The Haphazard Blog

There’s only the third place match the final left to be played. I think it has been a surprising World Cup. I had a co-worker predict this final, but outside of him, no one I knew had the Netherlands and Spain in the final. I really don’t have much of a preference for either team. I’ve been thoroughly annoyed by the diving from the Dutch team, which seems like an all time low, worse than the Italians. I’m pretty much just hoping for a good game and leaning somewhat towards Spain. In the third place game, I’m expecting Germany to win. After Brazil was knocked out, I was hoping for Germany to win the World Cup.

I’m hopeful that U.S. Soccer will be able to capitalize on their coverage from this World Cup. Although making it past Ghana would’ve really been huge (1 more win away from playing to the last weekend of the World Cup), they just couldn’t pull it off. I think if they can continue to build on the 2009 Confederations Cup and 2010 World Cup performances, they can attract more fans. And one day, they may get that striker with a killer instinct they so badly need.

I got a little laugh reading the latest ESPN Ombudsman article. While he doesn’t come out and say it, he implies throughout the first section that ESPN is in total control of the World Cup coverage. In reality the audio and video for all the game coverage is provided by a host broadcaster. All ESPN does is not mess it up. I do applaud them for keeping the on screen graphics minimalist in nature and using good announcers. The coverage is not geared for those who suffer from ADD. It’s for people who want to watch the whole game and have an understanding of the game. It’s a welcome change from the usual dumbing down of everything.

My backup team is out. Brazil went down 1-2 after taking an early 1-0 lead. They grew more and more frustrated (Melo got a straight red card for cleating) and could not tie it up. Early on, the Dutch were diving like crazy, but in the end, they played the better game.

Watching the Ghana game, the way it ended, I wonder if a referee should be allowed to simply award a goal. I know this is in direct reaction to this game. What the Uruguayan player did was smart, and certainly against the rules. But it essentially took what was a definite goal, turned it into a potential goal via a penalty kick and as we all saw, that shot hit the crossbar. The game then immediately went to a shootout that Ghana lost. So, at the cost of a red card, Uruguay advances and Ghana goes home. No team would ever pass on that chance no matter who the player they lose is.

In the NFL, the rule book allows for a referee to award a TD in egregious and extreme conditions. I don’t think it has ever happened, but it takes into account what would happen if a player from the sidelines ran onto the field and made a tackle. In FIFA’s case, the referee would have the ability to award a goal or a penalty kick in this circumstance. The goal would only be awarded when it is clear a goal was about to be scored. And in reality, the only scenario I can think of is a hand ball with the trajectory of the ball clearly being on target to go in the goal. So maybe it should really be some type of rule specific to hand balls that prevent a goal.

It just seems wrong that Ghana is out given the way it played out.

Now I’m on the Germany bandwagon. Hopefully that does not end tomorrow.