A draw, and the most blatant dive so far

[vilakins]

We got a goal against Italy! And almost got a second one. Their goal was a dubiously awarded penalty--Italy have got diving down to a fine art--so I think we did bloody well considering.

As for that blatant and utterly shameless Cote d'Ivoire dive that succeeded in getting Kaka sent off for a slight tap on the chest (Keita falls, clutching his

Comments

[linda_joyce]

Looking at that Kaka should have done the same thing, D'Ivoir hit him just as hard on the same part of his anatomy as he was hit, his chest. And yes Rugby League is a lot cleaner at the level that matches are televised than they were in my younger days because of the TMO(Television Match Official). In Union there has never been the degree of fouling that there was in League and the TMO is omnly used by the Ref for difficult decisions on trys and touch downs.

[reapermum]

And if the ref misses a really bad foul, eg spear tackle, the offending player can be cited and disciplined on video evidence.

[linda_joyce]

Ah I'm a little behind with the rules of Rugby, I didn't know that. I had noticed that the game was cleaner but I put that down to it being professional these days. Professionals have only their game to live on and do not want either to be sent off or suspended in case they were caught.

[vilakins]

Yep. If they can do it in rugby, why not here?

[entropy_house]

Woah, that was amazing-- run up to a guy who isn't even *looking* at you, bump your chest against his arm, and then throw yourself to the ground clutching at your face, and roll around in agony.

I swear I'd seen that sort of fake done better in school playgrounds.

[vilakins]

Greg calls them Hollywoods. Some are harder to pick, and there was a real injury earlier in that game, but that one was one of the worst I've seen.

[entropy_house]

I imagine it's really embarrassing when everyone watching the telemonitor is screaming 'YOU'RE BLIND, REF'.

[vilakins]

But they can't hear them for the vuvuzelas.

[the_summoning_d]

I still can't believe that. Absolutely the worst dive I've ever seen (not the worst refereeing decision, tragically enough, but that's a rant for another day)

[vilakins]

If rugby league can have a Television Match Official (see the first comment, from a Welsh friend), then why the hell can't soccer? The very least they could do is reverse decisions like that.

[vjezkova]

Oh shame indeed!!!!I couldn´t believe my eyes:-(

[vilakins]

There have been some bad fouls and stupid decisions, but that was the worst.

[jhall1]

I didn't see the match, so can't comment on whether the penalty should have been awarded, but congratulations on the result. You now have a real chance of progessing to the next round, though it still looks odds against.

It's strange that almost all the leading European sides seem to be playing poorly: Italy, Spain, France, England.

[vilakins]

We've done a lot better than I was ever expecting. I suppose now we'll fall apart like we do in cricket. Even if we did go ahead, we wouldn't last long, but we're still getting into the game at international level.

So far it looks as if the likeliest winners are Brazil, Argentina--and the Netherlands. I feel sorry for South Africa. The host team usually does better.