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World Cup – The Bad and the Good

Posted by under *mixed, Sports |

Long, exhausting soccer day yesterday.  It exemplified everything that is wrong with the sport.  In the first game, Germany lost to Serbia. The referee took control of the game with 9 yellow cards and 1 red card. There was no reason for nearly all of them. The ref, effectively, decided GROUP D through his officiating.  It was nauseating.  In USA versus Slovenia, the ref disallowed a goal in the 84th minute.  This stuff should not happen at the World Cup.  Also, the US team is now down a player for their final game against Algeria because the ref gave a yellow card to US striker Robbie Findley.   The ref thought the ball hit him in the arm, but it actually struck his face. Will the mistake be overturned? Doubtful. The England versus Algeria game was one of the better-officiated games in the tournament, for what its worth. FIFA will take 1-for-3 in terms of upholding the integrity of the sport.  FIFA would actually be proud of that.

GROUP D

GERMANY 0 – 1 SERBIA

Miraslov Klose was sent off after a second yellow card in the 36th minute. The game was not even out of hand. The ref was just giving out yellow cards for no reason. Anyway, Serbia scores in the 38th minute and holds on for a victory. Germany should be upset, though. They had a penalty kick late in the game that was saved by the Serbian keeper. Germany dominated play with 10 players. Think of what they can do with 11 players and fair officiating? Oh yeah, game 1:  Germany 4 – 0 Australia.

USA 2 – 2 SLOVENIA

This was the best game of the World Cup so far.  Too bad it ended in such a way.  No team has ever come back form a 2-0 deficit for a win. It would have been a win for the history books. Oh well. Not much to be said. Read the recap.

ASIDE:  FIFA is the worst sports organization on the planet. They do not care to improve their game. They kept the video of the USA’s disputed 3rd goal off their iPhone app. I was searching through the game video and it was not there. They will do nothing to fix the officiating. They will not add instant replay for situations like this one. Defending soccer sometimes feels like defending boxing. The sport, at times, is a joke.

If the USA wins against Algeria on Wednesday, then they go through. The US still has a shot at the #1 spot in the group if they beat Algeria by enough goals.

ENGLAND 0 – 0 ALGERIA

This is a scary game for the USA. Nobody seems to be playing well against Algeria. The US team should not assume England could beat Slovenia. The US cannot assume they will beat Algeria. Wednesday will be a difficult day to pick.

Oh, the game:  Algeria outplayed England for some of it. England outplayed Algeria for some of it. All in all, England played poorly. Algeria played well. Not much to say about this game, but the tie helps the US’ chances.

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  • KevinMLD said,

    I can’t wrap my head around the concept of every soccer organization in the world being overseen by a single governing body in FIFA. From national teams playing in the World Cup to leagues for six-year-olds playing on half dirt fields in New Jersey. It seems so submissive to play under a single set of rules. It seems insane that if you want to play soccer you have to answer to some secret society in Europe made up of shadowy figures that probably show up to work in robes and deathmasks and refuse to acknowledge that we colonials took the name of their precious game and built a real sport with violence and well… less contact between our foot and the ball. (Why do we call it football again?) 

  • Ryan said,

    Kev: I think there could be some truth to that. These guys are the shadow government.

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