Still fuming about this...and it had nothing to do with wagering.
I write a daily World Cup column for my newspaper entitled "Fifa Pitch" and I'll post that here to let my thoughts know on that cheating bastard Rivaldo
R
IVALDO and referee Kim Young-Joo shouldn't be sighted again at the World Cup for some considerable time.
The Brazilian midfielder, given the opportunity to grace the tournament with his sublime skills, instead disgraced the event last night (NZ time) with a blatant act of cheating.
Then the South Korean referee capped his pitiful display by falling for Rivaldo's amateur dramatics.
He also wrongly awarded Brazil a late match-winning penalty for a shirt-tug outside the area that was converted by Rivaldo and constantly failed to police the 10-metre rule at free-kick time to the extent that Brazil's wall could have shook hands with the Turkish set-piece exponents.
Brazil may have deserved the 2-1 win but also deserve to have Rivaldo banned for at least two matches.
Fifa have promised to come down hard on play-acting and Rivaldo's 'Hollywood' was a blight on the game.
The Barcelona midfielder collapsed in a heap holding his face after Hakan Unsal kicked the ball into his thigh while waiting to take a corner.
Rivaldo later shamelessly claimed later that: "my experience counts."
``I think he deserved to be sent off. Of course he didn't get me in a place where I could be hurt. But you don't do the sort of thing he did so he deserved the sending-off.''
But a Fifa ban seems as likely as the game's governing body changing their ludicrous policy of having the most crucial matches at the sporting world's greatest event run by men stranded out of their depth.
Kim Young-Joo controlled the game like a man who had no feel for the pace, strength and trickery of football at the highest level.
It's time Fifa stopped allocating World Cup matches to referees from the United Arab Emirates to Guam and simply appointed the best "men in black". If eight of those are Italian and none from Madagascar, so what?
The Brazil side weren't the only ones to get out of jail though.
At least 17 prisoners in a Sao Paulo jail escaped through a tunnel about 30 minutes after the match began. No guessing what the guards were doing at the time.
The two other results were far more predictable.
A revitalised Mexico who always lift their game at this level were too good for the aging Croatians (was this another bad sign for creaky defending champs France too?) while Italy were in a different stratosphere from Cup virgins Ecuador.
Asian Paradise: Tonight sees a feast of football to delight the hosts while China also make their debut at World Cup level.
South Korea and Japan will be out to prove that the embarrassing Saudi Arabian effort against West Germany wasn't a true representation of the strength of the game in the Asia confederation.
The ticketing fiasco that has left some stadiums up to one-third empty has already shamed the hosts so on-field retribution is sought when Japan meet Belgium, South Korea face Poland and China tangle with Costa Rica tonight.
Bet of the Day: Japan to beat Belgium at $2.50.
I write a daily World Cup column for my newspaper entitled "Fifa Pitch" and I'll post that here to let my thoughts know on that cheating bastard Rivaldo
R
IVALDO and referee Kim Young-Joo shouldn't be sighted again at the World Cup for some considerable time.
The Brazilian midfielder, given the opportunity to grace the tournament with his sublime skills, instead disgraced the event last night (NZ time) with a blatant act of cheating.
Then the South Korean referee capped his pitiful display by falling for Rivaldo's amateur dramatics.
He also wrongly awarded Brazil a late match-winning penalty for a shirt-tug outside the area that was converted by Rivaldo and constantly failed to police the 10-metre rule at free-kick time to the extent that Brazil's wall could have shook hands with the Turkish set-piece exponents.
Brazil may have deserved the 2-1 win but also deserve to have Rivaldo banned for at least two matches.
Fifa have promised to come down hard on play-acting and Rivaldo's 'Hollywood' was a blight on the game.
The Barcelona midfielder collapsed in a heap holding his face after Hakan Unsal kicked the ball into his thigh while waiting to take a corner.
Rivaldo later shamelessly claimed later that: "my experience counts."
``I think he deserved to be sent off. Of course he didn't get me in a place where I could be hurt. But you don't do the sort of thing he did so he deserved the sending-off.''
But a Fifa ban seems as likely as the game's governing body changing their ludicrous policy of having the most crucial matches at the sporting world's greatest event run by men stranded out of their depth.
Kim Young-Joo controlled the game like a man who had no feel for the pace, strength and trickery of football at the highest level.
It's time Fifa stopped allocating World Cup matches to referees from the United Arab Emirates to Guam and simply appointed the best "men in black". If eight of those are Italian and none from Madagascar, so what?
The Brazil side weren't the only ones to get out of jail though.
At least 17 prisoners in a Sao Paulo jail escaped through a tunnel about 30 minutes after the match began. No guessing what the guards were doing at the time.
The two other results were far more predictable.
A revitalised Mexico who always lift their game at this level were too good for the aging Croatians (was this another bad sign for creaky defending champs France too?) while Italy were in a different stratosphere from Cup virgins Ecuador.
Asian Paradise: Tonight sees a feast of football to delight the hosts while China also make their debut at World Cup level.
South Korea and Japan will be out to prove that the embarrassing Saudi Arabian effort against West Germany wasn't a true representation of the strength of the game in the Asia confederation.
The ticketing fiasco that has left some stadiums up to one-third empty has already shamed the hosts so on-field retribution is sought when Japan meet Belgium, South Korea face Poland and China tangle with Costa Rica tonight.
Bet of the Day: Japan to beat Belgium at $2.50.
