Everyone knows how bad the referee was in this game. But for all the flak he's taken, let us not forget two players who also brought the game to disrepute.
The Portuguese played like savages. No doubt Russian ref Valentin Ivanov ruined the game with his yellow card fetish, the Portuguese were nonetheless more than capable accomplices to Ivanov's crimes, and along with Dutch hopes goes plunging the Portuguese dignity. A few players stood out as villains on the night, but none more pitiful than Figo and Deco.
I'll begin with Deco, and the manner in which he collected his two yellows. Deco's first came in in the throngs of unsportsmanlike behaviour. The Dutch had a man down injured. The Portuguese put the ball out. But when Wesley Sneijder ran with the ball without giving it back to the Portuguese, Deco charged at Sneijder at full speed, diagonally from behind, and lunged at Sneijder with the ball a good two, three feet in front on him. Granted that Sneijder should have returned the ball to the Portuguese, ultimately, there is no rule that says that he needs to, and Deco's desire to see sportsmanship upheld resulted in a vile tackle that deserved a straight red in itself.
His second yellow came in a fit of further stupidity. Having conceded a free kick, Deco picked up the ball and began walking away with it, refusing the dutchman - was it Sneijder again? - the chance to take the ball for the freekick. An altercation ensued as the dutchman grabbed for the ball back from Deco and hurled the flimsy Portuguese to the ground. The referee, rightly so, was to have none of it. For Deco's sheer stupidity, childishness and unsportsmanlike behaviour, he deserved both his yellow cards, and was lucky to not have been sent off with a straight red first.
If you think Deco's dastardly behaviour is forgivable because of his youthful petulance and lack of experience at the very highest level, then the nonsense we saw from Luis Figo was certainly unforgivable. What Figo would do in the 60th minute is an embarassment to his reputation as a world class player. In a heated conversation with Mark Van Bommel, when referee Ivanov had turned his back to the players, Figo thrust his head towards Van Bommel's and headbutted the dutchman. The contact wasn't notably heavy, yet the pictures reveal cynical side that is too painful to see. Van Bommel replied with a collapse post- a 3 second delay. Figo went unpunished for that headbutt, yet it remains to be seen if FIFA, who have footage clear as daylight, will take disciplinary action.
Luis Figo would later fall theatrically upon a Khalid Boulahrouz challenge and earn the dutch defender his second yellow. Video replays will show the speed at which Figo reacts to Boulahrouz's raised arm, the dramatisation of the inflicted knock and his subsequent rolling on the ground. Again, always needing to be fair, there was contact between Boulahrouz's raised arm and Figo's face, yet any casual viewer will know that Boulahrouz's error was perhaps born out of clumsiness where as Figo's method acting was born out of an entirely different motivation - Figo's was the exploitation of a clumsy moment by a yellow-carded player to get him sent off. A professional like him, globally revered once for his dazzling ability to play beautiful football, need not have resorted to such sordid acts. In his bid to end his international career with glory, one suspects that Luis Figo has just made a mockery of his own legend by showing the world, at the biggest stage, what a miserable cheat he is.
Now these are strong words, and they are words reserved for the very worst scenes in football. These aren't labels we use on shirt-tuggers, in Deco and Figo, Portugal have two amazing players who have disgraced the world cup with their ridiculous antics. And it is this writer's opinion that Portugal's victory, for all its practical value, is hollow. Not just hollow, it is a testament to the vile lows two of their stars will go to win a match. For men of Deco and Figo's stature, it is utterly sad. And along with their ticket to the quarter-finals, Portuguese football can go to hell for the depths to which they've just plunged the standards of world cup fair play.
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4 comments:
as vile as these scenes suggests, I was more disgusted by rivaldo's play-acting antics against Turkey in the last World Cup that got a Turkish player sent off. then again it could be that I never liked Rivaldo's face to begin with. on another note i am rejoicing because no deco and costinha for sure against England. That's good news.
i've always thought that the rivaldo dive wasn't as bad as it was because the turk actually slammed the ball at him from close distance when he could have just knocked it to him for the corner. it was an extremely cheap shot by the turk to begin with, and rivaldo capitalised on it. as far as i know, there were two villains in that scene, and i remember cheering the red card, because i knew that ball to rivaldo was hit in bad faith.
you could argue that some of the portuguese responses came as a result of dutch bad faith, but figo's and deco's were uncalled for and that's why i feel so strongly about them. at any case, yes, i am pleased that at least one of those savages, if not both, will be out of the england game. you see, england may be bad, but these guys are ugly.
oh please, peter crouch's dance is pretty ugly :)
Again, the curse of my lack of knowledge on the game humbles me with your depth. Thanks for the insight from a yank in middle America. I sit and enjoy the game, you live it unrivaled.
By the way, this is a true compliment not meant as ass kissing.
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