You might have feared the worst for Ivory Coast’s Kader Keita after he dramatically fell to the ground during Sunday’s group game against Brazil, that deservedly ended in a 3-1 defeat. Was his career over, thanks to Kaka’s challenge? Replays immediately proved otherwise with the Brazilian playmaker’s nudge of his opponent leading to playmaking of a different kind. Sadly for Kaka (and the beautiful game), he received his marching orders from the field while Hollywood agents weighed up seeing if Keita fancies a gig by acting for real.
If only this spot of simulation was an isolated incident. But Keita’s theatrics is but the latest example of arguably the worst aspect of a dark art which has infiltrated football over the past few years. Call it the three F’s — flopping, flailing and falling — as the time comes (yet again) for FIFA to clamp down on these ridiculous shenanigans, which could well put off the virgin viewer for good. Brazil’s coach Dunga certainly called it as he saw it, saying, “The player who commits the foul escapes the yellow card, I have to congratulate him for that,” before going on to conclude, “We have to know what is good football and what is not. So when the referee allows certain fouls or certain incidents to go unpunished that is not right.”
Dunga’s right when he says it’s not right. But Brazil are hardly angels themselves: indeed, last night’s game found Luis Fabiano seemingly handling the ball twice in the build up to Brazil’s decisive second goal. The 2002 World Cup was blighted by similar case studies, including Rivaldo ruining his reputation by clutching his face (see clip below) after being hit near the knee by the ball. His actions got Turkey’s Hakan Unsal sent off though justice eventually prevailed with FIFA fining the Brazilian $7,350 (though Brazil did win that World Cup with Rivaldo scoring a late penalty in this group game against Turkey).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgfRCa71Kmw&hl=en_GB&fs=1&]
Four years later, Italy’s Fabio Grosso cutely won a penalty by falling over Australian defender Lucas Neill in injury time. The resulting goal sent the Aussies home in the last 16 and Italy went on to win the tournament. Sadly, it seems that cheaters do prosper with the Italians up to their old tricks yesterday: Australia’s neighbors New Zealand were on the harsh end of another penalty decision, with Daniele De Rossi going over very easily, though Italy didn’t go on to win the match. And the Australians themselves have seen some poor gamesmanship at close quarters yet again, after German midfielder Mesut Özil tumbled to the ground last weekend. At least the referee got that one right, by booking Özil.
What to do? Even more depressing is the fact that we fans of the European leagues, such as in England, Italy and Spain, are used to seeing this week in week out. This naturally trickles down to one of the most important places of all: the school playground. Kids aren’t immune to copying their heroes and this vicious circle does not bode well for the next generation of players.
If we turn to FIFA (never the most reassuring start to a sentence), we find that its Laws of the Game state that, “attempts to deceive the referee by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled” get a yellow card. Radical as it may sound but why not trade in that yellow for a red, thus banning the perpetrator for at least the next match? And if the culprit re-offends, then ban him for the remainder of the competition. It’s a safe bet that players will think twice before undergoing their Hollywood auditions, thus sparing both the movie going public as well as the watching football audiences this tragic drama, which doesn’t seem to have a happy ending.