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Good old Sepp...

12
Vote

by user Alex Holowczak

Sepp Blatter is the President of FIFA.

When he was criticised for the standard of refereeing in this World Cup, he came up with some radical ideas to improve it in 2010.

He stated the following:

  • There will be two referees on the pitch
  • The two assistants will have increased responsibility
  • The Fourth Official (in this circumstance, he'll be the fifth official), will have increased responsibility
  • The Fifth Official (sixth, as above) will be more active than his current role (he is referee if the current referee or his assistants are injured)

Yet football has sufficed with four officials in Europe, where the refereeing has been of a much higher standard than in this shoddy World Cup refereeing wise.

I think the problem is Mr. Blatter, who insists on over-penalizing people, and believes showing cards is the only way forward. Hence, the Holland v Portugal fiasco, where there were 16 bookings and two sent off.

Germany-Italy the other evening was the most sportsmanlike game of the World Cup and was notable for its absence of cards. Perhaps that is the way forward.

Blatter has a history of this stupidity. He refuses to give Oceania an automatic place in the World Cup, despite Australia making the Last 16. He has forced the reigning champions to qualify for the next tournament. He gives places to North America, Central America, and Asia when there are clearly better teams in Europe or South America.

The solution to the bad refereeing is simple. Get rid of Mr. Blatter.


Date

Thu 07/06/06, 5:57 am EST


Enable Comment Auto-Refresher
Anonymous Fanatic #1
1267 days ago
Score 1+-
you forgot to mention how he critisises the ref for the holland vs portugal game for being too card happy but then says refs should show more cards.
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ThecrookedcapAll-Star
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
One of the things make sense: He didn't give Oceania an automatic place because there's absolutely no competition for Australia and he doesn't want to give any team a bye into the World Cup. But for the most part, Sepp is an idiot. They need less officiating, not more. Too many games were impacted by too many cards.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1267 days ago
Score 1+-
They do have competition. New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, countries like that. But the point is, the winner of that has to then playoff against some Asian team. Australia have shown in this World Cup that they are deserving of a place on merit. If New Zealand suddenly becomes good at football, or Australia becomes World Cup finalist standard, then the fact they need to play-off is a bit stupid.
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ThecrookedcapAll-Star
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
Oceania, even before Australia left, was the weakest confederation by far. Fiji, and Samoa are among the worst national teams in the world! There qualifying usually boils down to a two-leg playoff between the Aussies and Kiwis. The Kiwis are so bad right now that they didn't even qualify for the playoff (Solomon Islands did, but got trounced by Australia for the half spot). Australia barely had to try in 90% of its continental games, and it still won 8-0. Even Mexico & USA (which have the easy roads to the World Cup in the world) have some decent competition.
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
Australia left? I thought they were still part of Oceania?
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ThecrookedcapAll-Star
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
They left Oceania at the beginning of this year for Asia.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
Oh right - that'll be for the automatic place through the Asian zone.
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Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
The main problem is that the msgs given to refs are inconsistent. I think Blatter should've kept his trap shut as he is more of a marketing guy than a football ops guy. I like the extra ref in the middle. Much to much happens that the refs cannot see. Alex, how can you say that Europe football gets by ok with one ref and two assistants when it seems that every close goal (those that barely/don't cross the goalline) are protested ad nauseum in premiership, especially by the Special One?
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
Because they are isolated incidents. This has been every single match.
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Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
Every match is a bit of an overstatement. The last few have been well reffed. But every time a close goal is scored in premiership, they cry for video replay.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
I'm not so sure. The awarding of a goal is not the problem. It's generally the offside rule, or the problem of diving that causes the fracas. I think video replay may be a way to go, especially if it keeps Sepp quiet.
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Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid
1267 days ago
Score 2+-
I don't know if replay would work, where would you draw the line? Goals, offides a questionable dive? One thing football has going for it is its continuity. That would be disrupted by video replay. I think that all questionable dives should be up for post-match review by the fourth or fifth official and suspensions or yellow cards be punishment.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1267 days ago
Score 1+-
That's a brilliant idea, I would say suspensions is the way to go - bookings are not severe enough. Unfortunately, it is a good idea. Therefore, Blatter would not introduce it. He and Bud Selig must be long lost twins...
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Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
Well I was thinking like premiership, bookings accrued lead to suspension. But suspension outright is obviously harsher. Maybe he will not be president upon next term, do you know when reelection is? I know he's declared that he is running and he's said beckenbauer has no chance to
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Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
...has no chance to unseat him if beckenbauer decides to make a run at it.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
I don't know when re-election is. I didn't know such a thing existed!
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Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
In Zurich next May. http://socce...&cc=5901
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
See - there's good old Sepp sticking his ore in when it's not necessary. Butt out Mr. Blatter! Zurich makes sense... that's where FIFA's headquarters are.
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Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
First, what does the qualifying process have to do with the referreeing? But since you brought it up, "Clearly better teams in Europe?" Better than US or Mexico, I assume you mean? Who? US made qtr finals in 2002, don't forget. How about Africa? They seem to get a ton of spots but rarely advance from group stage.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1267 days ago
Score 0+-
I mean that a team that missed out on qualification, say Greece, European Champions, are probably better than Costa Rica. Also, Uruguay, fifth in South America are probably better than Costa Rica.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1266 days ago
Score 0+-
Uruguay are probably better than a few of the African sides too, I agree.
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Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid
1266 days ago
Score 0+-
So you think CONCACAF should lose a qualifying spot, along w/ the African association? Add spots to Europe and South America? Are you sure this was Blatter's decision as it sounds pretty political.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1266 days ago
Score 0+-
On the contrary, Blatter's decision is to keep the global aspect. I just think that the best 32 teams on the planet should be playing in the World Cup. That should not include Togo, or Costa Rica, when, for example, Uruguay, Turkey, Denmark etc. missed out.
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Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid
1266 days ago
Score 0+-
Understood. But how exactly do you want to determine that, given that you've previously denouced the world ranking process? Uruguay lost to Aussie in a play-off. I think that is pretty fair given that Paraguay and Ecuador (well, Ecuador turned out to be pretty good) also qualified from the region. I think that you, Alex, tend to give the benefit of the doubt to a country or region just because they have a history of performing well.
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ThecrookedcapAll-Star
1266 days ago
Score 0+-
But missing a few teams adds to the fun. If we had straight up the best 32 teams, we wouldn't have had a number of the best games in the tournament. Ecuador wouldn't have made it, since there past has been nothing but home wins and away losses. T&T wouldn't have gotten the chance to play the most exciting scoreless tie in group stages. Plus if I did a top 5 group stage games, I would also add the Tunisia-Saudi Arabia game, also wouldn't have happened.
Permalink
ThecrookedcapAll-Star
1266 days ago
Score 0+-
But missing a few teams adds to the fun. If we had straight up the best 32 teams, we wouldn't have had a number of the best games in the tournament. Ecuador wouldn't have made it, since there past has been nothing but home wins and away losses. T&T wouldn't have gotten the chance to play the most exciting scoreless tie in group stages. Plus if I did a top 5 group stage games, I would also add the Tunisia-Saudi Arabia game, also wouldn't have happened.
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