cstaylor wrote:Don't buy this FIFA hype: money talks, and if the Koreans think a purchased win is better than a first-round washout, the refs will call it their way, laughing all the way to the bank.
There is more corruption in the game than anyone has admitted. FIFA was slow to catch on to the influence of Asian betting rings for one. I don't think you are right here, though. I wouldn't underestimate factors like favouritism, incompetence, lack of fitness and inability to cope with stress for some of the referees with little big match experience. And, of course, sometimes there are just genuine mistakes as we saw in the World Baseball Classic.
Also, FIFA usually instructs referees to punish certain offences more strictly at the World Cup. This ostensibly is to help unify decision making by refs from different football cultures while also trying to send out a message about the direction of the game. It usually ends up with referees penalizing players who are just playing their normal way. This year, timewasting, diving and dangerous tackles were highlighted. This referee site has some details:
There would be red cards for elbowing and tackles from behind, players were told, and yellow cards for diving and time-wasting...Referees handed out 102 yellow cards and five red cards in the first 21 matches of the competition, an average of 4.9 yellow cards per match. An average of 4.25 yellows per match handed out at the 2002 World Cup - 272 yellows and 17 reds in 64 matches. The number of cards shown has risen steadily over the years. In Spain in 1982, 98 yellow cards were shown.
The debate about goal line technology still rages. Even advocates aren't keen to break up the flow of play and an experiment at the Youth Cup wasn't entirely successful. Opponents of the technology say that the role of the officials is sacrosanct but that doesn't really hold up because the fourth official was introduced without radically changing the game and now stoppage time has become less of a lottery. No individual league can go ahead without FIFA approval are there are still enough people who think the technology just isn't reliable enough yet.
