Alberto Parreira upset with referee over Khune red card
South Africa, the rainbow nation, is on the verge of creating history, but in a way they may not have wanted. After their loss to Uruguay in their 2nd match of the World Cup, the host nation is all but set to end their campaign at the group stages.
By doing so, they will become the first team in World Cup history to not have made it to the last 16 after being the hosts of the tournament.
The South African team, known as Bafana Bafana, may struggle to make it to next round after their 3 nil loss. The fact that luck was not on their side is quite true; in their first match of the World Cup against Mexico, they were the clear underdogs, but did manage to hold their own against their more fancied opponents, and after going behind managed to level the match. However, later in the closing stages, they missed an opportunity to register a historic and shock win, only to be denied by the post, but still, a one-all draw was very commendable against Mexico.
In their 2nd match however, they were completely outclassed by the more accomplished team of Uruguay. If one looks at the shots on target, possession, and all the stats, they were clearly second best, but what the stats don’t depict is the incident which completely changed the match for the home side. In the 2nd half as South Africa were trailing one nil, with every possible chance of levelling the match, Uruguay went in pursuit of a goal. Luis Suarez was allegedly brought down by the South African goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, who was shown a straight red card, and a penalty was awarded to Uruguay. Their ace marksman Diego Forlan made no mistake and made it 2 nil, which all but killed the game for the home side. One man short, they still tried their best, only to concede again as the match ended 3 nil, which really was not a clear reflection of what transpired on the pitch in the full 90 minutes.
South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was understandably very upset with the red card handed out to his goalkeeper, and after the match, came hard at the referee, blaming Massimo Busacca for his team’s 3-0 defeat.
The official from Switzerland gave a straight red to Itumeleng Khune, and also handed down yellow cards to two of the home team’s players.
The coach said that the players were clearly disappointed by the incident, and the decision was clearly a big mistake, as on replays it was evident that there was minimal contact between Suarez and the keeper, and it was a matter of the striker tangling his leg into the goalkeeper rather than the other way round.
FIFA, the world governing body for football, has said that there will be no action taken against the Africa coach Parreira, following the aggressive comments made after the match.
Nicolas Maingot, who is a FIFA spokesman, said that the association has looked into the comments made by the South Africa coach, and there is nothing malicious found which should be investigated, as there were no violations of the FIFA disciplinary code.
South Africa were found wanting when it came to the attacking side of the game, as the key player in the Uruguayan side, Diego Forlán, was at his best; the Atlético Madrid striker was in prime form, and scored the first goal in the first half, having some help from a deflected header from a South African defender, and after the controversial penalty, Forlán stepped up to make it 2, while in the 3rd goal once again the former Manchester United man was the key.
The officials have been a topic of debate in the early stages of the World Cup, as earlier, a Mexican referee dismissed Australia’s Tim Cahill for a challenge which was clearly worthy of a yellow card at best. Following the red card decision, Cahill will miss Australia’s next match. The red card shown to the South African keeper may put a lot of pressure on the referees in matches to follow, and as the tournament progresses, one single bad decision might change the fate of the World Cup.
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