has a lot to do with FIFA too. The ref doesn’t know if he should call it like he normally does or how FIFA is currently pressuring him too and this creates inconsistency. I don’t think the players are to blame. I have never liked how they go down and act as if they just got mauled by a bear. But the problem is the referee actually believes there was a bear. If the player rolled around and no card was given, I guarantee that they’d start getting right back up after a hard tackle instead of trying to win an Oscar. In the world cup, ever player is very good. Any advantage for any team at any point could change the result. The players are just manipulating the referees for that slight advantage, and so far the referees have played along. I don’t think technology necessarily needs to be used. Every foul would be disputed… how do you determine which fouls can be reviewed? I’m not sure football has a place for technology yet. Even if a call was reviewed and found to be erroneous, what do you do about it? The game has already been stopped and whoever the bad call was against has already lost whatever advantage he may have had.

Human error is okay — human stupidity is unacceptable. Late penalty kicks, absurd amount of cards, inconsistency — this cup is being played by the referees more than the players. So many players are going to have carried yellows that the final is going to start out 8 vs 8. And if anyone didn’t know, Ukraine’s uniforms are not cloth and are in fact made out of all the cards handed out so far.

Whatever happened to indirect free kicks? Wasn’t it the result of a non-deliberate obstruction?

To me, the Italy-Australia penalty shouldn’t have been. However, Neil was definetly obstructing the Italian player, although non-willingly. It is true the Italian player might have looked for the body, but it did impede him of going the way he was going, so to me it was definetly a disadvantage for the striker and probably deserved some sort of call. But not a direct free-kick / penalty. Especially because he was not the last man, as Craig Moore was right in front of the ball too.

Yes the refs and FIFA are making the game a farce. That, I believe is why it has not, nor will ever really break into the North American market as FIFA would like. Sure there are fans here. Most with, ties to other parts of the world, heavily european. That is why FIFA has a “script” for the refs to follow that puts through teams like Portugal, Italy, ..proably Spain, and even England so to keep the masses happy. Do you think we would follow the Cup so closely if South Koreia, Gana, and the Swiss were through. NO.. FIFA needs to have the big teams through so they let, or tell thir REFS to ” do what it takes” to get them through.

i didn’t like the rulling i saw in last few games, not to mention ivanov, the soccer is better than the judging, that’s for sure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwGBSSgr4XA

As long as I can remember, if you score more goals than the other team you win. Regardless of the ref. Score more goals and you will not have to worry about the ref, Period. Stop the whinning

Robert … maybe they could score more goals if the refs didnt stop the game every time an itailan/portgusse/argentine player was gentley touched by thier opponents.. Since the “Dive” has slowed the game right down….

I believe that FIFA should evaluate the performance of all the referees and let me tell you that most of the games became violent because the referees did not have the personality or “”guts”" to call the right game. lets not fall into politics and assign referees because of friendship, lets assign referees because they have the knowledge and love the game that rules the world of sports. Hoping that at the next world-cup we have better soccer officials.

[...] Like a nosebleed you didn’t really need, Australia beats to a bothersome frustration this morning…Ah well, what do you do? The World Cup Blog poses an interesting question that most of our Aussie readers may care to answer: “Are the Referees Ruining the World Cup?” [...]

Sour grapes, I’ve watched 80% of
the games and zipped through the
other 20%. I have yet to see one
game where I agreed with every decision the ref made. I haven’t
seen one match where the fouls and cards were one sided. If he let play continue, the Italians
would be crying foul.
One more thing..go Azurri!!!

That Penalty goal, given to the Italian’s v Australia, was such a incorrect desicion. I can’t believe that all that preparation, all that hard work, comming down to a fake actor, come soccer player, rigged!

I wouldn’t mind except it seems all the bad game-changing calls go against the teams I’m supporting.

I watched the World Cup, for the first time in Australia. The Football i watched, was unbelievably fatastic to watch.
The skills were electric, the speed was fast, the goals were there, the desicions were always suspect,(you very rarely get a desicion going your way)but one thing stood out a mile and frustrated me, in my opinion it tanishes the game, HARSH PENALTIES FOR DELIBERATE DIVING OR FAKING AN INJURY FOR A FREE KICK!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m Italian and very glad Italy won, but I think the don’t deserve this win and the penalty call was incorrect. I think the italian diver should have been yellow carded because of his dive. He should have been able to jump over the australian defender that was already on the floor.
It’s a bit sad the some officials are giving poor calls.

And the RC on Matterazzi?
Deserved? Maybe. But tell me that the Ausies didn’t as bad or
worse. The losing fans always gripe about bad calls, maybe the roos should have scored a
couple when they dominated the second half. If you feel better believing that the best team lost, fine.

No I don’t think the referee’s are doing a bad job considering fifa hasn’t adopted any new technologies to call the game more accurately. What I do think is wrong is that the president of fifa shortly after the Portugal and Netherland game discredited the referee and let him hang out to dry. That game was filled with dire emotion, and disrespect of both teams for eachother. In competition were both sides put fair play secondary any referee will have difficulties. I think the players are to blame, and the coaches as well for not settling them down. The referee has only two tools to calm a game a yellow and red card. Maybe fifa should look into holding the coaches accountable for there teams actions, and modernize the calling of the game to include video replay. Being Canadian if this was hockey the majority of the players would have been sent to the penalty box!

Hey Danny, tell me you didn’t
scream when Totti scored.
Next we chew up the Ukranians
like potatos and celebrate with a glass of frozen Vodka.

You’re kidding your self Frank. The Italians got through by cheating.

Like in North America, it should be obvious to all aussies by now that despite the very high skill levels shown by soccer players, ultimately the game is a crock. We’ll support our team whenever it’s playing, but given a games outcome is so heavily dependent on some dodgy whistleblower, there’s no point in taking the sport seriously. Aussies will stay committed to the sports where outcome is more dependant on the relative quality of the teams that are playing.

Yes they are.
The referees in this world cup are same ones that we saw do a great job in the champions league or the copa lebertadores this year and last year and most of them are top refrees. I was surprised to see the same referees make errors after errors. I came to the conclusion that fifa itself is behind this performance, because they gave unrealistic instructions and putthese poor refs under unnecessary pressure. Now we are seeing the result of fifa’s get tough policy. Though we know refs are human beings and can make mistakes and it’s expecteed, but why this world cup is different than the previous one. Unless of course like I said before “it’s fifa’s instruction”.
Why are all erroniously given penalties or the ones that weren’t given for that matter were envolving teams outside the continent of Europe? Just a thought! perhaps fifa has an agenda here far bigger than the ref’s themselves!!!

Alan, you should re-watch the incident. Clearly Grosso was over the defender and used his left hand to ” knock ” the ankle
of Grosso and bring him down. Did he embelish, we’ll never know. I have the game capped on
my PC and on my PVR in HD. I’d
be happy to e-mail the video or
JPG of the hand coming up and hitting the foot/ankle. This of course was after he undressed the first Ausie defender. 8^)

I’ll have another look Frank. But it doesn’t alter the fact that the outcome of games is so dependant on very questionable decisions rather than team ability.

If FIFA has some agenda in favouring the ‘big’ nations, they’re certainly doing themselves no favour in the long run, because they’re alienating potentially huge growth markets in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.

I didn’t believe it, but now I think the answer is yes.
In the first round I thought the referees were doing a nice job, even though some cards seemed too harsh. However, the refereeing in this 2nd round has been bad, and keeps getting worse. 4 red cards. A penalty for Italy that shouldn’t have been awarded. True fouls not called. Dives called. And why did FIFA put European referees in the England and Italy matches? Aren’t the referees supposed to come from neutral confederations?

Alan, I do agree, the punishment for fouls is too harsh. All team sports suffer from the same problem though. A subjective decision made in a split second from one angle.The WC calls are amplified greatly with a large portion of the world watching. My spin is that had the defender not panicked and gone down so early, the ref may not have made the call. The ref could have let it go, but impeding a player’s progress is a foul, accidental or otherwise.

Olivia,

That’s Futbol, all calls are subjective. In Korea in 2002 I felt cheated in that match, now
I feel happy. Wait until Germany/Argentina game. You should see some very one sided calls in Germany’s favor. Look at the history of host nations
progress, it’s pretty obvious.

Yes, i believe that poor and inconsistent officiating is ruining the world cup.

Today, ridiculous calls in the Italy/Australia match decided the contest, which had been a battle. The game should have gone into overtime and settled by skill and endurance.

In ludicrous, ridiculous sharp contrast to this was the Switzerland/Ukraine match which was very evenly played and hotly contested- with a total- and noticable – lack of cards.

Officiating a match isn’t about cards, it’s about managing fair play on the field. The Italy match, and unfortunately many others- are being decided by poor officials who are now awarding games.

The FIFA presidents response to the Portugal/Netherlands game was insulting and flippant. The fact that Figo will not be punished for a HEADBUTT is suspect at best. Figo may not be Christ, but he’s being treated like a deity.

I love this game, but the day a ‘dive win’ is sophisticated play, is a sad day for anyone who has a passion for the game.

the ref are mostly fine , but one that i would have to complain about is the one ref-ing the netherland vs ivory coast game – he missed the crucial fouls and handed out yellow cards when minimal contact occured! The ivory coast players deserved a win !! another very controversial ref-ing is the italian vs the socceroos over the penalty given over the trip! c’mon the aussies were great!

Refereeing at the World Cup is inconsistent. It is inconsistent. Again, it is inconsistent.

If it were consistent, there would be no need for bullshit arguments like harsher penalties for diving and moving the spot kick farther away. Those are all stopgap measures that backfire later.

That was no penalty. Far from it. Refs are normally quite reluctant to call a penalty at the very end of a regulation tie unless the foul is just utterly glaringly egregious, which this one was far from. Italy may have gotten the red but the ref was pretty plainly doing what he could to even things up, calling soft fouls and showig soft yellows to the Australians. I became convinced that had the game gone to extra time, there was no way Italy would have to play the length of it a man down. But what this ref did was to effectively hand the game to the Italians. It really was that poor a call, made in terrible judgment from the standpoint that you’ve got to have a much better reason than that to hand a team a penalty as the last play of the game. It was utterly shameful. For my money, things like this reflect far worse than the Russian ref being unable to control two sides of hotheads in the Portugal X Netherlands match.

sadly, the answer is yes. But it isn’t just the referees fault. players know that the ref is under pressure to make a snap decision. they also know that refs are reluctant to call someone out for faking because it is a lot worse if they get that call wrong. All the refs should immediately call any biggish incident and review with each other. there should be a second ref on the field – who is clearly still subordinate to the main ref. They should have the option of going to video when there is disagreement – but it should be time limited. Even on TV replays it is sometimes hard to tell what happened.

The biggest problem though is communication – good referees TALK to teh players. players test refs in teh first few minutes. they go in for a bit of a hard tackle. if nothing is called then they go a bit harder. if they get carded for a lightish tackle quickly (to set a tone) and then not for one later then they get a confused message. THe ref should call them aside and tell them verbally to cut it out. they should be clear about advantage.

And finally – the rule clearly states that level is NOT offside – so why are they calling it?

one more – FIFA should step up and take responsibility for correcting errors automatically that are clearly egregious. Figo should be banned for four games just like diRossi.

I know the refs are doing the best they can, but I think they should be open to change instead of sticking to the pre-multimedia age standards. So far I have seen two bad calls, the red card diven to Deco and the pentaly given against the Aussies. He was clearly sliding way before the guy feined. And to award a pentaly 5 seconds before the game ends is like deciding the game….

Well, as was watching the game of Italy aginst Australia last night it became very clear that the refs were not veyr trustworthy. Belive me I was very happy when Italy won(because I live in Italy) but i think everyone should get a fair chance. Maybe it would be better if the orginaziers of the fifa world cup chose the refs like 10 minutes before the game so that none of them would have enough time to get bribed like in so many games.
Glory

Ugh.

As a referee (admittedly, one without the ability to sniff Germany), let me say:

1. TV commentators, including former players, have demonstrated an appalling ignorance of the Laws of the Game. (I speak primarily about the commentators on US television).

2. Seeing a replay at slow motion distorts matters to the point that it is very hard to gauge the speed/force of events. Many things look like a dive in slow motion; at real speed, they look much different.

3. Multiple referees would be a disaster; ask anyone who has spent much time under the dual-ref system utilized in some US high schools.

4. Refs are always the scapegoats. They cannot defend themselves and they are easy to blame — oftentimes, easier to blame than players.

5. A foul in the 90th minute is a foul; it should not be ignored just because it occurs in the 90th minute.

6. The most important words in the Laws of the Game (in many people’s opinions) are “in the opinion of the referee.” We can have no referees, or a parliament of 100 referees on closed-circuit tv, but ultimately a single, unbiased person’s opinion is the best way to go.

7. Can anyone recall a World Cup where complaints about referees did not run rampant? I doubt it.

There’s just too much pressure piled on the shoulders of the referee and his two assistants. Every wrong decision costs plenty in this high stakes game of today, and sometimes even costs lives and careers.

Its high time the referees get help from modern technology and video evidence. Sure it may slow down the game and reduce the chances of upsets, but would people be complaining when the game is made a fairer one for all the teams playing?

Many other sports utilise modern technology but if football (soccer) insists to be living in the Dark Ages, then controversies will never end to plague the “beautiful game”.

It’s part of the fustration of the world cup. 4yrs ago i vowed i would never watch another world cup after spain was defeated by s.korea after scoring twice. I have realised after 4 years thats it part of the game and unless more refs are added to the boundaries it will not change.

Yes, they are ruining the W.C,
It seems to be they are pushing for the Host (Germany) to go all the way, perhaps against Brazil.
They wiil never rule against the Host neither the Champ.

this is the first world cup i remember where there isnt a player dominating the event. its the 23 player on the park these days making headlines, thats the ref. the refs want to own the game, they want to be the ones in the headlines and they are making a mockery of the event for there own importance and whats more the clubs benifiting from these refs do not come out in support of the teams not benefiting.

i hope these teams and fans enjoy the hollow victories at the expense of the teams that deserve to be there.

I’d love to see cards for DIVING…too much of it goes on.

By the way…someone should market the “magic spray” and “super healing water bottles” to every hospital ER and every ambulance around the world.

It is “miraculous” how “divers” who agonized on the field as if there legs were broken, and they would never walk again — get a little “magic spray” and/or “special water” and sprint on to play some more.

You could make tons of money with this great “magic” stuff.

Felt really sorry for the Australian team. For all their hardwork, they don’t deserve to lose in such a way.

Yes, I agree that the refereeing system (FIFA + referees) is ruining the game. Yet, I still think they are mistakes, not intentional setups, though it’s interesting to be thinking of it in terms of the latter. The Italians are just lucky.

The Germans have been playing really fair games in this WC and you gotta respect that. I feel that they will do the same in their game against Argentina.

CHEATS bloody CHEATS!!! 10.5 for the dive Italian fags and the referee well lets just say I have never ever EVER EVER EVER seen a worse decision in a soccer match EVER than that. The moment, the time, the place, the audacity of the dive, man that was utterly hopeless, Australia have said throughout this WC there is a problem with the refs and I guess it wasn’t a coincidence that they should depart at the hand of another one.

Fifa really need to get these guys some glasses or laser eye surgery damn!!! Its the biggest sporting event in the world with all these advertisers paying millions of dollars and they can’t even get referee’s who have 20/20 eyesight pretty poor if u ask me. If I was a company sponsor I’d be pretty pissed I was advertising for a bunch of cheats and what sort of message is this sending to the junior players??? One must really ask that one. Then again what sort of message have the Italians always been sending out? Whingin,diving,matchfixing, bribing,crying,tossing CHEATS!!! We’ll see how many of ur players end up behind bars with ur coach after this WC!!!

Since I have been watching the world cup, the refereeing has always been horrendous and it seems to get worse every tournament. Sure the rules are too strict in many cases and the referees are not allowed that much leniency but these officials also make terrible, inconsistent calls that decide games which have nothing to do with the rules. Pressure or not, these officials get paid, and paid very well, to do a job and if they are not up to doing it properly then they shouldn’t be referees. If the game is too fast for them, then give them help via instant replays. A game that goes a bit longer is better than a game decided by a bad call. As for the games themselves, the quality of football has been atrocious and rather boring. Most games have had little action, few goals, and nothing in the way of intensity. For knock out games in the world’s foremost football tournament, the games sure have seemed like friendlies, with few exceptions (ie. Portugal-Holland).

I have been consistent from the very start of this blog site that referees are ruining the world cup. The Australia-Italy game is not the first in this World Cup where dubious refereeing decisions have impacted on the final result. I repeat my comment from other times: 99.99999999% of decisions by referees are cemented in concrete by FIFA unless there is one like the triple yellow card by Poll, which I think is the first in the history of the World Cup. So, when a referee makes a monstrously bad decision that affects the result of the game, such as the dubious penalty to Italy, there is no recourse. It will stand forever. People can argue for and against, but FIFA cannot afford the idea that its referees are infallible to the point where decisions can be reversed, because then it’s chaos and every team or nation will demand a replay.

YES definitly!

the ref is a nutter if he couldnt see that, that was a dive he shouldnt be a ref!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The refs in the cup are crap i dont like to admit but graham pole was the worst so fifa did right sending him home,the bigest problem is diving that was neva a pen for italy i was fuming with the ref giv it.

I think that the fault lies with FIFA, referees AND players. Players take advantage of the referees’ unavoidable human trait of gullibility – at best this can be called unsportsmanlike, at worst downright cheating. Referees could be a bit less gullible, but this is difficult to do in the heat of the moment in front of millions of fans, players, team staff and, most importantly, their employers, FIFA. FIFA I believe fail in 2 ways – firstly in not directing referees correctly and secondly in not punishing cheating players after the match (example – their refusal to correctly punish Figo for head-butting an opponent). All parties can do better – players should act like grown-ups, stand on their feet and not fall/dive at the slightest touch (act like real men/women); referees can use more common sense and leniency and remember that players are human too; FIFA can issue directives to referees not to rush into decisions if there is ANY doubt, and take a leaf from Rugby Union and punish players according to their offences.
Finally – have you heard that FIFA are no longer using Italian-made cones in training… they were found to fall over too easily!!

Behaviour is motivated by reward and punishment. Players dive because the reward is so high and scoring chances so few. Extreme rewards mean that debatable calls by refs get magnified grotesquely.

Change the rules, the behaviour will follow.

Some of the worse calls so far:
– no penaly call for a handball in the box (FR- SWI)
- No red card for Henze (ARG – MEX)
- Red card for Swed player (GER – SWE)
- Red card for italian player (IT – AUS)
- Penalty call for Italy (IT – AUS)

All those mistakes really changed the destiny of the competition.

I am portuguese (with escandinavian background) and I live in portugal. the only true benefited by the worst refree in the football’s history were the professionals of the portuguese team. For the Portuguese people (manly the migrants in Holland) only the costs of so shameful decisive refree’s “help”. supresingly and unfortunately for me, the great most of the portuguese people just dont care about this dishonesty. Maybe because the portuguese club’s championship is famous by the refree’s bought and the corruption starred by Porto football club’s president: Pinto da Costa…

YES THEY ABSOLUTELY ARE!!!! These are the worst I have seen in 36 years of watching of this sport. Some bad calls will inevitably be made as we are all human, BUT pure common sense and experience if not someone from FIFA explaining common sense to these wannabes who are trying to either fill the “Collina void” for their own egotistical purposes, or making money through corruption linked to wagering, or being just plain incompetent (which I don’t buy in all cases beacause some of them have good track records) MUST be a part of any successful World Cup. Sequestering the officials and their families hasn’t helped, it seems. I am questioning, for the first time ever, the credibility of this game. Seriously. NOBODY can make a call like the one yesterday against Austrailai with like one seond to play. An OFFICIAL must never allow to decide a match that crucial when the “foul” in a PENALTY BOX is NOT clear. We have heard as well of Koreans whining about the officials, but have they also forgotten France was denied a CLEAR goal that no official at any level I have ever known could have missed. What’s up there? Shevchenko flopped in the box in group paly too and dove. Bodies will inevitably litter the box in many situations. Refs have to THINK as well as watch. I will likely copy-and-paste this to Sepp on the FIFA website. THIS WILL BE UNACCEPTABLE if unqualifdiedmn or corrupt officials arte on that pitch for ANY Brasil game!!!

Dave hamildav@yahoo.com

And OBTW let me not forget to mention the plethora of yellow cards for incidental contact and brushing in group play, and that HORRID penalty kick gift-wrapped for Ghana!

Dave hamildav@yahoo.com

I think Bruce Robertson’s suggestions are great.

We got videocameras scouting the players’ noses, why can’t we use them for a 2 minute time-out to review the action with a FIFA official and decide on such important issues such as penalty kicks.

I cannot believe those who say the referee in Italy-Australia favored Italy. They got plenty (often deserved) yellow cards (not to mention the red one, of course). I don’t remember the Aussies getting as many.

Hei people, the referee is human and can make mistake, even if put 20 referee the penalty in the Aussy-Italian match will be a controversy, 10 will say the Italian dived and 10 will say that is a penalty because of the clumpsy entrance of the defender. Put the TV-reply like prove will be always a problem,unless the fault is really clear.In a incident like yesterday half of the people will always say that the Italian dived but another half will blame the Aussie defender for the worst entrance in all tournament(specially at the worst time!!).

I’m a Canadian Ex-pat living in Taiwan and after watching the majority of the games played thus far in the competition, I am unimpressed by the referees performance in a few of the key matches.
I need the referee that stood watch over the France and Switzerland game to explain to the world what the standards that qualify as a hand ball to the world. Does an entire arm jiggling as though it were made of rubber qualify? It was a mistake that could’ve seen Les Bleus knocked out of the contest. I suggest FIFA install an instant replay via film proof to be used in tough calls.
In addition, regarding the referee that supervised South Korea vs France, I would like to know what qualifies as a goal…Does the ball have to touch the back of the net to qualify or is a foot behind the goal line sufficient? If a foot behind the line counts as a save, then why don’t goalkeepers stand inside the net and catch them and then simply throw the ball back into play? I’ve been reading about a potential move to install camera or detectors that sense whether or not a goal has gone beyond the line…like a light on the net in hockey.
In other matches, the referees have been sufficient, but not superb. The latest mistake had it’s largest consequence on Australia. The got knocked out by Totti’s penalty kick that should’ve never occurred. The game was over and the Italian player fell without assitance. Once again, the instant replay option for refs to make the right call.
Parts of this World Cup has been akin to watching Spanish League dramatics played out for the world stage. A little bit of acting is normal for footballers trying to get the advantage for their side, but I have seen more acting on the pitch these past few weeks than watching a film fest.
The dramatics, as ridiculous as they have been, however, do not justify the poor calls by the referees that I have mentioned above.
The FIFA regluations have really cut down on refs putting up with dirty play and poor challenges…and that makes a lot of fans happy, but I wish that the refs from this point on could open their eyes on matters regarding handballs and whether the ball passes the line because it isn’t fair that a team has to go home simply for someone’s ignorance or neglect.
Ken Delmage
Taipei, Taiwan

I’m an ex pat Englishman and I watched the Italy/Australia game live in a packed Sydney bar last night. I don’t think anyone could believe the ref’s decision to award a penalty to Italy’s Fabio Grosso, after he decided to fall (rather than step) over Lucas Neill’s already prone body. Neither could my old mates in UK – who texted me within minutes of the final whistle. He just so blatantly got it wrong. If you look at the replays he looks like an idiot and once more (like Maradonna’s ‘hand of God’ incident) his error sent a worthy team out of the competition under very dubious circumstances.

Admittedly he gave a harsh red card decision earlier in the game, that saw Italy’s Materazzi leaving the pitch early; but as I’ve stated, the clear cut error that ended Australia’s run of luck was just incredible – especially with them playing so well throughout. Extra time might have seen a different team progressing.

Something needs to be done about the quality of refereeing in this great competition.

http://www.expatworldcup.com

Yes the referees have made many poor decisions but the diving and rolling around on the ground has been disgraceful. When a player tried to bait a the ref to call a penalty or foul it’s nothing more than cheating.
I’ve tried to get my fellow Yanks into it but when we see a player go down and is writhing in agony and then the replay clearly shows he wasn’t touched, well, it’s hard for most people to take the game seriously. Frankly, it makes many of these players look like complete pansies.
That’s why the only league to watch is the English Premier League — you don’t see the cheating and the diving and players faking injuries — it’s just not part of the game in the EPL.

i’m disapointed that we lost to italy, but at least we got to the second round.

The last 2 ref’s we’ve had were crap. 3 yellow cards for all :/

What if…

…it were the English playing the Italians?

Would the Spanish ref have called a penalty?

If so, imagine the rioting that would have taken place. Germany would be in flames and the world would have one less Spanish ref taking up space.

FIFA wants Africa, America and Australia to embrace the game (and pay for it), but it doesn’t want to give the prize to such teams.

Face it; the WC is a European Cup plus Argentina and Brazil. The rest can pretend they’re a part of it.

Ukraine advances past Tunisia because of a penalty not called against a Ukraine hand ball coupled with a Ukraine dive to set up a penalty. Now Italy gets a gift in the form of a penalty awarded for a Lougainis.

Perhaps the Ukraine-Italy match should be called the Dive Cup?

Coincidental is how so few fouls were called against Seth Blatter’s homeland Swiss team.

Things that make you go hmmmm.

In Football, unlike many other sports, scoring is rare and may not be a reflection of who is playing better on the field. As such, a bad call by the ref can have a tremendous impact on the game. The refs making good calls then is of paramount importance. The refs in this World Cup have made some really bad calls that have skewed some of the games. It is ruining the tournament. I don’t belive bad calls should be part of the game. I think modern technology should be used to it’s full extent to make correct calls but not ruin the natural flow of the game. It is possible.

I believe instant replay should be a must for penalty calls and red cards. Both of these have a direct impact of the game final outcome. Without this a corrupt or biased referee can decide a game.

p.s. It’s the year 2006… The game at least needs to catch up to some of life’s modern technology. This would not hurt the tradition of the game but only enhance the fiarness of it’s outcome by diminishing controversy. Overall, the fans would be appreciate watching the game more.

what do these refs get paid per game???

Law V:
“Each match is controlled by a referee who has full authority to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection with the match to which he has been appointed.”

Robots cannot do this job, and no person (player, coach, referee) will ever be perfect. The law book repeats, over and over, “if, in the opinion of the referee,” “if the player is considered to be,” “if, as determined by the referee”–it has always been as fundamental to the game as any other of its elements.

Video surveillance, more referees (although I’m surprised to kinda like that idea about an additional assistant on the field, so long as he doesn’t have a whistle), these novel approaches will only make the game suffer–especially at the lower levels (where, after all, it is most often played, by billions).

The answer is training, education, plain better referees. The shame of FIFA is that Markus Merck is a Dentist AND a World Cup Referee. Elizando runs an office or something in Buenos Aires. Put these guys in school, FIFA, they should live and breathe the game like the players do. Clearly, they are as important to its quality.

I agree that referees have been far from good, but I would not say they have tried to benefit the big teams!! They’ve been bad regardless of the team!! Mexico-Argentina…ok, some diving, yellow card to Heinze that should have been a red…but a 100% legal goal not awarded to Argentina around minute 85!!!
It is typical to come up with conspiracy theories in a worldcup, especially when passion, nationalism and frustration come together (I know about it being from Argentina and hearing to 1000 stories of how Havelange used to “screw” us). Believe me, we might be infront of a group of nervous and incompetent referees, but no premedidated bad decisions are taking place!! At least that is my perhaps naive way to see things!!

Cheers,
Pablo

I don’t think refs are favouring the big teams. It’s the big teams’ players who have experience when to act to get free penalty kicks. Too often the refs are easily tricked to believe the divers. Yes, I agree the ref has given the match away to Italy (vs Australia), it was a very bad decision, but I put more blame on the Italian diver Fabio Grosso who was acting.

FIFA is running out of excuses for not having instant replay. I believe that any soccer fan, who has a passion for the sport, and must wait four more years to see his country play in another Cup, if they even advance through qualifying can see the need for this. The be eliminated for a wrong call in injury time? That is unacceptable! The ineptness of the officiating MUST be held accountable to bring back the integrity of the sport. Soccer has become a joke, with players diving trying to sell a call to a ref. With instant replay you’ll have video conclusion that either the right call was made or not made. It can be corrected before the ball is put in play. Especially with the ref now wearing a headset, it will take less then 30 seconds for the video to be reviewed and the ref notified. It sure would beat having to wait four more years due to an inept official.

Bruce´s obviously right. On the other hand, THIS (football) IS BUSINESS. As such, it must be controlled by its managers (FIFA’s DINOSAURS)… So, if one day the players (such as Platini, Beckenbauer etc -sorry for being naive…) understand where this is going to, they might change smtg…

About the rules: as such, they are NEVER 100% correct. (like laws). Especially in this world cup (which was already in the first week suspicious to me- as far as referees are concerned), they made some new stupid rules… Soon they will forbid tackling. That’s fine with me. They can screw football: But I will not be THEIR CLIENT anymore!!! And hopefully any THINKING person out there…

About this week (only…):
Once again a very bad referee… Three days ago a Brazilian (this must be a joke -imagine this poor guy’s complexes), two days ago a Russian (…), yesterday a Sevillan… Today the assistant. Brazil doesn’t need anybody’s help!
So,

ITS ABOUT TIME THE DINOSAURS OF FIFA GET IT: VIDEO IS USEFUL! AND FAIR. IF THEY WANT FAIRPLAY, THEY SHOULD CHECK THER REFEREES AND THEIR RULES.

And yes, there’s an ITALIAN referee whistling for Spain tonite… What will happen there?

I think FIFA should incorporate a ‘20 yard rule’ for fouls. The opposing team should be able to place the ball at any spot 20 yards from the spot of the foul (some thought needs to be given for placing the ball in the penalty box, but you get the idea). Placing the ball at the spot of the foul, in my opinion, gives an unfair tactical advantage to the fouling team.

Big Answer: Civil War, Terrorism, Natural Disasters, Racism (any kind of -ism), the Plague couldn’t RUIN the World Cup. I’ve been angry, too, much of the time–never so angry as when a phantom penalty sent my very own dear team away–but I’ve decided we all should lighten up and enjoy this game we love. The referees, bad or good, are part of it.

Enjoy!!! It’s beautiful.

The inconsistant and incompetent refereeing combined with blatant cheating (flopping) most flagrant being the Italian dive in the penalty box in Australia is depriving the games of validity and sadly, teaching kids that faking injury is the way to win games. How many players have we seen writhing in agony, strechered out only to sprint back in in one min. It is pathetic and changing the outcome of games.

Congratulations to the socceroos-we are proud of you….FIFA wants to get itself in order and stop all this “little girl” stuff that goes on. If these teams that are guilty of feigning for free kicks had real talent they wouldn’t have to resort to such cheating. They should be red or yellow carded and that will stop it. They aren’t playing the game they are playing the refs who fall for it hook line and sinker.. Perhaps they should look at having a big screen and an extra ref. In some cases the linesmen weren’t too hot either.

I don’t think the world cup is ruining because of the mistakes of many referees; however, I do think these stupid referees are taking away from the excitment of the game. I have read many comments or proposed solutions that will turn the game into basketball 2-3 hours for a 48 minutes game and that would be even worse than the referees. I am not for the idea of technology either, that would ruin the game. There will be mistakes even with technology, example for the americans, Dallas-Miami NBA fianls game 5, the call on Wade. Reviewing the action, one can see there was no fault, but can one see there was no fault, but can you say there was no fault before reviewing the play? I think the problem is when there are too many of these calls, like we are seeing in this world cup. We don’t need technology to make the referees make the right call, we just good referees, without an agenda. For the rest of the games, I wish these stupid referees can slow down on the red cards. If there is something that should be allowed to be challenged is a red card. The manager of a player kicked out of the game can challenge the card with the officials off the field, please dont stop the game.

The problem is the players are too “smart”. ???? Please explain!??!?! When friggin Totti dived and that ref in the swiss vs kor game, they where both within 5-10 metres of CLEAR VISION. I agree there has been some inconsistency which kinda annoys the pace of the game and its style. I am all for a just game, and Italy didn’t deserve to win that match.

I would like to ask the question if Italian clubs are under investigation at the moment for suspected wrong doing and 13 of the players in the world cup belong to 4 of the clubs how come they are allowed to be still cheating (diving etc) and playing.

FIFA runs the world cup by telling the refrerees what to do.

FIFA wants Germany vs Brazil in the finals so that is what the fereree gets paid for.

I said before the first game, this horrible German team (that strangly only wins during world cup, looses half the other games not in a world cup), will get to the finals and play Brazil.

Germany needs a boost anyway in their social and economic sctructures. Their morale is low, unemployment is high, the race will die out by 2050 (the real German race, not the whole tutti-frutti milkshakes) and you will see Germany beat Brazil 2-0 in the final at least.

I told you all already now as I told everybody here in Brazil that already thinks Brazil won.

FIFA is corrupted, it is just about the money for them. Also, in Switzerland reporters found out about high FIFA officials investing into Germany corporations a few months before the world cup, that also worries me a little.

Also, yesterday that was not a dive from the Argentinian a few yards next to the goal. The ball got plaid a away but both his legs got blocked at the same time as he jumped over even being hooked with one of the opponents legs.

Instead of getting a penalty, he gets a yellow card for acting as a swim instructor….

Also, somehting that bothers me is the fans, at least many of them. Bottles fly into the field, eggs, the fans shout and yell bad things at opponent players.

This fucking football is out of control. Even in Brazil, where I don’t even waste one minute with these fucking idiot teams we got here.

I think they should make each ticket at least 500 Euros. Cancle out the mass population and the general unintellectual from attending the games.

The only ones that should be getting rebates are the Japanese, Koreans and the ones that play with their heart.

Too bad this can’t be like in the 60s where people go dressed up nicely, no fights amongst the fans, class and behaviour. Now, everytime they show the fans, half the times it’s fuck ups, hooligans, just primitive low populations of the country that plays.

At least that’s the good thing with teams like Brazil. For a Brazilian it is so expensive to travel, the fans you have are at least higher middle class, as well as other countries like Equador and so on, but look at the some of the German fans, I could swear that if machine guns and pistols were handed out while entering the stadium, the bloodbath would already begin before the game starts

I wouldn’t say the referees are ruining the games. FIFA is. Because FIFA is fixing almost every match. FIFA is telling the referees who to favor.

One way to tell which team is being favored is by how, when, where, and why free kicks are being given. All these little calls add up (FIFA hopes). One prime example, the ref in Argentina-Mexico game called most of the little dives, flops, and fall-downs by the Argentine players. Everyone in the soccer world knows the Argentines like to dive. Yet, the ref keeps calling free kicks most of the time when Riqueleme, Saviola, or Rodriquez feel a challenge coming and fall down. It’s hard to tell sometimes but if you watch the game again and slow down the video, you can see these guys buckle their legs BEFORE any contact is made or not.

So, in the Germany-Argentina match suddenly many Argentine dives and flops weren’t called. You could just see Riqueleme losing interest in the match because the ref wasn’t calling all his little fall-downs. And why wasn’t the ref? Because FIFA instructed him to favor Germany.

Another example would be the England-Portugal game. What is a ref from Argentina doing there? Well, obviously helping FIFA with their favorites. For whatever reason, FIFA has taken a liking to Portugal. It may be because Portugal were promised Euro 2004 but the Greeks beat em. So the debt remains on FIFA’s plate (how far we don’t know). Anyway, an Argentine ref being from a country which with no doubt stands in the top 3 of diving nations takes control of a match featuring Portugal, a team which may dive and flop more than any other.

Another way to tell who FIFA favors is by red cards and/or penalties. Today’s red card for England was a clear indication of corruption and bias in FIFA. There’s no way in the world that that is ever a red card. Anyone who thinks otherwise can look back at all the video of every match to see if any other little push got a red card.

In the quarterfinals, Germany, Portugal, and France were all fixed to win. Italy, I don’t know, because Ukraine weren’t good enough to necessitate it.

My suggestion to anyone who agrees is to boycott each and every sponsor of the FIFA World Cup. That’s all they care about: cash.

The bias and inconsistency of officiating, and the dreadful dishonesty of the drama-queen diving players have ruined the otherwise magnificent World Cup of Germany. I just returned from 2 weeks in Germany, attending 8 games and watching every other one. I can not remember anything like this one for diving and blatantly biased refereeing.

FIFA has to wake up and start using video. The semifinals are now a joke and a farce with unfair elimination of several teams. Italy’s dive to win over Australia, Henri’s theatrics, Rooney’s red card for a gentle push (push is foul, striking is a red card – try reading the rule book, ref) – and using an Argentinian ref in an England game in the first place!!!

Most of the Germans I met consider FIFA a modern Mafia. Budweiser and MacDonalds call the shots, and anyone who thinks the Juventus corruption scandal is limited to Milan is just naive.

The beautiful game is being killed by drama queens and bad referees.

ROONEY DESERVED RED CARD

First of all, it was a gentle pull then a harsher push.

Second of all, that is considered “STARTING A FIGHT”

Thirdly, Red Card well deserved. Any player that does that shit should get a red card. It’s a dumb thing to do.

Like f****** fat ass Ronaldo, he should have gotten a red card too.

I THINK THE REFS RUINS THE GAME BECAUSE THEY DONT CALL ENOUGH DIVES AND DONT CALL ENOUGH ON VERTAIN TEAMS!

i believe that the world cup is completely fixed and corrupt. i think people just pay off the refs. i am a big netherlands/holland fan and i watched all their games, and the final game they played, against portugal was a complete joke! there were so many cards, but there should have been so many more. portugal is the biggest joke in soccer, diving and falling down every time someone goes near them. and Figo! he should have been suspended surely, he head-butted a player! and if rooney got a red card than thats a suspension! he only didnt get one because he didnt get a red card and that wus becuz the ref didnt see it. i know holland dives too (sometimes tho and only one or maybe, 2 players) but OMG wut a joke. i still like watching the cup tho. and itally is like that, wut a bad call against australia.

Marcelo – So what you are saying about pushing being a red card then is that Portugal’s goalkeeper Ricardo should have been red carded for pushing Peter Crouch after Crouch didn’t immediately kick the ball out of play when Portugal were (faking?) another injury. Ricardo pushed. Marcelo sayts push=red card. Ricardo gets red card. But no red card came. Hmm.

Not to change the subject but, let’s. Allow me interject right now that I have no stake in the outcome emotionally. I am an American and the Americans suck and deserved to lose. Frankly, I have no idea how they ranked fifth in the first place. That said, let’s talk about England. I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that Beckham is a pussy and should have stayed in the game. That is when England fell apart, and I am unmoved by his crying on both occasions of his being sidelined. I saw Beckham walking quite nicely in video the other night. Maybe he could have been useful in penalty kicks if nothing else. Rooney at least has a pair. If he stomped on someone else’s pair I don’t know. Fire the English coach and move on

How come the BBC virtual replay service doesn’t have the matches where the referees seem to have made match turning mistakes. Brazil Australia (when you click it gives you France Korea) and Brazil Ghana? Or am I right in suspecting that what really counts is the advertising revenue when it comes to whistle blowing?

Oh no, not another one of these finals. Italy vs France. SFORZA Italia is all I say and the rest is up to you pizzaoilos de napoli and moratore de bresca.

Last game I’ve ever watched in terms of soccer today, Portugal playing ALMOST as horrible as Brazil (always when it is most important people don’t give a crap anymore), just this time it was the other way around. The best paid players fought till the end, the crappiest paid players didn’t give a rats ass.

I don’t get this anymore, send me a mail once the Refs are replaced by robots wired to the best computers in the world, maybe then I’ll watch again.

As Mr. Scolari said, Portugal was not meant to reach the finals. Everybody wants Zizou to abandon the French team in glory. We would have liked the same for our Luis Figo, but who cares?
Anyway, biased views of referees did distort football in this Cup.
I’m not saying that France’s penalty against Portugal wasn’t deserved, BUT Henry was REALLY clever, his dive shows how experienced he is…
What I want to point out is that a PENALTY AGAINST FRANCE WAS CONVENIENTLY IGNORED by the referee, though everybody could see C: RONALDO WAS PUSHED WITH BOTH HANDS when he was trying to catch the ball.
Considering the way both teams played, I mean, NO TEAM WAS BETTER THAN THE OTHER, a penalty against Portugal would have given BOTH TEAMS the chance to try their luck on final penalties. BUT THAT WAS TOO THRAETENING FOR FRANCE, THE EXPECTED WINNER at this stage, now that Germany is off the race, so… there’s the result: a VERY MEAGRE victory for France… but a victory anyway, that’s what really matters.
Now I can no longer say “may the best win”. I can just say “Be careful Italy”, you can not match Zizou’s Status and mythical aura. Sorry, but you should prepare yourselves for the grand finale : Zizou being worshipped on Sunday… Which means that you should be really aware of this “truth” of football: it’s nobody’s fault that Zidane decided to quit now, but there it is “ZIDANE=FRANCE” will win. Bad luck for the other teams. That’s life…

FOOTBALL = Boring middle-field ball passing.

What happened to all the offensive attacks from the sides over the past years? You rarely see them in the game. I remember 10 years ago how semi-finals etc were met with 3-0, 3-1, 2-0, seldom a boring 0-0, or 0-2 in the last few minutes and so on.
Football has become a boring sport indeed, all is done with passing around the ball in the middle field.

I remember 94 with Branco making a 35 meter goal against Holland, Romario and Bebeto and even ROMANIA playing more beautiful.

These days football is defensive, seldom offense and the players are loosing the ability. I also don’t know what is wrong but players also seemed to become more LAZY and more out of shape (I guess they eat really good with the money they have).

Who pays the price?

The poor population that all they dream of is to see their team do their best. Who cares if you loose 3-0 just present a nice football.

What I hate the must is when those stupid players hugg the opponent players after a game to be all like FAIRPLAY after a ugly fuc*en game.

I just hope Romania, Belgium, Russia, Cameroon and definitely Ghana (too bad they lost against Brazil or were forced to the way I saw it), too fuc*en bad.

FIFA refs a total DISASTER ! ! ! If FIFA doesn’t see that and doesn’t take any actions against that.

Now let’s see the game between the loosers for 3rd place, wooow, there’s money to be made out of everything, why don’t we play for 5th, 7th and all that sh*t too ?

Fu*k Football, I’m done watching essa bosta

PORTUGAL

Don’t complain now please, it was not the fault of your coach alone. Players like Costinha, Pauleta, Simao (the swimming isntructor) and that idiot that got the penalty for France etc shouldn’t be on the field.

Figo, the highest paid player PLAID the best, the most and I love that guy for it.

Don’t blame Scolary, he did with your team what your previous useless dumb coaches failed in.

He has thrown away that useless Victor Baia and set a new record for the team, your B players FAILED in showing heart and your middle field is the worst of all teams and you should have used the sides which would be Portugal’s strentgh….

Scolary did good, if you blame him now, you’re just another ignorant analphabet, sorry but it is true.

To Zeca

Nobody said, nobody says that it wa Scolari’s fault that we lost agains France. We didn’t play our best, but still were not worse than France, the proof is that without that penalty France wouldn’t have scored either.
But Zeca, please don’t contradict yourself. It’s clear we should have used the sides; it’s also clear (though you didn’t mention it) that Pauleta needed to be replaced much earlier; it’s also clear (though you didn’t mention it either) that after the penalty two attackers at the front would have made some difference, the French defenders were too solid for just one attacker, in the case Pauleta. So all these things are not the strategy of a team, but the strategy of one coach. You cannot say that we should have done this or that and say that Scolari did good…, it was Scolari who told the players how to play, not the opposite, as you seem to suggest.
Anyway, NOBODY HERE is blaming Scolary or the team. WE ARE VERY PROUD of both. We are sad, ok. Something more could have been done, and that includes both the team and the coach, obviously. The fact that this is true doesn’t make us complain about Scolari or the team, believe me. WE ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE BIASED JUDGEMENT OF THE REFEREE, because FRANCE WAS NOT BETTER THAN PORTUGAL. Believe me, it’s hard to lose because of a penalty in the middle of the game and knowing that several yellow cards were not shown to the French and that a penalty favouring Portugal was not “seen” by the referee and his two assistants. So let’s leave Scolari and the team alone, ok?

Hang on to your hats guys and gals. We are about to witness a diving competition better than the olympics could ever offer between Italy and France. Who needs skill when you are so clever at diving to the ground and getting the result you want.
Hope the refs dont get confused and give the team who they have been advised to let win a mistaken penalty or red card.
Good luck to FIFA they have made a farce of a world rated and followed game. Hope the consequences are worth it.
By the way who is on the FIFA board-names I mean?

Referees/FIFA orders and the players fake faults of try to Full the referee and the world defenetly ruined this Great World Cup. We are in the 21 century with all the technology of Tv and wireless personal systems available would of made this world cup the best ever on the other hand the Corruption or Human error factor, should not be a factor for either team playing.
Just look at Basketbal, American Footbal or other sports that today rely of technology for acurate performance results never benefiting team but benefiting the game. is time to end corruption/bad referees/fake faults.
I never thought I would be so a shamed of the Soccer/FIFA way of allowing this scam/corruption/bad refrees/fake faults.
IS A VERY EASY FIX IN A WORLD CUP WHEN THE WORLD IS WATCH PLEASE USE THE TV TO CORRECT REFEREES AND IMPORTANT PLAYS AND PUNISH THE PLAYERS THAT INTENTIONALLY ARE FAKING PENALTIES. I WOULD PUNISH ANY PLAYER THAT ON CAMERA CAN SEE HIS INTENTIONAL FAKE FALL JUST FOR THE PENALTY: GIVE THEM ONE YEAR OF TIME OFF WITHOUT INCOME AND THAT WILL RESOLVE THE PROBLEM AND WE MUST START USE THE CAMERAS/TV IN THE CRITICAL PLAYS OF THE GAME LIKE THE PENALTY AGAINST PORTUGAL THAT TURN OUT NOT TO BE A PENALTY AND THE RESULT WAS A FRENCH TEAM AT THE FINAL THAT HAPPEN TO BE THE WORST TEAM IN THE GAME AND JUST PLAIN SIMPLE FOR A MORE ACURATE AND FAIR RESULT EVEN IF THAT MEAN A SHORT STOP IN THE GAME….

I loved watching the World Cup, I considered it the best sports tournament, but this time around I realized something very sad. It has changed the way I see the competition. I used to think that winning the cup was so difficult that only some of the best nations had ever accomplished that feat. Now I see that only some nations will ever win because some nations (6-8) are always more favoured than others. The world cup is no different than the club leagues. Fifa or UEFA (depending on the cup) will and do always prefer to have the big 8 teams in the quarter-finals, the 1st groups have already been arranged that way. The semi-final competitions are meant to be big derby affaris with Euro and S.America nations like Germany, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, France, Spain or England. Smaller nations like Portugal, Croatia or Bulgaria have to defeat their larger adversaries outright to make it to the semis and once there you can count on seeing the refs intervening to favour the bigger team simply because Fifa and the big business behind the World Cup wants a derby between two powerhouse teams and not a “uneven” match against an underdog. This is so disapointing, so unfair, so corrupt, dirty…