The Reality of Knock Out Football
Football is full of its fair share of “if” and “but” moments. If only a certain penalty had been scored, people would be celebrating in a different hemisphere, if only that red card was not shown it would’ve been a balanced out contest, if only the ball had gone in off the bar rather than out, it would have been a goal.
Such moments are what define knock out football. When the FIFA World Cup of 2010 began, everyone was complaining about boring football, goalless draws, a lack of goal mouth action, pragmatic tactics and no apparent hunger to win. How all of that has changed in the span of two weeks can only be seen by what has gone on ever since the knock stages of the FIFA 2010 World Cup began.
It was entertainment for some people, but for others it was sheer cruelty. It’s just a matter of perspective though. Let’s travel into the past and take a look at the final of the 1994 World Cup. It was Italy versus Brazil, both teams were typified by their distinctive styles throughout the tournament, both teams were undoubtedly worthy finalists. Roberto Baggio arguably the player of the tournament in that World Cup, missed his penalty for Italy in the shootout which decided the fate of the World Cup trophy.
The image of Baggio’s face in his hands and on the verge of tears, can only be defined as truly tragic. Someone who had made the World Cup his own, had lost it with just one kick of the ball. Surely that is cruel for his team mates and especially for the player himself; however for the fans it was delightful, such drama and entertainment is only available in the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup.
Now let’s fast forward to modern times, knockout stages of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa have been exciting. Filled with excitement, knockout football has been a delight for fans to watch so far. On the other hand it is especially saddening for two of the four teams that were knocked out in the latest quarter final round.
Paraguay and Ghana gave their opponents a mighty tough time. Both of these teams were underdogs in their respective matches against Spain and Uruguay, if it wasn’t for a brutal twist of fate for one and bad refereeing for the other, both of them would have gone on to become World Cup semi-finalists.
Paraguay were denied a goal only because of a debatable off-side decision, and then were awarded a re-take of Xabi Alonso’s penalty because of Spanish infringement inside the Paraguayan penalty area before the penalty kick was taken. The referee failed to apply the same logic at the other end where the Spaniards again infiltrated their own penalty area before the kick was taken by Cardozo. The referee failed to spot it and the penalty save by Iker Casillas stood unchanged.
Ghana were at the end of a tragic evening as well, a team which was carrying the hope of a whole continent. Ghana completely understood the fact that they would’ve been the first African representatives ever to participate in the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup if it wasn’t for the professional hand ball on the goal line by Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez. However, there was more pain to follow for Ghana as Asamoah Gyan’s penalty kick thudded against the post and went out of play.
In the penalty shootout that followed Gyan acted braver than most people. He took the ball and volunteered to take the first penalty of the shootout for his country, he succeeded this time in scoring from the spot but his team mates let him down this time, as Ghana converted only two of their five penalty kicks.
Gyan’s pain returned because he knew that it would never have come to this, if only he had converted the penalty that was awarded to the black stars after Suarez’s hand ball on the goal line to deny Ghana a clear goal. Gyan turned into a despairing figure at the end of the match, lying on the ground and crying because of the failure. It was sad to see a man who termed himself “as the happiest man on planet earth” after scoring the extra time goal against U.S.A for Ghana in the round of sixteen, turn into a heartbreaking example of a man who had experienced knockout football’s cruelty first hand.
The same goes for Oscar Cardozo, who was hiding his head in shame after his country lost to Spain in the quarter final match between Paraguay and Spain. Such events represent the cruel nature of knock out football, it does not have time for feelings, and it does not care for justice. The only thing knockout football cares about is ‘Football’ itself.
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