Refs and cheats could ruin World Cup

By Keith Lynch

Alas, the best days of the the World Cup are over. Spain's rather routine two-nil win over Honduras was a sobering end to the football gorge of the past two weeks.

From here it'll be only possible to watch two games a day, not three. Tomorrow morning the scramble to get out the groups begins with teams clambering all over each other, like rats on a sinking ship, to make it to the heady heights of the second round.

After the pedestrian plod of the first round of group games, where the football, altitude, vuvuzelas and exhaustion were all blamed for some pretty turgid football (when the fear of losing the first game was the most obvious explanation), the World Cup has sprung into life in the past day.

But must-win games have brought more than excitment (and goals) with players going to ridiculous and sometimes sickening lengths to con refs.

FIFA, those parasitic administrators of the game, must shoulder a lot of the blame. The fact they are more concerned with locking up girls in orange dresses, and shutting down South African businesses than combating ''simulation'' and actually promoting fair play is depressingly unsurprising.

Their referees, too, have been all to easily taken in, all too eager to paste their sweaty lips over a whistle, and flash their yellows and reds.

So let's have a look at the worse ref blunders and and most pathetic cheating.

1. It's been a bad few weeks for the French, and even Gallic referee Stephane Lannoy managed to make a bit of prat of himself in Group G's clash of Ivory Coast and Brazil.

But Lannoy should not shoulder all the blame for Kaka's stupid sending off. In the 88th minute of the match Ivory Coast's Kader Keita ran into Kaka. Kaka stood his ground, lifting his arm to brace for the impact. Keita fell over, clutching his face like a buffoon. Kaka was sent off. Mental.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJrHi1oUG-4

2. Switzerland's Valron Behrami was ordered off the pitch during the Chile match for doing what footballers do all the time: using his hands to protect himself.

He wasn't trying to elbow anyone, he wasn't trying to hurt anyone, he was simply using everything at his physical disposable to screen the ball.

But Khalil Al Ghamdi of Saudi Arabia, inexplicably, sent him off after brushing Arturo Vidal's face.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/6039987/

3. Can't have a list like this without mention of Daniele De Rossi's desperate attempt to find the ground against the Kiwis.

Guatemalan referee Carlos Batres had a shocking game, penalising the slightest of physical contact, dying for a chance to send give an All White red.

Not long after Smeltz's opening, De Rossi leapt to the ground after the slightest of touches by Tommy Smith.

This kind of incident happens dozens of times during a football match. The amount of tugging in the box during corners at top level matches would make you think you're at a dodgy massage parlour, not a football match.

But inexplicably Batres gave a penalty.

Perhaps it levelled things up as Smeltz was offside for the opening.

Cannavaro also deserves a lot of stick for constantly trying to get Fallon sent off.

We don't need to see those moments again.

4. Serbia v Germany saw a clean, interesting match almost ruined by the ref.

The German forward Miroslav Klose made two tackles in a tense first half. One was a totally accidentally trip just outside the Serbian box.

The other was a tame tackle from behind at the half way line. He didn't hurt anyone. He didn't cynically stop an attack, he didn't put his fellow players in danger but Spanish ref Alberto Undiano Mallenco produced an absolutely pathetic display flashing cards for, well, anything.

 Refs and cheats could ruin World Cup
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Refs are always blamed for both bad and good games - depends on who you're siding with. Even in World Cup.