Inevitably in a World Cup, some of the intense excitement is generated by controversial refereeing decisions. We just can’t avoid them; the referees come from all over the world, some from countries where the level of the game is at best amateurish. How can a referee from, say, an island in the southwest Pacific or from Benin have seen the kind of soccer a referee from Germany or England or Argentina sees week in, week out?
Knowing this, you hope that no referee gets in over his head in a game that requires someone with more experience and knowledge. And then you hope that he won’t make a decision that determines the course of a game. An unjust sending-off, for example, a dodgy penalty-kick, or to get to the point in a game today, the awarding of a goal which should never have been.
Today Australia and Japan played a game that should have been a toss-up. Australia has for the most part players earning their money in European leagues, and Japan, one of the surprises of the 2002 World Cup, are a lot more sophisticated and skillful than many observers give them credit for. But then we come to the critical decision, in the 26th minute of the game.
Nakamura hit a ball from the right, and curled it in towards the mouth of the goal, to the hungry crowd of defenders and attackers waiting there. Pack that many players in a small space, and you can expect trouble. And the wise referee prepares for it.
Over comes the ball, four players go up for it, including the Australian goalkeeper. One of the forwards bumps the goalkeeper out of the way so that he cannot reach the ball, which drops into the net. Several defenders protest, but Egyptian referee Essam Abdel Fatah waves them away, and all of a sudden Australia are one down.
[For those with a technical frame of mind, the reason Fatah missed the call, is because he was in the wrong place to see what was about to occur, and his view was obstructed by the crowd of players. He was outside the penalty-area for an inswinging ball in the face of the goal. A wiser referee would have gone to the goal-line to get close to the action, in which in professional soccer, it is not uncommon for one attacker to take the goalkeeper out of the play, leaving the ball free for other forwards. But how much professional soccer does a FIFA referee from Egypt see in the course of a year?]
On and on the game went, with Australia unfairly a goal down. Dispirited by the goal, they weren’t playing well, and it looked as though they might lose on the basis of the decision in the 26th minute.
But the Great Referee who looks down to dispense justice took over in the final minutes of the game. After sustaining the suspense for as long as he dared, he gave Cahill, the Australian substitute, a couple of opportunities. At eighty-four minutes, it became 1-1; eighty-nine minutes, 2-1 for Australia, and in the last minute of play, Aloisi banged in the third for a final score of 3-1.
Yes, Virginia, there is a soccer god looking down in Germany to dispense justice. Now let him send the Egyptian home and bring in the professionals.