World Cup: Blame Begins With FIFA

It seems to rear its ugly head in every postseason of every sport. Mark Cuban can always be heard complaining about it. Seahawks fans and every opponent of the White Sox last October still hold grudges because of it. And now, the World Cup has been infiltrated with it — bad officiating.

There is something decidedly American about this "football" thing after all.

The referees have come under even more scrutiny in this World Cup than in previous ones, and that is truly saying something. Consider that in 2002, an Ecuadorian referee's wayward call so doomed Italy that Sicily's public toilets are now known as Byron Morenos.

This year, though, seems to have gone above and beyond the previous heights of absurdity. But if you are looking to blame anyone, don't put it solely on the referees.

Granted, the refs have made what seems to be a mountain of terrible decisions inside the box. Ukraine was penalized when Spain's Fernando Torres went crashing down without contact inside the penalty area, but the favor was returned when later in the tournament their own striker, Andriy Shevchenko, tripped over his own feet which was also rewarded with a penalty.

More pertinent to readers from the United States was the curious decision that landed Ghana a penalty shot when Oguchi Onyewu seemed guilty of nothing more than being larger than his Ghanaian foe. But everything was topped on Monday when the Spanish referee awarded Italy a penalty at the death when Fabio Grosso cleverly launched himself over a sliding Lucas Neill of Australia. The Azzuri converted the last kick of the game, leaving Socceroos nation in such an uproar that the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald read "F***ing Bull****." (Except there were no bleeps, can you believe that? What a country!)

Those are typical, controversial calls that come with every World Cup. What is atypical, though, is the amount of yellow and red cards that are being shown. The cautions are coming out at record rate. In the Portugal/Netherlands game, 20 cards were shown (including a World Cup record four red). After the game, FIFA president Sepp Blatter laid the entire blame at the feet of Russian referee Valentin Ivanov.

Ivanov defended himself, stating he was just enforcing what FIFA (aka Sepp Blatter) wanted! And everything Ivanov says is true. Sepp Blatter called for crackdowns on shirt pulling, elbowing, dangerous tackles, and so far, he is getting what he asked for.

What Blatter failed to realize (which is a re-occurring theme for this FIFA President) is that when all of this ticky-tack nonsense is enforced to the letter of the law, players will be absent for the biggest game the tournament has to offer. Zinadine Zidane, Michael Essien, and Deco are all forced to miss important matches, and countless more were forced to sit out group games because of the fear that a second yellow card could be cruelly brandished.

The referees have become the biggest story in this World Cup, which is something finally Americans relate to when it comes to the biggest event on the planet.

Final Thought About U.S.

They might be deemed a disappointment, but the U.S. team was put in an incredibly hard scenario. America laid an egg in the first game, but a lot of it had to do with their opponents. A lot of it also had to do with their supposed best players. Landon Donovan had a miserable tournament, as did Eddie Pope and a few others. But for the most part, everyone played okay.

What we need to as a nation realize first and foremost that this is not hockey. I don't care how good your goaltender is, because if people are allowed unfettered access into the area, you don't stand a chance.

Have you seen how huge soccer goals are? How is Kasey Keller supposed to stop any of the three goals against the Czechs? Or the Italy goal? Or the Ghana goals? He isn't the best goalkeeper in the world, but even if he was, I'm not sure what he could do to stop any of those strikes.

Bruce Arena was on World Cup Live the other day, and I thought he summed it up pretty well. He said that U.S. national team members need to play in more competitive leagues (read: Landon Donovan) to give them the necessary experience to deal with stages like the World Cup.

And he was quick to mention that this is not a slam against Major League Soccer. MLS is necessary to the success of the United States, but it should be treated as the first step in what should be a long and successful career. Maybe in time MLS could become a better league, but right now, in order to compete in the World Cup, everyone on the U.S. roster must ply their trade overseas.

I hope enough people watched Ghana's dismantling of the Czechs and surprising display against the Brazilians to realize they are vastly more talented than the United States. Almost everyone on Ghana plays in Europe, and that experience truly showed in their 2-1 win over the U.S.

The bottom line is Ghana was not the wildcard, the United States was. Aside from their two games against Mexico in qualifying and the World Cup every four years, America never plays pressure-filled, competitive games. They don't participate in the Copa America, and their MLS-based players have nothing remotely comparable to either the Champions League or tightly-contested domestic games. And until that happens, the U/S/ will continue to languish behind against the true soccer powers.

Other Observations

* So far, this tournament has had the least amount of surprises I can remember. There have been virtually zero upsets (Ghana doesn't count — how can it be considered the group of death, yet when one of the team advances out, it's an upset?), and with the exception of Portugal and Ukraine, every team in the quarterfinals has won the World Cup.

* Spain and the Netherlands continue to carry their proud traditions as the great underachievers. Both faced daunting challenges in the Round of 16, and both came up predictably lame. To infuriate Spanish fans even more, a team they beat 4-0 in their first game (Ukraine) has advanced even farther than they have.

* The stars will never be more aligned for England. They have had major injury problems (Michael Owen tearing his ACL is the latest), but considering only a severely-depleted Portugal side stand in their way to the semifinals, England might still not have played a single game well, and yet will be one game away from the final.

* Watching soccer in high definition is amazing. I cannot state this enough. For the Germany/Argentina and Brazil/France games, I highly recommend getting yourself in a position to view it on one. I have said it before and will say it again — it is a life-altering experience.