FIFA-Foo foo

FIFA the body organizing the World Cup would like us not to know the truth. FIFA would like to pretend that what has happened and what will happen, has not in effect happened.

During the Argentina Vs. Mexico match an Argentinian goal was ruled good, but was clearly scored in an offside position by Carlos Tevez. The stadium screens showed the replay and the players and fans in attendance were aghast! A goal that shouldn’t be a goal. The players ran directly to the referee in protest. It was clear to all that the goal should not have counted. The goal should be disallowed.

However, FIFA does not have a replay rule in effect and the referees can not get help to make a correct determination on a play, even if they were plain and simply wrong. Of course as we have seen throughout this World Cup, this goal was not the first missed call, but one of many, that have unfortunately had a negative effect on the play in South Africa.

FIFA came out yesterday with a strong statement that the replay should never have been played in the stadium and that it had been a huge costly mistake to the integrity of the game.

Excuse me? You don’t want the truth to be known to the fans in attendance, but its OK for the other 50 million people watching at home to know what actually happened and how incompetent the referees and FIFA is?

The bottom line is that FIFA just wants to make us into fools. Plain and simple. People pay good money for tickets, some spent money on airfare, hotels, amenities etc…, and you FIFA want to cheat them and pretend one thing when in actuality something else occurred.

You don’ want your referees criticized? Why? Because it makes you, FIFA look bad? Because you selected second and third rate officials to officiate your premiere tournament? You don’t like the criticism, do you? You would like to crawl up underneath a rock for all of those poor, poor decisions and calls that have taken place the last two weeks.

Shame on you! Do you take us for fools? Soccer/football fans throughout the world, must be thinking, as I am, why are we even watching these games if they are so brutally refereed? Just like we saw in qualifying when Thierry Henry’s handball goal sent France into the tournament. A good official or VIDEO REPLAY! Would have solved the problem.

And that’s where the crux of the matter lies.

FIFA has the technology to make sure that goals that should be goals are goals, and that goals that shouldn’t be goals, aren’t goals. But FIFA is still in the dark ages.

Major League Baseball has instituted video replay for some calls. The same is true with the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association and the National Football League. All the major North American sports have adopted replay in some fashion or another.

But not FIFA and not the many many soccer/football leagues throughout the world.

They are just too cool. We don’t need video replays, we have the best officials in the world and this is how it should be, as it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago or even 50 years ago. We don’t need replays! We want controversy.

And that is what FIFA truly wants, controversy.

Why? Because this way people like myself and the may other bloggers, columnists, newspapers, talk show hosts all will talk, discuss and continue to write about FIFA and it keeps them all over the news 24/7.

Any publicity is good publicity as the saying goes.

And that is the way FIFA likes it. The more talk the better.

Thoughts from the Pulpit

1) We have two games on tap today. Japan Vs. Paraguay which on paper is not a very exciting game since it features two of the lesser teams in the tournament. However, it could end up being an excellent match up of styles, attack and end to end action, as each team knows a win catapults them into the quarter finals. The later game features two of the premier footballing countries in Portugal and European Champions Spain. That game should also be a barnburner with featuring terrific players in both sides and a chance for Cristiano Ronaldo a chance to shine on the World stage.
2) Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals were defeated last night by the Atlanta Braves, 5-0 with Strasburg giving up 3 earned runs in the 7th inning. Strasburg now has an overall record of 2-2 and a 2.27 ERA, but last night is was his counterpart’s evening with Tim Hudson moving to 8-3, with a 2.37 ERA who will certainly be heading to the All Star Game. It still remains to be seen if Strasburg will be heading there as well.
3) Looks like Chris Bosh is going to be a goner, out of Toronto. Raptors Gm Brian Colangelo said yesterday on the FAN 590 that it looks unlikely that he will stay a Raptor. He will probably go to another team, through a sign and trade so at least Toronto gets something back in exchange. Over the weekend there was reportedly a summit with Bosh, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade which took place in Miami, going over potential free agent scenarios. As July 1st approaches all basketball fans will be eager to see how this star studded free agent class plays out.