The FIFA World Cup in South Africa has been the most colourful of them all. There has been no dearth of incidents, whether to do with the modes of celebration or contentious equipment or refereeing. Here’s a sampling:
Celebrating A Goal? Here, Have Some Diski And Soda:
Arguably the greatest contributions of footballers, Peter Crouch and Juergen Klinsmann, are the dances they invented for use in celebrating a goal scored.
But now the time has come to put ‘The Robot’ by Crouch, and ‘The Dive’ by Klinsmann, to pasture.
For here comes the ‘Diski’, that South Afrtica’s Tshabalala and his team-mates have invented…
Nigerian Kaita Falls To Earth:
Nigerian player Sani Kaita has made a tearful apology to his countrymen, for the red card he earned against Greece, resulting in his team’s 2-1 loss in the group E match.
The match was crucial to Nigeria’s hopes of advancing to the round of 16, and the team was leading 1-0 at the time of the incident, thanks to a free kick taken by Kalu Uche.
Kaita was sent off after he kicked Greek defender Vasileios Torosidis in a rough tackle.
No More Pecnik For Slovenia At FIFA World Cup 2010:
In their match against USA, Slovenia forward Nejc Pecnik broke his ankle.
The injury marks an early end to the World Cup, for Pecnik, who will not feature in the starting line up Slovenia take on England on Wednesday.
This is a crucial encounter, especially for England, who will have to pack their bags, if they don’t win. In contrast, even a draw would be enough for Slovenia to qualify for the round of 16.
I Have Seen Many Balls, But FIFA’s Are The Worst, Says Capello:
Complaints about the Jambulani ball used at this World Cup refuse to ebb.
Apart from unhappyplayers, the latest complaint was beleaguered England coach Capello. This is what he had to say about it: ‘This is the worst ball I ever saw’. And he has seen many, in his long career, as coach.
But not all players are unhappy. The Brazilian midfielder Kaka actually kissed the Jambulani, in public view. If you’re wondering why Kaka finds FiFA’s new ball good enough to kiss, there’s a simple enough explanation. Kaka is a brand ambassador for Adidas, the company that manufacturers the Jambulani.
Referee Undiano Undone by Klose Call:
The Germans were hard done by in their match against Serbia. For what appeared to be a relatively innocuous foul committed on Dejan Stankovic, Klose was given a second yellow card and marching orders, by referee Undiano.
The card happy referee went on a whistling spree, issuing four cards in the first ten minutes. His final tally was a gasp inducing 10.
Referee Coulibaly Ends With Kek On Face:
The USA Slovenia match ended bizarrely with ref Coulibaly disallowing what appeared to be a legal goal by Maurice Edu, of the USA, thus denying the Americans of a deserved win.
The decision was all the more weird as Coulibaly chose to ignore an offside in the second goal Slovenia scored. Slovenia’s coach Kek was the only happy man, on the night.
Camiseta Gales Primera Equipación 2020-2021 Niño Carlos Herrera saca su colección de camisetas de fútbol para