The World Championship of Whiny Bitches: FIFA World Cup 2006
The World Cup has been drawing a lot of my interest lately, filling my mindspace with a veritable trove of celebrated players and wild speculations about the prospectve winners, and sending replays of inconcievable goals and near misses whizzing through the 8mm reel of my conciousness.
For the past three weeks Soccer, as we call the sport, (Football, as the rest of the world calls it (Futbol, as my relatives call it)) has captivated me as never before. As a snooty technophile spending the majority of my days geeking away at the computron, sports of all kinds ordinarily take their place in the distant periphery of my attention. But there is something fascinating about the FIFA World Cup. Its like what the Olympics should be. Wants to be.
But for all those who are circumspect enough to see the vast potential of 32 nations (198 if you include those who applied to partake but didn't qualify) coming together in the name of sportsmanship and a test of futbolistic prowess, today's final was a complete disgrace.
I watched the game. (If you didn't, don't worry, it was a deplorable game.)
At first, it was the dirty, no good, rotten Italianos. They played as if this was not just the FIFA World Cup, but rather the FIFA World Cup of Ultimate Fighting. They kicked, they tripped, they jeered, and they generally played dirty. For a while, the noble French did their best to remain above the fray. When a penalty kick put them in the lead, it looked like good behaviour would pay off.
But 110 minutes into the game, it was not paying off. The Italians had scored a goal to put themselves even steven with their French adversaries, and by the second half, the French had begun to fight dirty as well. Players were dropping like flies -- what were they supposed to do, just stand there and take it?
Yes.
Antagonizing your opponent until they grow angry and make a mistake is the oldest trick in the book.
If you don't know already what happened in the 110'th minute of the game (overtime, for those not familiar with this particular minute), you can see it here. Or you can read the next sentence. The legendary French player, Zinedine Zidane, headbutted Italian Marco Materazzi, aparently responding to a racial slur.
Now, assuming the most deeply insulting words that have ever been uttered since the Big Bang (or the creation, take your pick) were uttered today in Germany, directed at Zinedine Zidane, (specifically the phrase "yo mama"), the great footballer still made a tremendous mistake. I mean, really, it is the afformentioned oldest trick in the book.
So the French lost. Z.Z. got a Red card taking him out of the game before the crucial showdown shootout in which Italy won 3 - 5 (the fifth shot for the french was never made -- it was at that time impossible for them to win even if they scored).
But really who cares. If the French had won it wouldn't have mattered -- this game was an absolute disgrace. The ref was far too hesitant to make penalty calls when they were neccesary, and seemed to let the Italians take the proverbial mile, perhaps out of remorse for calling a dubious penalty against them earlier in the match.
What this cries for is a better method for referrees to verify their calls. There is plenty of video taken at these matches, and the technology exists for the refs to have this stuff at their fingertips, allowing them to deftly review every case before making a rash call.
My thinking is this: Germany won the world cup. Second place to Portugal with no third place whatsoever. Italy and France today have made a complete mockery of what this tourney stands for. Yesterdays game (Germany v Portugal for 3rd Place) was vastly preferrable for lovers of good sportsmanship.
Justin Out
For the past three weeks Soccer, as we call the sport, (Football, as the rest of the world calls it (Futbol, as my relatives call it)) has captivated me as never before. As a snooty technophile spending the majority of my days geeking away at the computron, sports of all kinds ordinarily take their place in the distant periphery of my attention. But there is something fascinating about the FIFA World Cup. Its like what the Olympics should be. Wants to be.
But for all those who are circumspect enough to see the vast potential of 32 nations (198 if you include those who applied to partake but didn't qualify) coming together in the name of sportsmanship and a test of futbolistic prowess, today's final was a complete disgrace.
I watched the game. (If you didn't, don't worry, it was a deplorable game.)
At first, it was the dirty, no good, rotten Italianos. They played as if this was not just the FIFA World Cup, but rather the FIFA World Cup of Ultimate Fighting. They kicked, they tripped, they jeered, and they generally played dirty. For a while, the noble French did their best to remain above the fray. When a penalty kick put them in the lead, it looked like good behaviour would pay off.
But 110 minutes into the game, it was not paying off. The Italians had scored a goal to put themselves even steven with their French adversaries, and by the second half, the French had begun to fight dirty as well. Players were dropping like flies -- what were they supposed to do, just stand there and take it?
Yes.
Antagonizing your opponent until they grow angry and make a mistake is the oldest trick in the book.
If you don't know already what happened in the 110'th minute of the game (overtime, for those not familiar with this particular minute), you can see it here. Or you can read the next sentence. The legendary French player, Zinedine Zidane, headbutted Italian Marco Materazzi, aparently responding to a racial slur.
Now, assuming the most deeply insulting words that have ever been uttered since the Big Bang (or the creation, take your pick) were uttered today in Germany, directed at Zinedine Zidane, (specifically the phrase "yo mama"), the great footballer still made a tremendous mistake. I mean, really, it is the afformentioned oldest trick in the book.
So the French lost. Z.Z. got a Red card taking him out of the game before the crucial showdown shootout in which Italy won 3 - 5 (the fifth shot for the french was never made -- it was at that time impossible for them to win even if they scored).
But really who cares. If the French had won it wouldn't have mattered -- this game was an absolute disgrace. The ref was far too hesitant to make penalty calls when they were neccesary, and seemed to let the Italians take the proverbial mile, perhaps out of remorse for calling a dubious penalty against them earlier in the match.
What this cries for is a better method for referrees to verify their calls. There is plenty of video taken at these matches, and the technology exists for the refs to have this stuff at their fingertips, allowing them to deftly review every case before making a rash call.
My thinking is this: Germany won the world cup. Second place to Portugal with no third place whatsoever. Italy and France today have made a complete mockery of what this tourney stands for. Yesterdays game (Germany v Portugal for 3rd Place) was vastly preferrable for lovers of good sportsmanship.
Justin Out