It was another day in World Cup action, and another day full of questionable calls by referees and more goaltending mistakes.
Holland’s first goal in their match against Japan came as a result of a serious mistake by Japanese keeper Eiji Kawashima, who missed catching what should have been an easy shot. The ball grazed his arms and deflected into the net, giving Holland the win, and securing them a spot in the round of sixteen.
Kawashima joined the ranks of England’s Robert Green, Algeria’s Fawzi Chaouchi and the other goalies who have struggled during the opening stages of the tournament.
Cameroon became the first team to officially be eliminated form the tournament, as their loss today to Denmark leaves them with no shot of advancing.
And the referee was flashing his cards again today, showing four yellows and a red to Australia’s Harry Kewell.
The ball did make contact with Kewell’s arm in the penalty box, however, there is no way it was intentional. It should have just been a penalty kick, not a red card. After the contact was made, the referee did not even point to the penalty spot, but instead went straight for his red card. The penalty was later given to Ghana.
The refereeing decisions are beginning to make a joke out of this tournament. While people blame refereeing decisions for wins and losses all the time, I feel as though this time, in more cases than not, a bad decision has seriously affected the outcome of the game.
Australia managed a draw against Ghana today even with ten men, however, the way they played, it is very likely that the Socceroos would have won with 11 men.
Another instance was when South African goalkeeper was sent off for god knows what against Uruguay, leaving Bafana Bafana a man short and with a serious blow to their spirits. That should not have been a penalty kick OR a red card.
That game ended 3-0, which pretty much rules Bafana Bafana out of the round of 16.
More recently, the referee for the USA versus Slovenia disallowed what would have been a winning goal for the Americans, thus ending the game in the draw.
The USA are now facing elimination, as they must win against Algeria in their next game and hope for and England loss against Slovenia in order to move on.
These are just some examples of the many mistakes referees have made that have affected outcome of games. The level of play at a World Cup tournament is the best in the world, therefore the level of refereeing needs to be up to that level as well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
If Kewell's handball wasn't deemed intentional, surely it should not even have been a penalty. However, if it was deemed intentional, the only option is to give him a red as it prevents a goal. Similarly with Khune, the referee has no option but to send the goalkeeper off if he deems it to be a foul in that position. Whether or not it was a foul (looked like there was contact but Suarez left his leg out to take it and made the most of it) is questionable.
ReplyDeleteAlso with regards to USA, they just need to win against Algeria and they will qualify, with England joining them if they beat Slovenia or Slovenia going through with a draw or a win. USA don't need England to lose.
I thought that a handball in the box, whether intentional or not resulted in a penalty, and the player only got a red card if the ref deemed it intentional?
ReplyDeleteAfter that, I guess it's all up to interpretation by the ref, which sucks because it's resulting in some dire inconsistencies.
nope, the law states that only when a handball is intentional should it be penalised, wherever it may be on the pitch. Personally i think the ref got it right with Kewell. However, the less said about the Kaka farce today the better!
ReplyDelete