Ivory Coast- Brazil

Well, I am comprehensively disappointed by the match I was most looking forward to this weekend.

On paper, and judging from a solid performance against Portugal and a questionable Brazilian performance against North Korea, there were high expectations for this match, with Ivory Coast rightfully being touted as the Great Hope for Africa.

Nevertheless, from the get-go things looked dim, with master of underachievement Sven Goran Eriksson opting to start Gervinho, easily the best Ivorian against Portugal, on the bench. What’s more, we were surprised again by the presence of a midfielder like Zokora in the middle of the defense.

The match was absolutely toothless at the outset, with the Ivorians content to let their rivals do whatever they wanted. A good goal put them 1-0 down, and a ridiculous 2nd by Luis Fabiano, which should have been whistled out twice, virtually sealed it.

On said play, the Brazilian handled the ball, not once, but twice, in the same play, in clear view of the ref and his linesmen. Amazingly, the French official seemed to tease Luis Fabiano after the goal for having used his hands to control. Intentional or not, the goal should not have stood; his arms were above his head in both instances, thus rendering the ball dead and a free kick for the other team.

Overall the standard of officiating was extremely poor, not only allowing such a goal but also permitting shameless gamesmanship from the Brazilians, and later, horrific tackling from the Ivorians. We hope that Elano is not seriously injured, as the challenge that took him out of the game was enough to break my leg just from seeing it. Same goes for Michel Bastos, whose ankle was ironed out shortly after.

In the end, Kaká, dismal except for a combined total of 1 minute in this tournament (fortunately for Brazil that total minute led to two assists, one permitted by nonexistent defending), was sent off, helped by some Ivorian acting. Somebody must have shown them Rivaldo’s 2002 performance.

The match leaves a bad taste in the mouth, unless you are Brazilian and don’t care about anything besides Brazil winning.

Not only has the officiating question continued to taint this World Cup (changes NOW please!) but the Ivorians were atrociously dire. No fire, no energy, nothing at all besides a lay-down-and-die attitude from the very beginning.

As far as the officiating, I am ready for some basketball-style interventions. I am sick of the idea that football is some pure structure that mustn’t be tainted by any technology. Do we forget that the rules of this game have been modified hundreds of times since its inception? Why should we not take measures to ensure a more just contest?

We take for granted relatively “young” rules such as offsides, yet couldn’t bear the thought of instant replay. We complain that it would slow down the game, yet people won’t entertain something similar to a shot clock to cut down on the rampant time-wasting every time a team uses a small eternity to execute a throw-in or goal kick. Of course, bad calls will always happen (the NCAA Final Four is a good example), but I would love to see changes made for the good of the sport. At least in the NCAA Basketball Tournament we don’t see disgraceful gamesmanship, time-wasting, cynical fouling, and petulance towards offcials, because such actions are not tolerated, and furthermore, a careful system of referring balance ensures that such elements are at least minimized.

Italy “Falls” Against New Zealand

While a dramatic match, I believe that the commentators in general have lost sight of a couple of things.

1. Italy could have lost and STILL go through, if they beat Slovakia.

2. Slovakia have been abysmal and I fancy Italy won’t be too troubled by them, even if they do park the bus. What’s more, there is the possibility of Italy drawing and still going through if Paraguay beat New Zealand. This latter possibility seems strong considering the effort expended by the “Kiwis”. What’s more, Slovakia is currently a contender for dullest team in the tournament.

Lastly, how many times does the ESPN commentator have to say “The flightless Kiwis have taken flight” before being silenced by his own ironies?

Sacre bleu!

The unprecedented walkout on their own training by the French squad has made for great entertainment. The footage out there shows the French physical trainer throwing his badge in anger after being informed by Patrice Evra that the team refused to train in protest of Anelka’s firing.

Most entertainingly, a French journalist, L’Équipe’s Erik Bielderman, reported, LIVE on ESPN, what Anelka really said to Domenech, in a thick French accent: “he said to him go fuck himself, you son of a bitch.”

Saturday

Unsurprising results all around, though many would have fancied Ghana to defeat a 10-man Australia.

Which brings up the question: why on Earth would anybody include Harry Kewel in their squad? Was his 20-odd minute cameo scripted, as it is hard to remember him every playing more than 20 minutes in any match, ever.