I'm not going to South Africa. So instead I'm gonna try and watch a bit if not all of every game at work, or at home or in a bar or wherever. On the telly. With a beer. And I'm gonna predict who I think is gonna win. And talk about football stuff. So there.

Monday 21 June 2010

Chile 1-0 Switzerland

Pretty much sums up all that's wrong with footballers today, this game. If FIFA don't start handing out yellow cards and fines after games to players who are clearly feigning injury and looking like they're dying, then the game is doomed.

Both sides were at it, rubbing thighs crazily like they contained lead from a shotgun, after having been merely grazed by an errant boot. Diving without the merest hint of any contact. Pretending a raised arm was an elbow to the face.

Sure the ref and his assistants were fools (this mild world replaces an earlier stronger one) for buying the theatrics, but they had front row seats and should have seen more of the faked incidents than they did.

But in the end, the future of football comes down to the players. If they want to be part of a game in which the key skills needed for success become deceiving the referee, play acting like a bunch of kids and going down at the merest hint or threat of contact, then so be it.

Hopefully, the paying public won't accept it for long. But we need the suits at FIFA to make an example of the thieving tarts of this World Cup before the tournament becomes any more of a farce.