My beef today is with the lack of instant replay in soccer, flopping and the fact that there's only one referee officiating each game.
My desire for instant replay to be stretched across all of sports is well documented, especially in my earlier story, "Tie Goes To The Fielder With No Way To Review It." I find it ridiculous that games and on a larger scale, futures can be decided by one major missed call. This past Friday, Koman Coulibaly was the man who made that call.
The hopes of the United States looked dismal at best in their game against Slovenia, down 2-0 going into the half. The chance at having soccer popularized in this country looked like they would have to wait another four years, and ridiculously enough it would come against a country that doesn't even have as many people as the city of Houston, Texas. But, the U.S. looked like a new team coming out of the locker room, as team leader Landon Donovan scored a goal in the 48th minute, followed by a goal by the coach's son Michael Bradley in the 82nd minute. And just when you thought the U.S. was only going to take the tie, Maurice Edu knocked in a goal off of a free kick in the 85th minute, but it was called off, after referee Koman Coulibaly blew his whistle, before the ball even reached the box. Seemingly not knowing what to call, he called a penalty on the U.S., although three American players were actually clearly being held by the Slovenian players.
Although many believe he called offside, that call was not his to make, and therefore his actual call is still unknown, and it doesn't seem like FIFA nor Coulibaly will have to admit to their wrongdoing. No one however, has claimed that there was any American penalty. (If you're yet to see the shot check this video out, at the 2:36 mark, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0_a-ZAbkSI)
Had the right call been made, the U.S. wouldn't have to worry about their next game against Algeria, and would already basically be in the knockout round.
Should the U.S. have played better? Yes. Is this bad break a bit of karma, for getting very lucky in the first game of the World Cup against England? Maybe. But none of that matters. Sure, the U.S. should start playing the full 90 minutes hard rather than seemingly playing only the last 45 at full effort, but that game should have been theirs, and their place in the knockout round should already be sealed.
Oh, but don't worry I have more beef with the world's sport. I didn't want to write an article about flopping, I really really didn't, even though it's one of the main reasons I can't get into soccer, or professional soccer at least. But the ridiculous amount of ridiculous flops has pushed me to the edge. The fact that it's such a part of the fabric of the game is sad, but it's also the reason why it's tough to have a beef with it, because there's no way it's going to change. And the amount of flopping is even worse than I thought it would be. Not only does it happen at the end of games in order to give a team some rest, but it happens throughout the game. Players go down without even being touched, usually covering their face, probably just to cover up their laughs from their awful poor acting.
Just two days ago, in the Brazil-Ivory Coast game, I saw arguably one of the worst flops/calls on my life. Ivory Coast's Kader Keita had just passed the ball off, and was running right towards Kaka while looking the other way. Kaka put his arm up in order to keep Keita from running right into him, and although he barely touched him, Keita fell dramatically to the ground, covering his face. He fell as if Manny Pacquiao himself had just landed a huge haymaker right to his face. Keita stayed down for about a minute, making sure to sell the flop well. With the referee figuring that Kaka's hit must have been rough, he gave the superstar his second yellow card, therefore resulting in a red card, which dismissed him from the game and not only forced Brazil to play a man down for the few remaining minutes of the game, but also forcing Kaka to miss the upcoming game against Portugal. If you haven't seen the video, here's one with some wonderful background music, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1G2wT1DyBA.
When talking about instant replay, people always use the slippery slope argument, saying that if we use instant replay in one instance, then that means we'll have to use it in all situations. But this argument has no real basis or evidence. There is no reason why we would have to start using instant replay for every instance, if it was used in just one case. The only plays that soccer should use instant replay with are goals and yellow or red cards, being that these are the plays that can not only affect the outcome of a game but a team's future, as we saw with the U.S. and Kaka.
That being said, I do realize instant replay may be tough to implement in such a fluid game, where the clock never stops running and therefore would be tough to implement. The referees would have to stop the game, take at least a few minutes to make his call and then, finally return. A challenge system may work, as a very bad flop leading to a yellow or red card could be reversed, but flopping would still probably live on, as there are way more flops and fake injuries, than their could be challenges. So, if instant replay would interfere with the game's fluidity, why not have the next best thing: more referees?
In the World Cup, there are only three referees officiating a game, one on the field, and two on the sidelines. That's as many as the NBA has, and their court is 4,700 square feet compared to a soccer field measuring on average 77,625 square feet. Would having one more referee really kill soccer, especially on such a big stage as the World Cup? He wouldn't get in the way of play, with a soccer field being so big, and flopping would be cut down tremendously, with another set of eyes watching players without the ball.
With another referee and/or the use of instant replay, Brazil wouldn't have to play without their star player against Portugal. Even though they've already qualified for the elimination round, if Brazil loses to a Portugal team that just beat North Korea 7-0, they'll only be the second seed from Group G and would have to play the top team in Group H, which will most likely be a Chilean team that is yet to lose, but faces Spain this Friday.
If there was another referee and/or instant replay, the U.S. wouldn't have to be worried about having to win this next game against Algeria, because they already would have beaten Slovenia, in one of the best comebacks in soccer history, and one of the best moments in U.S. soccer history.
All of this and more could have happened and better, possibly game-changing calls could have been made in the past with these simple additions to the game. Even though it's too late to implement these changes in this World Cup, it's necessary that soccer finally catches up to other sports, and cuts down on the bad calls and acting - two of the worst parts of sports - that can change a game. I know FIFA is stubborn to change a sport that's wildly more successful than any other in the world, but technology is so advanced and easy to use these days, that it's time for FIFA to save itself as well as poor Koman Coulibaly and start getting it right.
No comments:
Post a Comment