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One sport that has so far resisted the use of high-tech assistance is soccer (football). Replays could be used to adjudicate on off-side decisions, whether a ball passes over the goal line, and clarify penalty decisions, with an off-field referee communicating with the umpires on the field using wireless technology. What do you think?
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Last night I went with a couple of friends who are big soccer fans, to watch a very interesting movie about a match between Real Madrid and Villareal in the Spanish league. It wasn’t the usual match footage, the whole movie was following the French international football player Zinedine Zidane, often up very close and pixilated. It is a mix between a documentary and a sporting match. The game was played on April 23, 2005, with 17 cameras tracking just Zidane in real time. There is no commentary, just the noise of him spitting, shouting to his teammates and muttering the occasional complaint to the referee. In the end it is not a football game you are watching, but a voyeuristic view of a public figure. It is not his best game, but maybe his best view. You see a hardworking player, searching for opportunity. The final score was Real Madrid 2, Villareal 1. But who cares?
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Last night I was privileged to be at the Docklands Telstra Dome to witness the A-League Grand Final, held in front of 55,000 people – the biggest crowd to ever watch a domestic football match. And even better, my team the Melbourne Victory humiliated Adelaide, largely thanks to a remarkable goal scoring effort by Archie Thompson. Such a crowd at a soccer match is rarely seen in Australia. If they can continue to have games and spectacles like that, then the crowds will continue to come. The crowd seemed pretty tame to me, though I later read that ten flares were let off in the stadium and 41 people evicted. Maybe that is pretty tame relative to what goes on in English football stadiums.
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Tags: crowds·football·grand final·soccer
Tonight a friendly match between Australia and Paraguay was played in Brisbane. My nephew Dan played Australia against Paraguay on the FIFA Soccer PC game just before kick-off, the result 1-0 to Australia. The actual game was a similar tight affair. The skilful Paraguays played tight football and defended well, with Australia having more attacking opportunities. These ‘friendly’ games never seem to be that friendly – there was lots of tension out there. The South Americans rolled around in pain after every tackle, as expected, and it was good to see the Aussie did not follow their example. It does not need to be done. Australia scored both goals in the game, though unfortunately the second one in the final minutes was into our own goal, the final result 1-1. From the euphoria of the first goal to take the lead, to the own goal robbing us of victory in the last minutes, soccer can be frustrating and disappointing, but I guess that is why we keep coming back.
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Leading up to the Australian Soccer Team’s game against Paraguay this weekend, the captain of the squad Craig Moore was controversially dropped from the team. He did not turn up for a training session as he slept in and missed his plane. In a time of ‘bad boys’ football players, my first thought was that he was out all night partying and drinking. It was not the case; he was probably affected by jetlag more than anything. However, he still needs to be more responsible and get himself to the national squad training session no matter what. It may seem harsh to be dropped for a game for missing one training session, but a standard has to be set, and the rules upheld. It is a hard decision to leave out one of our best players, but right nevertheless. No matter how good the player is, or how good their record has been in the past, I think it was the right thing to do and send the message to the other players and the supporters that this team means business, and everyone has to pull their weight.
Related Pages: Soccer, Craig Moore profile
Tags: craig moore·soccer·socceroos
For many reasons I was supporting Italy in the World Cup Final this morning. Having spent a month in Italy last year, my wife being part Italian, and Italy knocking out Australia early in the tournament all lead me to follow the Azzuri. With the dubious penalty to France in the first half, and Zidane’s head explosion in extra time, Italy deserved to win, though going by the general play France had the upper hand for much of the match. It would not have been a World Cup final with out some controversy. I love to watch football, and I know diving part of the game, though it frustrates me no end to see players get away with faking an injury. I agree with a commentator the other day who suggested that they should introduce video referees who can penalise players after the game for obvious faked fouls. I would also like to see those with an ‘injury’ given a compulsory break of 5 minutes or otherwise substitute another player. For soccer to take off in this country, this is the area of the game they need to clean up.
Related Pages: Soccer, Football World Cup, Italy at the WC
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