The World Cup is over, and the Spanish team has carried the glory and pride back to the Iberian peninsula. One thing that I remember from these games, more perhaps because I’m older now and have followed more closely, are the fouls. The yellow cards, the missed calls, the goals that should’ve been (USA vs Slovenia; England vs Germany).
Something interesting popped up in the statistics – referees from countries where reading is done left-to-right called many more fouls when the action occurred right-to-left. Brief article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13obrefs.html?_r=1&ref=science
Makes you wonder if an illiterate referee might be free of this interesting little bias.
But speaking of fouls, what does FIFA have against replays? Will it ruin the atmosphere of the game? Question the authority of referees? Or is it just another sporting behemoth too caught up in tradition? Football – the American kind, with helmets and touchdowns – has managed to use instant replays conceivably well. There’s a challenge, and if you win, you get the call. If you lose, there are penalties to be had for forcing an unnecessary challenge. Coaches are limited in when to use it or not use it – don’t sweat the small stuff, but hell, if it’s something that could change the way this game’s going, go for it. Baseball is grappling with it, and after that poor ump (he’s gotta be kicking himself) blew a perfect game for Armando Galarraga, the replay question came back, only to float silently away as it always does. Basketball uses it only to see if a buzzer-beater made it off the shooter’s hands before the glaring red lights on the backboard light up. Hockey also uses it, to check to see if a goal was really a goal. Did the puck cross the line? Did it get stuck in the net using a skate, or a glove, rather than a stick? Maybe soccer should look to its icy relative – goals are hard to come by, and even if the sport is unwilling to use instant replay for field play (what, are they worried it will destroy the dramatic daytime emmy-worthy acts of pain?), at least every goal should be counted.