Associate
So here we go – a World Cup Rant (possibly to divert the attention of people who are scrutinising the phones bills of Hartlepool Utd to see who has been talked to and what was said… a watched kettle never boils as my Mum says)
Anyway,
There is something that is really spoiling my enjoyment of this world cup. It’s not the camera angles or the commentators (who are my usual bug bear) – it’s the players.
Somewhere along the line there has been a mix up. Football is a contact sport, it always should be. Now I am the first to be out of my seat when I see a bad tackle or even a tackle that shows no attempt to get the ball. We all know that these should be punished. But the problem is that players fall over at every opportunity. Every attempted tackle becomes a seismic occurrence that knocks a player to the ground. You don’t even have to touch the player. Go for a header and sense the defender is behind you – fall over with your arms in the air – instant free kick. The yellow card is devalued – commentators bring up the idea of sin bins nearly every week.
I have stopped blaming referees now, the disgrace that is this world cup has actually got me feeling sorry for them. How can you possibly be able to tell which is a real foul and which is not when players react to every little touch or bump like it was a premeditated swing for their heads? It’s gone way beyond diving in the box for penalty. People are going down under an attempted tackle on the half way line.
It’s lazy. I remember I used to get annoyed when I saw players ‘settle’ for a corner instead of trying to cross the ball – I thought that was lazy, then they started to settle for a throw in on their own half way line. This falling down thing is 100 times worse. It stops players having to actually do anything. Hoof the ball forward get your striker near a defender and then watch as he falls over. Instant free kick – no skill needed. By pass the midfield take out any possibility of losing the ball or having to deal with any players that might have the audacity to use their ability to take the ball off you and punish you by launching an attack. It’s like American football – move the ball forward get tackled, re-group and launch another set piece.
I have seen a number of teams come to pools and take the tempo out of the game by falling over at every opportunity – sadly they happen to be the teams nearer the top of the league unfortunately. I always put it down to the lower standard of football, the desire to kick like a pit pony to get out of the division. Then I watched the world cup. It works – but it has taken any attempt to play football out of the game. How many free flowing moves have you seen lately? Watching Ukraine game yesterday there weren’t any offside, there weren’t any shots that I can remember in the second half (the Swiss were so out of shooting practise that 3 of them couldn’t even score a penalty). It was stop start, stop start, and roll over a bit in agony. Long ball, fall over, look at the ref before you hit the ground.
Does it all stem from the desire not to get beat? Has that taken precedence over the desire to actually win? (And win well?).
So what do we do? The refs at the World Cup have started to splash the yellow cards around, but maybe they should be punishing the one that falls over and waves his arms in the air (don’t even think about the ones that wave imaginary yellow cards about). Do we appeal to any sporting nature these professionals may have? Think about all the kids watching their first world cup and going out and emulating their favourite players - they wont have any skills, goals (or even shots) to re-enact it will be the diving, the feigning injury, the rolling over and begging the ref. It will be the lazy footballers opting for the easy option time and time again.
Well thank you for your time!
Probably nothing you weren't already thinking but I feel better for having vented...
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