Once again, an obvious goal was missed in the World Cup. Not surprisingly, the call was missed by the same incompetent Uruguayan who was handing out cards like candy to the Yanks against Italy four years ago, including two reds in the span of four game minutes. Germany beat England 4-1, so it’s difficult to say England got robbed as such, but if they’d gotten the tying 2-2 goal late in the first period, with the momentum behind them…who knows?
There is a problem with FIFA, and it can no longer be written off as the whingeing of ignorant Americans who don’t care anyway: their officiating is shit on toast. In a game where one goal can make the difference between promotion or relegation, between millions of dollars, between advancing in the world’s biggest sporting event for a single sport, it is no longer enough to allow the officials to continue to commit obvious errors and pass it off as “part of the game.”
None of the excuses hold water, and I am not going to waste time dignifying them by enumeration. We don’t need much – a few chips in the ball, and suddenly offsides – or whether a goal went in – becomes a matter of blow the whistle, stop play, look up at the booth where the display is already up showing the ball and a line across the field, radio down “yes” or “no”, and we’re back to it. Total elapsed time: 30 seconds, or approximately 1/4 of the standard Italian crybaby writhing on the ground in the last ten minutes of a match.
Americans will not take international-competition soccer seriously until the officiating doesn’t come with a dog and a white cane. Nor should they. If FIFA can’t move into the 21st century, I question whether they deserve your attention.