This World Cup in South Africa, like all other major events, is full of controversies and debate. Many great teams have fallen at the hands of smaller nations, which has led to a great deal of speculation about team strategies. However, often the players do not take the blame on themselves; rather, blame it on some unforeseen event, in order to avoid explanations to coaches and the media for their poor display.
The first controversy arose with the official World Cup 2010 soccer ball, the Jabulani, created by Adidas. This ball had controversies attached to it from the very beginning, and it was quite obvious from the start of the tournament that some errors made by the players would be directly associated with it. The first goalkeeping error was made by Robert Green, the English keeper, against USA, when he failed to stop a sloppy effort by USA’s Dempsey. The goal cost England two points in the match, which otherwise was considered to be a walk in the park by the pundits.
The same thing occurred in the match of Slovenia against Algeria; another Group C encounter. The Algerian goalkeeper, Fawzi Chaouchi, failed to clear a long range strike by the Slovenian Robert Koren. The goalkeeper went into tears after the match, as he believed that it was not his mistake that led to a crucial loss for the team. This victory gave Slovenia the most favourable position in the group, but even the Slovenians could not help themselves to stay out of the controversy. Their captain and goal-scorer Koren remarked after the match, “Every player, if he is being honest, will tell you there is something strange about the ball”. He believes that the ball is giving a lot of problems to the keepers due to its unexpected movement in the air and on the pitch. The players believe that on both these occasions there was a significant movement of the ball in the air, which was misjudged by the keepers.
It is only natural for the Group C teams to feel aggrieved in the current situation, but they cannot do much about it. The manufacturers, Adidas, are still defending the ball by saying that it is the perfect ball ever made in the world of football. They also believe that the controversies would subside once the players get used to it.
Another big blooper in the World Cup came in Argentina’s encounter against the South Koreans. The Argentineans were comfortably leading the first half by 2-0, when a big defensive error by Martin Demichelis led the South Koreans to bring down the deficit by scoring a goal. The defender was trying to rotate the ball in the defence for the purpose of clearing it, when he could not anticipate the charging Korean midfielder Lee Chung-Yong, who snatched the ball away and put it past the charging keeper, Sergio Romero. This was a very crucial moment in the match, as the Koreans looked poised to steal the victory away from the Argentineans. However, the team finally re-grouped to take the victory.
This story started a controversy regarding the Vuvuzelas, a long big stadium horn which if blown in full strength can turn the people around you deaf for a while. Vuvuzela has become associated with the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, where every fan seems to be in possession of one. The controversy started very early, when many airlines travelling to South Africa handed heavy fines to those who blew the horn on board.
After the match against South Korea, the Argentinean captain, Javier Mascherano, defended his teammate by saying that because of all the noise created by the vuvuzelas in the stadium, it became quite hard to communicate with the players. The Argentinean goalkeeper, Romero, also said that he was shouting at Demichelis, but he could not hear him because of the noise in the stadium. At the same time, the Argentinean star Lionel Messi also defended the error made by Demichelis. He also said that the noise often resulted in him losing the possession of the ball, as he could not hear the cautions of his teammates, warning him about some player charging towards him.
These controversies would continue throughout the tournament, and the blame would be put on these two things for other mishaps as well. If a keeper makes a mistake, it is the Jabulani’s fault, and if the defender makes error, it is all because of the vuvuzelas. There is apparently no other way to score a goal; therefore, the FIFA authorities would be listening to a lot of complaints about these two controversial items.
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