Flopping, Diving, and Timewasting: The World Cup Way

blogs.chron.com ^ | July 03, 2006

[thehumanlynx]

Flopping, Diving, and Timewasting: The World Cup Way

Mis amis footballeurs: How do we stop the madness? (In my best French accent...)

In this World Cup, especially in the group phase and 2nd round, huge numbers of the fittest athletes known in team sports have apparently suffered more life-threatening injuries than in an entire season of ER. In an amazing coincidence, many of these mortal wounds occur near their opponents penalty area; the rest seem to occur to players (victims, really) on teams holding a one-goal lead. In fact, it seems every one of Italy's opponents was tought Pai Mei 's five-point palm exploding heart technique--but fortunately, FIFA's triage units, along with Italy's outstanding medical staff, have formulated just the perfect solution in their bottle of Magic Water to allow these players to continue play unaffected...

[Gator101]

Shootouts arent too good, i agree. I like the idea of a sudden death period or two before shootouts. There has to be a line drawn somewhere, if you cant get it done in regulation.

They should do it like NHL playoffs. Make 'em keep playing until somebody scores. There have been hockey games that were double the length of regulation time (and more) but eventually the players were so exhausted somebody messed up and somebody else scored.

[don'tbedenied]

I like offense but I must observe that the 4-5-1 has been pretty successful over all this world cup, though very ugly to watch. I know Italy is 4-5-1 but does France use one or two strikers?

[thehumanlynx]

i believe FR starts one forward up. Not sure though..

[T. Jefferson]

Wrong. Emmitt actually played hurt quite often. Case in point ... in one of the SBs against the hapless Bills, he was playing with a badly injured back which probably would've been a season-ender for most RBs.

Every football player plays hurt. Emmitt was the master of the flop. In the 50 or so flops he did that my friends and I witnessed, his average return to the field was 3 plays into the next series of downs. He clearly fooled alot of fans, as evidenced by your comment, but the opposing teams knew when he was carried off he'd be back in a few minutes.

[Gator101]

Yeah but soccer is popular in Afghanistan

I imagine the reason for that is there is little other entertainment. Soccer is popular in the poor regions of the world because all it requires is a ball and a flat piece of ground. Heck, even as you described, once the Afghans found a more complicated sport (needing horses and dead goats) they bumped that above soccer.

[al_c]

Are you a Redskins fan or something? Emmitt was a tough player. If you want a flopper from the NFL, pick Staubach. He was the king of NFL flops.

[wolf78]

The stretchers are a joke, and the flops are disgrace. It doesnt belong in the game. It is cheating. Anyway, I look forward to hearing the comments from the soccer fans... I just feel like FIFA showed some weak policy this WC and needs to make a few changes. 5900 yellow cards, 588 reds, and 22,456 fake falls and dives, 6200 instances of men writhing in pain as if they were a little girl that just got her foot sawed off. Not to mention 200 stretchers carrying people off the field only to see the terribly injured player hop right off the stretcher and re-enter the game....

Well, there were some yellow cards for diving, and I applaud the refs who didn't let themselves get fooled.

The problem with the stretchers is a different one and probably here to stay: Liability issues and overzealous lawyers. 40 years ago, stretchers were only used in the most serious cases like broken legs etc. But today it's mandatory that a player is carried off the field on a stretcher, because if he further complicated an injury by walking off the field the lawyers of the clubs the players usually work for would sue.

... which ironically is not at all un-American.

[soccer_maniac]

Referees ahould give a yellow for every dive.

That would solve the problem.

[thehumanlynx]

I have no problem with stretchering (is that a word) if the player is actually hurt. But to not be able to walk off the field on your own strength takes a substantial injury, an injury that you know is a problem. I tore my acl all the way through and I still walked all the way from the field to my truck and drove home. Give me a break.

Interesting about the lawsuits... yet another example of lawyers ruining everything.

it still seems extreme. You are playing a game where injury is a possiblity, it is a risk inherent in the activity. The stretchers are abused to waste time or to play up the drama, not for the fans, but rather for the ref. Its sad and out of control

[thehumanlynx]

I think there is some credibility in the idea of having the "injured" player remain off field for a specific time.

[wolf78]

I have no problem with stretchering (is that a word) if the player is actually hurt. But to not be able to walk off the field on your own strength takes a substantial injury, an injury that you know is a problem. I tore my acl all the way through and I still walked all the way from the field to my truck and drove home. Give me a break.

Yeah, but then again you're not a top soccer player who's worth something like 50 million $ (you have to think advertising contracts etc.). Some national coaches almost have to beg the European top clubs (Chelsea, Real Madrid etc.) to use their players for friendlies etc. The World Cup is different, as it is also a great opportunity to increase the value of a player (e.g. Philipp Lahm, who went from total unknown to sought-after rising star) for a club - and I'm talking monetary value here.

But it could always go the other way. Just think about Michael Owen: Newcastle had to shill out 30 million dollars for the right to sign Owen (4-year contract) in fall of 2005, and now he has a torn cruciate ligament and can't play for a very long time.

If FIFA - just for one second - gave the impression that their medical attention to injuries is sub-optimal, the pitch would be swarming with lawyers within seconds.

It's sad, but true: With such high sums involved, money takes the innocence (and to a certain degree the manliness) out of the sport.

[wolf78]

I think there is some credibility in the idea of having the "injured" player remain off field for a specific time.

Interesting idea - definitely worth considering.

[Freee-dame]

this World Cup has convinced me that a no scoring, high flopping game as no big future here. Most of these teams, including ours, only play one forward.

Obviously, most of the world really likes these low scoring games. If they didn't, two rules about time clocks could change the scoring. A time limit to get the ball across the center line and then a time clock to take a shot would lead to more scores and a more interesting game, IMHO. I Like the competitiveness of it, but it there seems to be so much back and forth between the teams.

[thehumanlynx]

I think that most of the world would like a little more scoring... but I have to vehemently disagree about the time clock ideas. That would completely disrupt the flow of the game, its not like basketball, you cant force offense in soccer that way. It completely changes the dynamics of the game to do that. It would be a completely different game. I played for many years and forcing time limit constraints would just make for a lot of free kicks and whistles in the middle of the field stopping the play in the middle of a dribble.

I think the time limits would hinder scoring.. but to each his own.

[wolf78]

Obviously, most of the world really likes these low scoring games.

The problem is not low-scoring games per se (Have you seen the WC semi-final between Germany and Italy, which was goalless for 118 minutes, but still a fascinating, fast-moving game with lots of attacks on both sides?), but rather boring, low-scoring games, like the second semi-final.

Ironically, the reason why so many teams play defense these days is that the game has gotten so much faster over the last decades. If you take Netzer, Beckenbauer and the like, they scored much more goals in their days, but wouldn't be able to compete with today's athletes.

[JRios1968]

I am just at the end of my rope with all this crap.

So am I...when will the metric football end? It's bad enough...zzzzzzzz...oh, wait, I fell asleep talking about it again.

[Blue Jays]

Hi All-

My suggestion is that any athlete removed from the field of play must remain sidelined for a minimum of five minutes and could return to the field when their team has a throw-in or cornerkick. This would reduce the number of fake injuries.

Further, this would apply if trainers responded to the field. A player would be allowed to walk himself to the side for water, "magic spray", sponges, or bandages without penalty. Injuries involving blood would also be exempt.

~ Blue Jays ~

[Eurotwit]

I thought part of the reason for the stretchers was also to prevent time wasting, by getting the injured player quickly off the field, so that play can continue?

[A'elian' nation]

"I think that most of the world would like a little more scoring."
Since soccer is the closest sport to pinball that I can think of, ,how about having two balls in play at the same time ? Might be entertaining and fun. The ref throws in an extra ball whenever a soccer diva dives. Or have 2 balls in play during the overtimes.
My apologies to true soccer afficionados, just making a half-serious suggestion to enliven the game a bit. Seriously, I have totally been enthralled with this World Cup. Seeing it in Europe makes all the difference.