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Sunday, June 18, 2006
The sorrows of Zizou
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After Saturday’s unforgettable 1-1 draw between the U.S. and Italy, Off the Ball slept in a little, then indulged in the bliss of a … World … Cup … tripleheader … on A … B … C!
Which meant six-plus hours of Brent Musberger intermittently repeating the uneven and controversial career of referee Jorge Larrionda, who was nixed from the ‘02 Cup after it was learned that he had been suspended in his home nation of Uruguay for corruption.
Brent, instead of training your ire on the man with the whistle, how about asking why FIFA assigned the guy this time anyway, while suspending one of its own board members for committing the egregious crimes of selling tickets for more than the listed price. Corrupt and incompetent refs? OK! Scalpers in the ranks? Nyet!
Glad FIFA has its priorities in order.
From Off the Ball’s point of view, Larrionda’s most grievous crime was ruining the tenor and the pace of the match, punishing petty action and not doing much to warn players they might be in danger. Only one call was questionable, the red card on Mastroeni, which should have been a yellow. Otherwise, Larrionda usually made the right call, even if he was tone deaf most of the night.
Then again, what transpired in France’s 1-1 draw with South Korea Sunday was truly egregious, and not just because Off the Ball has sort-of a soft spot in her heart for Les Bleus.
Not only did referee Benito Archundia of Mexico not signal a second French score that clearly crossed the goal line, but he issued a very debatable yellow card in the final moments to Zinedine Zidane that rules out the ‘98 hero from France’s final group match.
How bizarre is this that France, with just two points from its first two matches, ideally needs a win against — ahem — Togo — to move on? What an indignity it would be to get stopped in group play for the second consecutive time, even as flawed a side as this is?
As Phil Schoen just said on XM Radio, Switzerland and — ahem — Togo — could determine the fate of Group G on Monday. You’ve got to love the resilience of South Korea and Park Ji-sung, who got the equalizer and is looking like a hell of a lot more than just a pure marketing acquisition for Manchester United.
More sadly, this could very well be the end of the line for Zidane, who had a relatively good game until picking up a caution in consecutive games. He deserves tremendous credit for coming out of international retirement, and those magical days of ‘98 have Off the Ball feeling rather sentimental right now. Sacre bleu!
One of the greatest, if not the greatest, player of the current generation might have seen his last moments on the World Cup stage.
Zizou and the French are shadows of their former selves, but they deserved the three points, and got robbed worse than the Yanks can ever claim.
In other news, Sunday, Brazil held off Australia for a 2-0 win. Goals by Adriano and Fred. And you can call him Fred.
Lots of square balls by the Samba Boys. Yawn.
