With the turmoil still roiling over the denial of what would have been the match winning goal to USA FIFA is said to be considering curtailing any role for the referee responsible for that ruling in the remainder of the finals.  We’re supposed to say oh, that’ll fix it all right.

Adding to that tale French star Nicklas Anelka has been dismissed from the squad and sent home after an outburst in the training room.  Many of the remaining players are upset that staff have leaked the story of the confrontation to the press calling whoever did so a “traitor.”  The French team is now disintegrating as two of the staff have quit after further disagreements and the team refused to train.  It has to be said that such an event may be construed by many, especially fans of Ireland, as a final form of retribution for Henri’s handball that got the French there in the first place.

That would be silly, vindictive and misguided because those with that attitude deny the reality of the situation and the real villain as well.  Ireland failed to score a single goal in nearly 200 minutes of playing time against the French.  Yes, it was truly a dastardly deed by Henri and yes, it surely did settle the playoff sending France to the finals and Ireland home.  All that is absolutely true but directing the ire at France misses the more important aspect entirely.

For such an injustice to stand and the international body reluctant to correct it illuminates the true  villain in such a case.  That FIFA, and the powers that be in soccer around the world essentially refuse to protect the integrity of the game by putting in place extra pairs of eyes, technology or some combination of that to do their utmost to ensure such events are truly rare and the results are as  accurate as can be.  FIFA has done very little in that regard for decades.  One result of that is that we’ve just seen the USA being denied the winning goal in what would have been one of the most remarkable fightbacks in World Cup history.

The real villain in such cases is FIFA, not France, and the fact they have done so little over the years to address such things borders on being downright criminal.  Yes, years, decades in fact!

It is those failures of FIFA to make a realistic, concerted effort to get it right that enshrines moments in soccer history that actually highlight egregious errors by the match officials, not the greatness or  brilliance of the players involved.  One of those of course is Diego Maradona’s “hand of God” goal that actually enabled Argentina to go on and win a World Cup.  An actual World Cup win that was made possible because the officials screwed up, simple as that.

In that case it was not the individual brilliance of one of the world’s best ever players that is remembered: it is the failure of the match officials to “get it right” that is really celebrated.  Yes, there will also be the human element in such things, that is of course quite true.  But consider this: that event was decades ago and still FIFA essentially refuses to do everything possible to ensure those sort of moments are not celebrated when it is the failure of match officials to get it right that created it in the first place.  It is that very failure to deal with issues like that that more than two decades later also allow Thierry Henri to handle the ball twice on the same play that eliminated Ireland and promoted France to World Cup 2010.

Instead, that moment is allowed to stand despite the admission of the perp and the absolute injustice of it is set aside.  And now we’re forced to say the brilliance of Donovan’s near perfect delivery of his free kick and the detemination and skill of Maurice Edu to get on the end of it and poke it past the keeper never really happened.  The pompous asses at FIFA stare reality in the face again and deny any responsibility for “getting it right.”

It is FIFA that is the culprit that created the moment that denied USA victory and the intransigence of pompous fools like Sepp Blather that refuse to deal with it.

Day 9
Netherlands defeated Japan 1-0 on a great strike from Wesley Sneijder (53) with both sides spurning chances that could have changed the match.  It was the second victory for the Netherlands that all but assures their advance to the knockout round.  The win also sets a record of 10 straight victories; 8 in the qualifiers and the two in the cup itself.  This is not surprising for this collection of players who have been among the very best in Europe for some time.  In qualifying for Euro 2008 they were 100% and conceded the fewest goals.  In the World Cup qualifying they were also the top team in the UEFA zone scoring 17 goals while conceding only 2.  What is also the history of this team is, that despite their excellence they don’t win the ultimate prize.  Will 2010 be different?

In a match that featured the youngest team in South Africa, Ghana, versus the oldest, Australia, the first 25 minutes determined the outcome.  With Harry Kewell, making his first start in some time for the Socceroos, playing a huge role when he was shown a red card for intentional handball.  The subsequent successful penalty conversion by Gyan (25) leveled the match at 1.  Brett Holman had gotten the Aussies off to the start they desperately needed after being dismantled by Germany with his goal in the 11th minute.  Credit Australia for a huge effort playing short-handed for well over an hour and holding Ghana to finish with the 1-1 draw.  This may turn out to be the final international appearance for Kewell who has been continually plagued by injuries ever since his move from Leeds to Liverpool in 2003.  He will be unavailable for the last group stage match unless an appeal is made and granted.  The red card may well have ended his international career on a sour note.  The ball appeared to come off his chest, not his arm and it was clearly not intentional but the color of the card was red.

Cameroon becomes the first nation eliminated from the finals in a 2-1 loss to Denmark.  The result also assured Netherlands passage to the knockout round.  Loose play in the defense resulted in the Lions opening the scoring via Eto’o when a short pass was intercepted by Webo who rolled it to Eto’o on his way to goal (10).  Bendtner leveled (33) poking in a cross from Rommedahl who notched the match winner himself with a curling left-footed strike in the 61st.  For Cameroon this marks the 5th straight WC appearance where they have been eliminated in the group stage of the tournament.

Day 10
Slovakia finds out the discipline and power of Paraguay is no fluke and go down to 2-0 defeat.  South America may put all 5 of their finals participants into the last 16 at the World Cup South Africa as the teams now have a combined 6-0-2 mark.  Paraguay changed their lineup putting three strikers up front from the very beginning.  While that didn’t lead to an overwhelming output they did keep a constant pressure on the Slovaks while also limiting their forays forward.  Slovakia managed to put only one (1) shot on goal for the match and that didn’t come until second half injury time.

Italy was embarrassed by New Zealand who earned a 1-1 draw with the reigning world champs.  In fact Italy’s lone goal to pull level would not be put in that ’earned’ category as it was the result of a pure out-and-out dive, and it wasn’t even a very good one at that.  It is that very significant role of ’theft by deception’ that is one of those aspects of soccer the European way that really turns off Americans and for that matter, millions of fans around the world.  Beat me by speed, skill and guile, fine.  But to win an advantage by intentionally deceiving the officials, and in this case the penalty kick goal to draw level, is quite another.  It makes you a cheat, simple as that and there is far too much of it in soccer.  It has no place at the ultimate celebration of the game.  None.  And it should be punished severely instead of being rewarded as it was in this case.

FIFA tries to make amends for the prominent role of this aspect by giving it a more palatable name; they call it ’simulation.’  What it really is is deception, but FIFA refuses to call it what it is.  And no team is better at that deception than Italy.  The on the pitch theatrics are not only legendary in Italy they are celebrated.  Frankly, that is one of the biggest reasons I rarely watch a Serie A match.  It’s bad enough in the EPL but it is far worse in Italy and Spain.

Kudos to New Zealand for their discipline and organization that actually very nearly won the match late when substitute Chris Wood (an 18 year old who plays for West Brom in England) dragged his shot just inches past the far post.  It would have been wonderful to see that ball sneak in at the post but it didn’t happen.

Regardless, a well done to New Zealand for administering the shock!

Brazil versus Cote d’Ivorie and Didier Drogba turned out to be a showpiece for Brazil as there was very little energy and pressure from Ivory Coast that many fans hoped to see.  Luis Fabiano notched two for Brazil (25 & 50), the second aided by his arm and hand with Elano making it 3-0 in the 61st.  This guy (Elano) and his buddy Robinho didn’t seem to ever achieve their best at Man City but they’re getting it done for the national side.  Making Sven the manager at Ivory Coast seems to have only throttled their spirited and skillful style.  Sven did show he was actually watching the match after Fabiano’s handball assisted goal that made it 2-0.  Don’t get too upset Sven, FIFA will do nothing about it.  They finally got it going and Drogba’s consolation didn’t come until the result was determined (79).

One moment of insanity early on illustrated a bit of over-thinking by Sven that when you think it through is simply bizarre: here you have a guy (Drogba) that scored 49 goals for club and country this past season.  You get a free kick from just inside the touchline about 40 yards from goal.  And who takes the free kick?  You guessed it, Drogba.  Does that make any sense?  The guy you want in front of goal is 40 yards away taking the kick and you put him there yourself.  Sven takes his most potent weapon and positions him 40 yards away.  It is lunacy.

One small break in the armor for Brazil was Kaka who has been struggling.  Kaka was shown two yellow cards in rapid sequence late as the result of an altercation with Keita with the second card coming in the 88th.  Kaka will miss the final group stage match; it won’t matter to this Brazil side.

Check this out: ESPN says Brazil has lost only one (1) group stage match since 1970 posting a 26-1-5 (W-L-D) record over that time span.  South American teams are now 7-0-2 at this World Cup while African nations have managed only one victory posting a disappointing mark of 1-7-4.

Yeah, so?  Well, these numbers are significant in that FIFA uses them to adjust allocations to the World Cup Finals from the various regions of the world.  For example, with these results FIFA would be justified in Africa losing one or more positions and South America receiving another.  Not to say they will, but they could do something like that based on these results.

Day 11
Portugal faced the stiff defense and hard working, tight marking North Koreans who gave a good account of themselves against Brazil in the opening round while Portugal sputtered.  The keeper’s best friend saved the Koreans from conceding an early goal when a free header hammered the post in a match played in a steady rain.  That would turn out to be the best Portugal had to offer until Tiago sent Mierles in with a great ball into space for the opener (29).  Simao would add a second goal for Portugal in the 53rd and a 3rd on a brilliantly executed counter with Almeida heading home a terrific cross to finish off the Koreans (56).  Before it was over they added a 4th (60) from Tiago’s free header catching the Koreans with another quick strike perfectly executed transistion goal.  Liedson added yet another for Portugal (80) and Ronaldo broke his over two year drought (87) and Tiago his second of the day (89) to complete the destruction and the biggest margin of victory at the World Cup 2010 with a 7-0 win.

The first half ended with the difference in quality in question.  The second half settled that emphatically with Portugal’s six goal onslaught.  A thorough and complete victory for Portugal setting up the encounter with Brazil in the final group stage match.

The team that may have been overlooked by most of the soccer pundits Chile faced the surprising Swiss who defeated Spain in the opening round.  This will be a great test for both sides as Chile finished second to Brazil in South American qualifying while the Swiss have earned their stature with a stingy defense that has been top of the UEFA zone.  Recall that the Swiss were eliminated from the last World Cup having not allowed a single goal during the 90 minutes of a game.  They were knocked out by the Ukraine on penalties.

The Swiss set a new World Cup record of consecutive scoreless minutes at 559, 75 of them in this match and that with the additional burden of playing 10 against 11 from the 30th minute.  A Mark Gonzalez  header ended the run as an energetic and skillful Chile found it difficult indeed to pierce the Swiss defense despite the man advantage.  The sending off of Behrami was also a record as he was the very first Swiss player to be dismissed in a World Cup match.  Despite the 1-0 scoreline the match was largely one-way traffic but the resilient short-handed Swiss stymied Chile at every turn and very nearly rallied for a draw at the cusp of full time when a late attack had Derdiyok alone in front of the gaping net but he pushed his shot just wide.  Chile joins two other South American sides with two victories after the first two rounds of the group stage of this cup (Brazil & Paraguay).

The team a lot of fans expected to reach the finals, Spain, faced off against CONCACAF’s Honduras with their World Cup future in doubt.  A strange place to be for the team that many considered the class of the field.  That status was damaged of course with the first round loss to Switzerland.  A victory here and then in the last group stage match with Chile are what it will take to get them back in good graces.  Anything less than the full points here nearly assures their elimination.  A strange place to be for the current European Champions and the fans second choice to Brazil to win this World Cup.

As it turned out Spain did little more than they would on the training ground and two goals from David Villa provided the victory they truly needed.  Honduras rarely provided any threat at all as they went down to the 2-0 defeat.

The pundits nearly all agreed that Group G was the Group of Death largely because that is where Brazil and Portugal are playing in this stage.  However, Group H is the one providing the real interest as it looks very likely that 3 teams will end the stage having earned 6 points.  Spain will face group leaders Chile in the all important final group stage match while Switzerland goes against Honduras.  You won’t want to miss that Spain-Chile encounter that is for certain.