When ‘foul play’ marred world’s biggest stage
RED CARD From doping to tanked games, the event has witnessed incidents that have tarnished football’s reputation
There are few things which are constant when it comes to the FIFA World Cup — extravagance, top class football and a healthy dose of controversies. From political tensions to on-field clashes, not a single edition of the tournament was free from certain moments of dispute and this year’s competition is proving to be no different. With less than a month to go, the organisers are already in the news for allegations of racism and corruption against them. And with the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) making its debut this year, there seems to be no shortage of drama in the tournament.
The only place where FIFA has succeeded in ending the controversies is the timing of the group stage games. It is a common practice nowadays that all final fixtures in a World Cup group stage are played at the same time and that is mainly because of what happened to Algeria in 1982.
Due to the different timings of the games, West Germany and Austria knew that a 1-0 win will be enough for both of them to advance and that was exactly the result that the two teams produced to knock out Algeria.
A COMMON CAUSE
However, when it comes to controversies, referees are the biggest targets, with the tournament witnessing some truly horrible decisions.
Few days ago, news broke out that a World Cup-bound referee has been banned for life for a match-fixing attempt in Saudi Arabia just weeks before he was due to fly to Russia.
The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) said that Fahad Al Mirdasi confessed to offering to fix the King’s Cup final.
The controversy could not have taken place at a worse time as the World Cup has no shortage of controversies involving suspicious decisions from on-field referees.
Back in 1982, hosts Spain were awarded penalty for a foul that occurred clearly two yards outside the area and although their opponents — Yugoslavia — accused the referee of favouring their opposition, nothing was ever proven.
In 2002, Byron Moreno of Ecuador and Egypt’s Gamal Al-Ghandour found themselves in the eye of storm as they were accused of helping hosts South Korea.
Shortly after the tournament, both referees were forced to retire due to match-fixing allegations and it was even reported that Al-Ghandour received a brand new car from South Korea.
This edition of the tournament will also be a bit different from the past editions thanks to the VAR technology at the referee’s disposal.
Imagine having multiple camera angles while deciding whether the ball crossed the line during the 1966 World Cup or the infamous Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ incident.
The technology is certainly not foolproof yet, but if it existed during those matches, a lot of trouble could be avoided by taking a proper look at the match-altering decisions. In 1978, the second round in the World Cup consisted of two groups of four teams each with the winner of each group advancing to the final. However, as the last group matches were not played simultaneously, Argentina knew they needed to win by four goals against Peru in order to secure a final berth ahead of Brazil. During their final group match against Peru, the Playing in their first-ever World Cup, Algeria started brilliantly with a win over West Germany and they were favourites to reach the knockout stages. With final group matches not happening simultaneously in those days, West Germany and Austria knew that a 1-0 win for the former would be enough for both to advance. Within 10 minutes of the first half, West South Korea were able to reach the knockout stages after an inconsistent show but against Italy in the Round of 16, referee Byron Moreno of Ecuador disallowed an Italian goal and then controversially sent off Francesco Totti. South Korea won 2-1 on a golden goal from Ahn Jung-Hwan. The trend continued score was 2-0 at half-time, but Peru simply collapsed in the second half. Argentina ended up winning the game 6-0 and as a result, they booked their place in the final where they went on to defeat Netherlands in another controversial encounter. There were rumors that Peru had been bribed into letting Argentina win big, but the accusations were not proven.
West Germany’s Pierre Littbarski in action versus Austria during the Disgrace of Gijon. Germany went ahead and the game became painfully slow after that. Both West Germany and Austria advanced to the next round. West German manager Jupp Derwall had this to say about his team’s performance "we wanted to progress, not play football." in their quarter-final against Spain as Egyptian referee Gamal Al-Ghandour disallowed two Spain goals and South Korea went on to win 5-3 on penalties. Both referees were forced to retire for match-fixing and it was later reported Ghandour was gifted a new car for helping South Korea advance to semis Referee Byron Moreno of Ecuador sends of f Italy’s Francesco Totti (No 10) against South Korea at the Daejeon Stadium. South Korea won 2-1 to enter quarter-finals. 1986 and 1990 editions he FIFA World Cup de Diego Maradona one the biggest football rs. The world awe of the stro
Maradona was banned hours before the match versu s Bulgaria. France players refused to train under coach Raymond Domenech protesting his decision to send Nicolas Anelka back from South Africa after an altercation. The incident happened during France’s group match against Mexico with Anelka reportedly saying "Go f**k yourself, you son of a w***e," Hosts Argentina celebrate after scoring the goal against final after he guided his team to two consecutive finals and comparisons with the Brazilian great Pele further elevated his position. However, it all came crashing down in 1994 when he tested positive for drugs and was immediately sent back from the World Cup by the Argentina Football Association. Maradona said e took an assortment of ugs to help combat a us problem, his weight diet before the game nst Nigeria. Argentina shaken by the lopement and were inated in the group es. Maradona had d a 15-month for cocaine use 91-92.
France coach Raymond Domenech with Nicolas Anelka at a training session. to Domenech. This was not the first time that a star was sent home from the World Cup. Roy Keane had suffered a similar fate in 2002. The Manchester United star got into an altercation with manager Mick McCarthy and decided to retire from international football after being left out.