World Cup showed ugly side of soccer

As almost anyone not living under a rock for the past few months knows, this summer saw the return of the world's most popular sporting event, the World Cup, in Germany. Even Americans tuned in en masse, despite the abysmal performance of the U.S. team, and the tournament did not disappoint as it was full of its share of excitement and captivating story lines.

The German team defied predictions of failure to capture third place, including a thrilling penalty-kick win over Argentina behind the tremendous saves of goalkeeper Jens Lehmann. A resurgent French team of aging veterans regained its form that had proved successful in 1998, overthrowing the Brazilian soccer juggernaut in the quarterfinals before finishing second overall. The Azzurri of Italy overcame the scandals of its premier league, Serie A, that had come to light near the beginning of the tournament. The stellar Italian defense allowed just two goals, on an own goal and a penalty kick, to lead the team to the World Cup title.

Despite the thrilling action on the field throughout the tournament, the 2006 World Cup left a somewhat bad taste in the mouth of casual and die-hard fans alike. This disappointment came from two major events.

The first was the head-butting of Italian defender Marco Materazzi by Zinedine Zidane, France's star midfielder, during overtime the final. Zidane, considered one of the game's greatest midfielders, was in the midst of an epic career-ending resurgence, as he had suddenly regained the dominating style of play that carried France to the 1998 World Cup title and 2000 European Championship. What appeared to be the greatest feel-good story of the tournament suddenly turned sour when Zidane turned to Materazzi and brutally drove his head into the Italian's chest during the 110th minute. Zidane was ejected for the blow, and departed the game into retirement with his sterling legacy sullied.

The second major source of dissatisfaction with the 2006 World Cup came from the sheer number of yellow and red cards issued. Throughout the tournament, the referees issued 345 yellow cards and 28 red cards, both numbers shattering former records.

FIFA, world soccer's governing body, had sought to crack down on rough play by issuing more cards. But the results were truly ridiculous. One need only look at the United States-Italy game as proof.

After Italian defender Daniele de Rossi received a (justified) red card for elbowing U.S. forward Brian McBride, referee Jorge Larrionda evened the score by ejecting U.S. midfielder Pablo Mastroeni shortly before the end of the first half for a hard slide tackle that barely deserved a yellow. Then, shortly into the second half, U.S. defender Eddie Pope was ejected after receiving a second yellow card. Yet it was FIFA's attempted crackdown coupled with a card-happy ref that led him to receive yellows on both occasions, when one yellow card at most was justified.

Another example occurred in the round-of-16 match between Portugal and the Netherlands, when the referee lost control of the game and handed out a record 16 yellow cards, as well as ejecting two players on each team.

Yet the overabundance of cards as an attempt to cut down on rough play ignores an even greater problem facing soccer: the constant "dives" that players take in an attempt to get a foul called, potentially resulting in a penalty kick or a card for the other team.

This phenomenon was obvious to anyone who watched even a couple of the games. How many times would a player go down at the slightest touch, especially if he inside the penalty box? How many times did we witness a player get "fouled" and writhe around on the ground as if in the greatest pain of his life, only to be running back on to the field just a minute later after a quick dose of magic spray on the "injury"? One need only watch Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, whose flops were so obvious that they were almost funny.

Diving has always been prevalent in soccer, but it has reached a new level as it has come to be rewarded by referees all too happy to blow the whistle, and even call a game-changing penalty kick on the slightest provocation. Witness Italy's penalty kick against Australia, or France's penalty kick against Italy; both questionable calls.

The real problem facing soccer today in all of these cases is a complete lack of sportsmanship, which not only fed the phenomenon of diving but also provided the backdrop for Zidane's head butt. While his behavior was unconscionable, so were Materazzi's unsportsmanlike insults which provoked the attack.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

To regain the luster that it partly lost in the 2006 tournament, FIFA needs to crack down to ensure that unsportsmanlike conduct is no longer tolerated. The rule that diving results in an automatic yellow card needs to be stringently enforced, rather than rewarding those who dive by calling a foul on the opposing team. Every game then needs to be watched on replay after the fact, and anyone caught on a dive that had been missed during the game should be given a retrograde yellow card, complete with the possibility of that player missing his next match for accumulating two yellows. Finally, unsportsmanlike conduct of any sort, from excessively physical play to Materazzi's verbal abuses, should similarly be punished with a card.

In this way, the real problems facing soccer will be addressed. Hopefully, once better sportsmanship is established, the referees will have less need to give out cards, and the players can be left to play the beautiful game the way it was meant to be played.