Quote:
Originally Posted by potatobroth
And Mali? Are you serious?
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I am not liking the way people are so quick to presume a referee would be less proficient because he is from Mali. All the referees have reached a certain level of ability at their job, they know the rules and do the best they can in the unique situation that is presented at every match.
They are only human, and just like players they can have bad days, even the "best" referees!
In fact the "best" are often just the least controversial who have pissed off the least amount of people.
I think the best way to approach a bad call like what happened today against the USA is to accept that nothing you can do will change anything, the past is the past... but what you can do is use it to create that unique rivalry and desire to "put things right" that makes football a proper experience for so many people.
To really understand you have to invest yourself in the game, follow a team for a season... for a lifetime... with your parents... grandparents... family... son... - also following a team that is a bitter rival to those family members favourite team is good fun too....
...and then... after years of watching players grow and develop... have marriage breakdowns and drink driving offences... broken legs and arms... disappointing music careers and embaresing adverts... that player breaks through and beats a ragged offside trap at the world cup finals.. your off your seat with your heart in your mouth... you think about all the times he has skipped so easily past the goalkeeper and slotted it in the back of the net like a piece of cake on a cold winter's Saturday morning.... you grab the arm of the closest family member - united by an indescribable pride for your common nationality - for fear of falling over in excitement.....
..... and the ref fucks up.
.... shit happens.. we'll do it next time.
I have taken my utter disgust at Henry's handball against us (Ireland) in the playoffs and have turned it into a competitive desire to see them lose at all costs... but i have accepted that there is nothing i can do about it and nobody wants to hear me moan about it.
Shit happens.... move on....
Perhaps MLB, NFL, NBA etc are over controlled and slaves to television evidence... and there is a lot of benefits for TV evidence, but football has been preserved because it is essentially the same game whether you are playing with your mates with jumper goalposts... or in the Champions League Final.
