Hi. I’m American. I know very little of this whole World Cup thing. Yes, I know, it’s a stereotype, but I like to think of it as a cultural aspect instead.
Are they paid to play World Cup? I often hear of “bonuses” for advancing. I think Trinidad and Tobago perhaps will receive a 64 gallon barrell of aged rum if they advance to elimination round. Must they not receive cash bonuses?
Are football players pussies? I see them fall a lot and roll on the ground like they are injured. Is this mostly a gag to get the referee to issue yellow/red cards? I mean, sure they hit and fall hard, but come on!
What exactly does overage time include? Celebrations? Arguments? What is excluded?
Players may get cash or other bonuses depending on their country and how far they advance. These are not standardized and in any case pale in comparison to the paychecks most of the players receive from their club teams.
Yes. I find this aggravating. When the risk is a slight chance of a yellow card for diving and the reward could be a penalty kick, this will continue to happen.
The official time is kept by the referee on the field. The time seen on the scoreboard is just an approximation. When the scoreboard time approaches the end of the half/game, the ref will signal how much “stoppage time” is actually left. Typically this is time taken up by injuries, goal celebrations, etc.
Hey, at least our football players (or even our rugby players!) don’t wear freakin’ body armour on the pitch! As you guessed, the goal is to get the opposing player booked.
About question two. While I agree that a large part of it is acting, there’s also the fact that running around in 30 degree celsius heat for ninty minutes takes a toll on the body. Getting hit in the legs after an hour of play definitely hurts a lot more than getting hit in the first minute.
Not that there isn’t diving in the first minute either.
They’re not pussies, it’s gamesmanship. It’s not a particularly elegant part of the game, but they know that it is one way in which to get an advantage. Every World Cup is started by declarations from FIFA that they’ll clamp down on diving, but they never seem to be able to get a handle on it, because the referee has to be certain that the player dived, and without the benefit of instant replay (such as in NFL) those decisions are difficult to make.
Players like Jurgen Klinsman elevated diving to an artform.
IMHO the most blatant diving effort was in the last World Cup when a Brazillian player, Rivaldo, whilst setting up for a corner against Turkey caught the ball on his thigh and fell to the ground screaming and clutching his face like he’d been shot. The Turkish player who’d kicked the ball got a second yellow card and was sent off.
One thing FIFA has done right is to punish the calling for cards after a foul. A player who calls for another player to be booked will himself be booked. This has already happened in this World Cup.
Yes, there is a lot of deliverate play-acting and ‘diving’. It’s not the most noble aspect of the game, and not everyone is pleased about it. However, this is a very commercialised sport, and a win can be worth several millions to a club. If you dive and win your side a free-kick/penalty from which a winning goal is derived, no-one’s going to get too hung-up on the ethical niceties.
As others have pointed out, the risk of getting penalised for diving is very low (although it does occasionally happen). So for a player involved in any kind of tackle, the dive or the Oscar-winning injury melodrama is an option with lots of possible benefit and next to no possible loss.
Notwithstanding the above points, every now and again a player goes down for valid reasons, and really has been nearly scythed to death by the opposition. There are some big guys in football, sometimes moving at great speed and with a gloriously reckless disregard for anyone’s safety. If one of them slams into you at full force with a boot aimed squarely at your shin, it’s gonna hurt.
Body armor is what soldiers and cops wear to avoid dying when they get shot. Football players wear pads and helmets to reduce the likelihood of crippling injuries when 260-lb. middle linebackers come running at them full speed.
You know, the dive for me is less of a problem than the whinging and melodrama. A trip is a trip, and a yellow card should be awarded or not depending on the action of the offending player, not the level of injury sustained. The rolling around, flailing of arms, grimacing etc. is really annoying though. You’d think there’d be a way to get rid of that part of it. (Is it my imagination, or are some of those Italian players really bad examples of that?)
Yeah, the Italians and South Americans do make an extra effort to appear hurt. It’s part of the playing style of their respective leagues (along with widespread corruption).
I agree. To some degree I can understand (though I don’t approve or like it) the thought process behind taking a dive, especially if you are in the box, or if you are losing the ball.
But the rolling on the ground holding your shin for 2 minutes, after YOU GOT THE CALL!! I just don’t get it. The guy clips you, the ref blows the whistle, you get a free kick. Just get up and play. I don’t understand why they think they need to pretend thier leg was broken - for 2 minutes anyway.
One thing I wish the ref would do:
Situation:
If the trainers come out on the field, you have to leave the field until the ref lets you back. So many times you see a guy rolling around in fake pain, get carried off on a stretcher, and as soon as the get over the touch line, jump off the stretcher and raise thier hand to be allowed back on the field.
The ref should either:
A) immediately caution the guy, as it was pretty obvious faking, for unsporting behaviour or delaying the restart of play
or at least,
B) don’t let the guy back on the field for a few minutes. Its up to the ref when to allow a player back. Wait until his team has a throw in at least. If players know that the team would be playing a man down for possibly several minutes, they and the coachs would stop the practice.
Re. timekeeping: as said above, the ref is the final arbiter. Although t
The fourth official indicates an approximate time to be added, and this is the figure flashed up on your screens, the ref makes the final decision of when to blow the whistle. He will so it when the ball is in open play, rather than while a team is attacking, for example when a goal kick is taken, to ensure it’s clear that play has stopped for that reason and also to stop last-second lunges at the goal.
Just a little nitpick - the 4th official doesn’t determine the added time, the referee on the field does and communicates it to the 4th official to display - either by running by and telling him, showing him a number of fingers, or using the headphone communication system in place in this world cup.
