England coach Gary Neville has told the squad they need to learn how to dive if they are to enjoy success at this summer's World Cup in Brazil. Full story: Daily Star Visited the BBC webpage and noticed this "wonderful" titbit!! I can visualise this scenario in many matches. Player is touched by an opponent 5 metres out from the penalty, goes down writhing in agony. Opposing player gets a yellow card for his "foul." Meanwhile the trainer comes on a tries to deal with the "injured" player. Player recovers looking a bit dazed. The next 2 minutes are taken up with lining up the wall and debating who is going to take the free-kick. The direct free-kick is taken and ends up going high and wide or deflecting off a defender for a throw-in. Imagine that happening three or four times in one half alone. Total time taken up in this alone(15 or 20) minutes. I cannot see the officials extending the half any more than 4 minutes. So what is my gut feeling about the Mundial?? Rather like South Africa, it is going to be forgettable football-wise!!!
Well if this is related to what he said about Jarvis staying on his feet when he was fouled by Sagna the other day, I do agree with him. It was a definite foul, and the ref didn't give it because he stayed on his feet. If that's how refs are going to do it, players are going to have to go down when fouled. The ideal scenario is that refs give fouls even if the player stays up, but clearly that's not happening.
It is going to be difficult for the ref when players tumble at the slightest touch. Time is then wasted on the restart. It is going to be one considerable yawn!! The Commonwealth Games will be far more spectacular, particularly if Mo Farah goes head to head against the top Kenyans in the long distance or even Marathon.
Oooh.. forgot the Commonwealth games. Looking forward to that. Scotland will have to apply to be in the Commonwealth if they leave the UK, won't they? Probably won't bother...be too busy sorting out their currency.
100% this. As a referee, I am not one for giving cheap free kicks unless the game is starting to get out of control, in which case I will slow the game down and give free kicks for every little thing I see. It annoys the players but they shouldn't have taken advantage of my attempts to keep the game flowing. It is hard for a referee to judge how much contact has been quite a lot of the time. A good example of this is when Suarez went down and rolled around in "agony" against City. There was slight contact but not enough for Suarez's reaction. Clattenburg didn't give a free kick because he thought Suarez made a meal of it but didn't show a second yellow because he wasn't 100% sure it was a dive. I bet the time when he sent off Torres for a dive when on a yellow card was on his mind.
If refs actually do what they're supposed to do and give a foul if they saw a foul, and don't if they didn't, there should be no problem. Whether or not the player goes down should be irrelevant; that happens after the foul they're supposed to have seen.
Lots of times players are impeded or whatever and they get a foul even if they don't go down, but they usually still exaggerate the effect of the contact.
We might have to go to Kreuger's corner to discuss that issue Fran. Catalan Nationalists would like to set up their own independent country as well. Here in Mallorca it could benefit the island greatly if it had the same status as the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man have with the UK.
There is also the issue that, if you carry on running, have you actually been fouled. Can see it on replays, but the ref sees it live.
As human beings can't seem to get along with each other, I can see the time looming when everywhere is a tiny little state like mediaeval times. The isle of Wight was separate for a long time and had a Governor when I arrived. There is strength in unity.
Then we can all just get on with the separate debate of whether or not is was actually a foul depending on whether or not it was in the penalty area. I think it's holding, pulling, blocking, obstruction and hugging that are apparently OK inside the box but not OK anywhere else isn't it?
I think it is more a case of how certain the ref feels. A foul should be identical in or out of the area, but a ref feels happier giving a free kick in the middle of the park than doling out penalties. May not be in the laws of the game, but understandable.
What does Neville mean by the players will have to learn how to dive? I'm sure they're already pretty good at it... yes, even our own Mr Lallana.
Can't believe anyone is not looking forward to the World Cup. Yes, it will be a carnival of diving, cheating, and deceit. Players from all over the world will be writhing in mock agony clutching whichever part of their anatomy they felt someone brush against. The Italians and Argentinians can be relied upon to produce at least one hideous, shuddering "tackle" per game to ensure some of the agony is genuine. But it's the World Cup ffs! In Brazil! Some of the footbasll will be sublime, some hilarious. I don't intend to miss a game.
