FIFA Under-20 Semi-Final #2: Chile Vs. Argentina
A couple of thoughts on this game:
First and foremost, I was positively appalled at the cheating Argentina was displaying with their players diving at the slightest nudge by a Chilean player. My friend and fellow blogger, Chad Pederson touched on this issue in a 2006 posting (July 14, 2006 to be exact). I watched most of the game, starting around the 20th minute or so and right from the outset, every time a Chilean player got anywhere near an Argentinian player, the Argentinian would go down like he'd been shot. It's teams like this that ruin the integrity of the game. Diving in any sport should not be tolerated. In hockey, there are rules against diving, ranging from a two-minute penalty and a warning letter for a first offense, a thousand-dollar fine for a second offense and a one game suspension for a third offense and for subsequent offenses the number of games the offending player is suspended doubles. As near as I can tell no such rule exists in basketball. Part of the problem is in soccer the field is so large that it's difficult for the referee to sometimes judge whether a dive has occured. That should not be the case in basketball. I would suggest adding a second referee might be a solution to this issue. In basketball, booting players out would certainly spell the end of the diving. Extreme as it may seem, diving must be eliminated in all sports as it to me is a sign of cheating.
The second issue I had with that game was the refereeing. The referee, where was that guy from anyway?, clearly was in favour of the Argentinian team. Several of his calls were very questionable, including red-carding two Chilean players. Also, he was giving Argentina many more free kicks than Chile and the game ended with Chile receiving seven yellow cards (two being automatic reds because of previous yellow cards to those players) to just two to Argentina. FIFA, the NHL, and the NBA need to hire neutral referees who can call the games fairly and by the book. In the NHL, referees tend to be inconsistent from game-to-game in calling penalties. There are games where there are 100+ minutes in penalties and other games where just a few penalties are called. The NBA is pretty good with consistency, although they can do better with recognizing dives.
I thought the Toronto Police did a great job in controlling the players and fans after the game, especially considering the fans and players on the Chilean side had every right to be upset after the game was over.
Here's hoping that there's no repeat performance in the Finals on Sunday.
First and foremost, I was positively appalled at the cheating Argentina was displaying with their players diving at the slightest nudge by a Chilean player. My friend and fellow blogger, Chad Pederson touched on this issue in a 2006 posting (July 14, 2006 to be exact). I watched most of the game, starting around the 20th minute or so and right from the outset, every time a Chilean player got anywhere near an Argentinian player, the Argentinian would go down like he'd been shot. It's teams like this that ruin the integrity of the game. Diving in any sport should not be tolerated. In hockey, there are rules against diving, ranging from a two-minute penalty and a warning letter for a first offense, a thousand-dollar fine for a second offense and a one game suspension for a third offense and for subsequent offenses the number of games the offending player is suspended doubles. As near as I can tell no such rule exists in basketball. Part of the problem is in soccer the field is so large that it's difficult for the referee to sometimes judge whether a dive has occured. That should not be the case in basketball. I would suggest adding a second referee might be a solution to this issue. In basketball, booting players out would certainly spell the end of the diving. Extreme as it may seem, diving must be eliminated in all sports as it to me is a sign of cheating.
The second issue I had with that game was the refereeing. The referee, where was that guy from anyway?, clearly was in favour of the Argentinian team. Several of his calls were very questionable, including red-carding two Chilean players. Also, he was giving Argentina many more free kicks than Chile and the game ended with Chile receiving seven yellow cards (two being automatic reds because of previous yellow cards to those players) to just two to Argentina. FIFA, the NHL, and the NBA need to hire neutral referees who can call the games fairly and by the book. In the NHL, referees tend to be inconsistent from game-to-game in calling penalties. There are games where there are 100+ minutes in penalties and other games where just a few penalties are called. The NBA is pretty good with consistency, although they can do better with recognizing dives.
I thought the Toronto Police did a great job in controlling the players and fans after the game, especially considering the fans and players on the Chilean side had every right to be upset after the game was over.
Here's hoping that there's no repeat performance in the Finals on Sunday.
posted by opinionator777 at 10:11 PM
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