After Nicolas Anelka told coach manager Raymond Domenech “Go f*** yourself” during France’s defeat to Mexico on Thursday, he refused to apologize, despite the wishes of FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes. In due course, Anelka was dismissed from his squad. Now it appears as though the veteran striker would just rather retire from the sport altogether.
From Goal.com:
Multiple reports suggested that Anelka had reacted angrily to Domenech’s questioning of his first half performance and that led to him being taken off at the interval. It had been reported that Anelka launched an obscenity-laden tirade at the coach.
Anelka was also absent from training on Saturday which fuelled rumours that his World Cup was over and that was later confirmed by the French Football Federation (FFF)
But now it seems Anelka has stepped away from the national side for good.
It further compounds a disastrous few days for France, who seem destined to be knocked out of the World Cup and need a win against South Africa in their final game to stand any chance of progressing.
This World Cup has been a complete disaster for France. Remember, this is the team, led by Zinedine Zidane, that made the final in 2006. Now France sits with a meager single point in their pool, and likely won’t advance to the knockout stage.
I realize that soccer/football is the most popular sport in the world, but watching the USA/Slovenia game yesterday morning, there are a few glaring problems that I have with the sport. (Note: I played soccer through the 9th grade, so I am familiar with its rules.)
1. The ref has too much control. Referee Koman Coulibaly stripped the U.S. of its go-ahead goal by calling a foul, yet he doesn’t have to explain what the foul was. Replays showed that no one was offsides, and the only physical fouls that could be seen on the replays were on the Slovenian players. Moreover, the ref keeps the official time. Why is this? Why can he arbitrarily say there’s three minutes or four minutes of injury time? Why not have an official clock that stops and starts when the official blows the whistle?
2. Offsides takes the excitement out of the sport. It seems like anytime a player makes a nice run, there’s the sideline official raising his flag and stopping the play. Why is there offsides in the first place? Look at American football and basketball, two of the most exciting sports in the world — no one is penalized for beating the opposing team down the field/court. If a player can make a break for the goal and his teammate can hit him with a nice pass, why are we penalizing them? The defender needs to stay with his guy; that’s the whole point of defense. Under the current format, the defender is encouraged to sandbag it (pull up when he’s beat) in order to get the offsides call. With no offsides, scoring would go up and it would be a far more free-flowing and exciting sport.
3. The vuvuzelas. WTF? What are these and why do fans feel the need to blow them for the entire game?
What about you — what would you change about the World Cup?
Koman Coulibaly is a name which most of us aren’t familiar. In fact, we probably won’t remember it even after the 2010 World Cup has finished. Simply put, for the next couple of days, Coulibaly will be known as the referee who called a phantom penalty against the United States when the team scored on a direct kick in their match versus Slovenia. Down 2-nil at the beginning of the second half, the U.S. squad unfathomably rebounded with goals by Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley. In the 86th minute, the team suddenly struck the dagger into Slovenia with Maurice Edu’s goal off Donovan’s free kick. But it was not to be, as Coulibaly called a foul…not on Slovenia — whose team member was giving Bradley a FIFA-endorsed Heimlich during the play — but on the U.S. Video evidence proves the call was bogus — so much so, in fact, that FIFA is mulling suspending Coulibaly from officiating for the rest of the tournament.
From ESPN.com:
After the match, Donovan said he asked the referee what the call was but did not get an answer.
“We asked the ref many times what it was or who it was on and he wouldn’t or couldn’t explain it,” Donovan said. “I don’t know what to think of the call because I didn’t see any foul, just a normal free kick and a goal.”
Referees must submit a written report to FIFA after each match, but it is not specified in the rule that he must fully explain a ruling such as this.
FIFA refereeing rules state: “The referee shall hand over to the FIFA general coordinator a match report at the stadium immediately after the match. On the report form the referee shall note all occurrences such as misconduct of players leading to caution or expulsion, unsporting behavior by supporters and/or by officials or any other person acting on behalf of an association at the match and any other incident happening before, during and after the match in as much detail as possible.”
The U.S. team has been besieged with questions why soccer referees don’t publicly explain controversial decisions, as umpires and referees do in U.S. sports.
I take a rather harsh stance when evaluating referees. You know, it is all they do. They attend the seminars and classes to get better, but at the end of their 5-hour work day, their job description is still defined as being a fan with a whistle. While we shouldn’t crucify one to represent the whole, calls such as this are simply inexcusable.
The part that confuses me is that there’s no accountability in FIFA. If the U.S. ends up missing the knockout round, fans may never get an explanation, per FIFA’s outdated protocol. That’s just the way it is. Well, the way is infantile.
Coulibaly needs to go, and take some time to fully understand what’s expected of him as a World Cup official. And yes, I’ll say this as fair-weather soccer fan. Because it matters now.
Nationals’ phenom Stephen Strasburg once again dominated his competition in his third start of the season, striking out 10 White Sox in seven innings on Friday night. Unfortunately for him he picked up a no-decision, but he walked zero batters against the best lineup he’s pitched against since he was called up.
Thus far, he has struck out 32 batters in 19 1/3 innings and has compiled a 1.86 ERA. The 32 Ks is the most for any pitcher in baseball’s modern era (1900 – present). He’s also the first pitcher in the modern era to have two 10-strikeout, no-walk games in his first three MLB starts.
Granted, the Pirates, Indians and White Sox don’t have powerhouse offenses, but so what? These are still major league hitters that he’s managed to look like toddlers swinging those big, red plastic bats for the first time in the backyard. His stuff is absolutely out-of-this-world.
Strasburg is scheduled to face the Royals in his next matchup, which will be the best offense he has seen to date.
