World Cup 2010: Painful Justice
Yesterday's match against England and Germany, their 28th international encounter, saw the English side crash out heavily after a 4 goal onslaught. The Germans won the game 4-1 in a spectacular fashion, but only after one very controversial moment. That moment was the highly controversial disallowed goal by Frank Lampard which was seen to land almost a metre into the goal but the referee said it did not cross the line and waved a play on. A very similar thing happened but in reverse, many years ago when England played Germany and won their only World Cup.
The sad way that England were eliminated from the 2010 World Cup will be analysed and poured over for years to come. Even though the score line was 4-1 it could have all been very different before half time a goal was disallowed by the referee officiating the match. It seems this is not the first time this has happened in his career. The referee for this match, Uruguayan Jorge Larrionda, said Lampard's shot did not cross the line when it very plainly did. He was involved in some dodgy behaviour a few years ago when he was banned by Uruguay's football federation for alleged irregularities. What those irregularities are no one knows but he does not seem like the best case for refereeing in the world.
All the talk of how the match would have changed tempo if the goal had been allowed or how the players would have had their spirits lifted by the goal and might have won, is now all speculation. What is an interesting aspect of this story is how closely it resembles the 1966 World Cup final, albeit in reverse. In 1966, the game was very close between Germany and England. A goal in extra time by Geoff Hurst hit the cross bar and then seemed to stay out of the goal but was judged to be a goal and England won the game 4-2. 44 years later a goal was not allowed and it seems like painful justice.
Some people talk about Karma or destiny or fate, be as it may it came back to bite the England team in a big way. People say you cannot escape your past and England was made painfully aware of that fact last night. The allowed goal that was not actually a goal by Geoff Hurst in 1966, led to England's first ever win in the World Cup. This time around karma reared its ugly head and made sure the England team paid for that dodgy decision so many years ago. By not allowing what was a clear goal the referee made the entire team pay for what was a bad move on the part of Geoff Hurst.
Geoff Hurst himself has stated that he knew the goal was not a goal at the 1966 World Cup and should not have been allowed. He has stated that he is glad that he is able to admit after all these years that the goal was not a goal but he thanks the linesman for giving it to him. Where has the sportsman spirit gone from the game? If Geoff Hurst knew it was not a goal then he should have admitted it then that might have made him a bigger hero in the eyes of his fans. The same can be said about Manuel Neuer, the German goalkeeper in yesterday's match, if he would have said that it was a goal, maybe Germany would have still won, but it would have been a thrilling encounter and the fans would have gone home happy. This way Neuer has set it up that karma will come back to haunt him and the German team one day. Maybe not now, but perhaps sometime in the future!
It is sad when a team goes out of the World Cup on a very controversial decision, but that is the game of football and now the England side need to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get on with building a quality side again. They need to forget about the decision that got them thrown out of the Cup and move on. What needs to happen though is FIFA needs to review the tapes and change their policies on introducing video technology into football once and for all. It would make life so much easier for everyone involved.
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