The state of soccer

I think FIFA has an opportunity to use video review in a constructive way here…retroactive penalization for diving behavior. Let the refs do their job as they currently are, but free them up to focus more on the match and less on the play acting. If they see something, call it, if they don’t, don’t worry about it as the game will be reviewed in full on tape after the fact and if any unflagged foolishness is seen, that player gets penalized. I say get harsh with the divers and sit them out a match…treat it like a red card. They’ll soon get the point and adjust their play. What happened in this Cup was disgraceful.

i agree, mostly, they should allow video evidence and i think repeated diving should result in suspension, as long at it’s a clear dive, sometime its just exaggerating or overacting, or the player looses balance after a more harmless touch. i also think it takes a lot of chuzpe to call for a freekick or even a card after a dive.

I have to agree with the linked article, on field we’ve seen a near complete absence of sportsmanship. I can’t recall a world cup which has been so violent and full of cheating (think of Zizou, Rooney, Holland/Portugal, Argentina after the shootout and all the diving). Off the field in Germany and in Pubs around the world by all accounts the fans have been excellent, so its a real mixed bag.

Posted from  Australia

If you’re bringing in post-match reviewing, I really don’t think you need to change the penalty that accrues from an offence at all(such as dealing out red cards rather than yellow for diving as Stuart suggests). The problem we currently have is that players know that A) the chances of getting penalised for diving are very small and B) if they hear nothing immediately from the ref they’re in the clear – that’s why they do it.

Just introducing post-match reviews pulls the rug from under both. Let’s say you dive once in a match. In the first instance, you know damn well you just play-acted and that some group of people are going to look over the footage with a fine-toothed comb. You don’t know how you just looked on camera, whether your acting was good enough, whether the camera caught you well enough…. and so on. It doesn’t matter whether or not the reviewing panel takes a fairly conservative approach to declaring a dive or not (within reason, of course)- it really doesn’t. You’ve got that hanging over your head FOR THE REST OF THE MATCH. You’ll think pretty long and hard about doing it again and risking missing the next one. In fact, you’ll think pretty damn hard about doing it the first time knowing that big brother is watching. The same holds for any number of nefarious acts. You really can use video evidence without disrupting play one iota.

The only real problem from FIFA’s point of view is in instances where some form of cheating can be seen as deciding the game. Hand out a post-match penalty for the act here and you’re pretty much admitting the outcome is, at very least, questionable – which looks pretty bad. But I think that in any case people will be less likely to get creative in the first place and in the second, well, when the whole freakin’ world will see such acts anyway FIFA loses more face by ignoring them if you ask me.

Posted from  Australia

AF I can’t agree more. I think if such a change was introduced well before the world cup in all major domestic leagues then the players will all have adapted to it and be unlikely to dive in situations in which they will get caught. They might still be diving, but it will be far less obvious so game deciding moments would be only rarely overturned.

Having said that I think it is fine to say both ‘the referee is allowed to make mistakes’ AND that ‘cheating players will be fined/banned/carded retrospectively’. So I don’t believe its inconsistent to award a yellow card for a dive after the match even if the ref gave a penalty for it in the game (its the lesser of two evils).

Posted from  Australia

Austalia huh?…I WISH I were in Australia…

So does anyone know of any new up and coming players that could feature for 2008?

Posted from  United Kingdom

I have to say the aussi showed extreme strength of character on and off the pitch when they where robbed by the italians

who says cheating doesnt win

it wins the big one in this case

2 refs – video footage we live in the 21st century – lets bring the game there as well – im amazed that the sponsors havent threatened to pull the plugg as they lose out as well when the cheating robs a team of a deserved place

oh and I think the french should have won and that form an enlishman scary

Posted from  United Kingdom

Lol @ Wobbs but I agree with you. I wish England and Germany had been in the finals. Though they are both physical teams, they play “futbal” with their hearts, head and legs… Italia was very disappointing and the way they won (Frings ban, diving, trash talk, corruption), makes me think that FIFA has to go by their own rules. Hope they will next time around.

Posted from  United States

and… Wobbs, the sponsors kept Zidane on the payroll. Noble, noble, noble. I am glad they did.

Posted from  United States