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I’ve finally hit the boiling point and France squeaks in
June 23, 2006Sometime while watching four World Cup soccer games today, I finally had had enough.
No, not of the soccer. Keep the games coming, I’m loving every second of it.
I’m talking about the refereeing, which has been sloppy, overly-cautious and downright deplorable at times.
I wasn’t pleased with the red card of U.S. midfielder Pablo Mastroeni against Italy, but I admit it wasn’t a smart foul
I cringed when South Korea’s goalie saved a shot while standing a yard deep into his goal, costing France an invaluable tally.
I became frustrated when Ghana received hits game-winning penalty kick, although ultimately that call alone didn’t cost the U.S. They simple weren’t good enough.
I even laughed when that English ref forgot to send off Croatia’s Josip Simunic after his second yellow card late in yesterday’s 2-2 tie against Australia.
Simunic ended up ejected anyway minutes later, surely setting a record for three yellow cards in a World Cup match.
But today, today was too much. Here’s what happened:
1) Tunisia, needing a win to advance, gets screwed three times, costing them a spot in the second round.
First, a Tunisia guy gets sent off for a weak second yellow card. This has been a recurring theme in the 2006 World Cup.
Then, Tunisia’s free kick is obviously hand-balled in the box, which should have resulted in a penalty kick.
And finally, Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko falls down in the box — not a dive, but he basically tripped over his own feet — and is awarded a penalty kick that is converted for a 1-0 win.
2) South Korea is losing 1-0, but still has hope of advancing with a tie or maybe a win.
Swiss forward Alexander Frei gathers a ball up in the 77th minute, but the linesman says he is offsides. Frei goes on to score the goal, but it doesn’t matter, right?
WRONG. The ref, who has obviously been smoking some pretty potent stuff, waves the linesman off, and awards the goal.
This topic has been a hot one throughout group play. Let’s hope from here on out, the refereeing is improved.
O.K., I’m done. Rant over.
France sneaks into round of 16
For a short while on Friday, it looked like France wasn’t going to advance, as Togo’s keeper was pulling saves out of places where the sun don’t shine.
But the French tacked on two goals in the second half, and they move on to face Spain in the next round.
Not a great draw for Spain, but my pre-World Cup champion should be able to advance to the quarterfinals. They must play better than today, thought, when the skipped by the Saudis 1-0.
It was like Spain scored and then didn’t care anymore, as Saudi Arabia outplayed them in the second half.
And congrats to the Swiss, which continue to impress. They should top Ukraine in the second round.
Stat of the day: Switzerland, which hadn’t qualified for a World Cup since 1994, is the only team who has yet to allow a goal.
And today’s Swiss-South Korea match feature two of the best four short-passing teams based on completion percentage.
I had no idea they even kept ridiculous stats like this. And where do you draw the line from a short pas to a long one? Ten yards? Or 15?
Looking ahead: It’s finally do-or-die time. The second round begins today with Germany Sweden in the morning, and Argentina-Mexico in the afternoon.
I’m going to go with Germany and Argentina as winners, although I can see Sweden causing a problem for the host country.
My soccer-viewing quest: After watching two uninspiring morning games, I did something I haven’t done since the World Cup began two weeks ago. Nope, not exercise (Who do you think I am?). I took a nap. I long, unconscious, the-house-is-burning-down-and-I-have-no-idea, three-hour nap.
I awoke just in time for the afternoon games. Perfect timing.
Posted by Zach Duncan at 06:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
