World Cup Referees - what's going on?

[Matilda]

I have to vent my frustration - don't want to sound like a sore loser, but Australia was robbed
in the match against Italy when Grosso took a dive. But that was far from the only bad decision
made by refs through the series.

It has to be asked - are the refs half-blind and stupid, or have they been told who is to win each
match?

[ContraBass Black]

1. Some of the calls are valid, some of them are not.

But some people seem to rail on for hours at any call against their team, regardless of what it was, and then claim that their team was robbed by officials when that team couldn't find the net.

[brentspeak]

2. The U.S. got robbed -- twice

First, in the Italy game. Second, in the Ghana game, when a phantom penalty kick was awarded to Ghana.

[Matilda]

3. The U.S. wasn't supposed to be there.

Neither was Australia.

There was a disputed goal by Japan in our first match that shouldn't have been allowed, but
Australia won 3-1 so there was less fuss over a bad call than there might have been.

Interesting that the referee in the US/Ghana match was the same Markus Merk who refereed
the Australia/Brazil match. He was completely biased, and a disgrace to the game by any
standards.

But it was the match against Italy that sticks in our gullet even now - an obvious dive by Grosso
in the last couple of minutes of the game resulted in a penalty kick that was converted and gave
a win to Italy. It was such a bad decision that the crowd (except the Italians) booed - the
only time I've heard that happen in the series. It was only then that people here started to wonder
whether there was a perception in the FIFA establishment that certain upitty countries had no right
to be playing.

I do think that once this series is over, sports writers and clubs internationally should keep up
the pressure to clean up this game. For a start, video cameras have to be introduced to allow
adjudication of disputed calls. And when dives and fake injuries are picked up on camera, the
offending players should be suspended for a time.

Soccer's a good game, but it needs to be cleaned up, from the top down.

[truebrit71]

4. You are not a sore loser. You guys were "beaten" by the referee...

...that was a BLATANT dive, from the team that is world famous for being a bunch of sissy-mary diving poofters....I guess they lived up to their advanced billing then.... :eyes:

[Matilda]

5. Doesn't make it any better that Grosso scored the winning penalty goal

in the final.

And there were some suspect goings-on in that match - the insults to Zidane may have made the
difference. What a pity he lost his cool.

I don't think Australia would have made it to the final; we wouldn't have beaten Germany, but I
can't help thinking that it was set up for Italy, and we should have gone one more round. I'd
have been happy seeing a France/Germany final if they got there fair and square.