The LA Times claims that Australia’s heartbreaking loss to Italy was essentially a makeup call for 2002:
The Aussies should have known it would end this way. It was inevitable.
The seed for Australia’s 1-0 World Cup defeat by Italy on Monday on a blatantly incorrect penalty kick awarded by Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo in the final seconds was sown in South Korea four years ago.
Monday’s devastating blow to the Socceroos was a makeup call.
Anyone with any suspicion of just how things are manipulated at soccer’s highest level, including the outcome of games, needs only to look back to 2002.
That’s when Italy was robbed blind in a 2-1 overtime loss to South Korea in a second-round World Cup game that was atrociously refereed by Ecuador’s Byron Moreno. The South American was so bad that Italians named a row of public toilets after him in Sicily.
The loss eliminated the Italians and—much to the delight of soccer’s movers and shakers—sent cohost South Korea on a run that took it to the semifinals and an eventual fourth-place finish.
Given the massive public support for the team, keeping South Korea alive as long as possible was very much in FIFA’s interests. So Italy paid the price.
This time around, the price has been paid back.
Things are all square with Italy. Australia will get the makeup call next time around, at South Africa in 2010, assuming it qualifies.
That’s how it works.
Read the rest on your own… if you dare.
Sphere: Related Content
23 Comments
This may be true but you cannot write an article on innuendos and hearsays.
FIFA should sue this reporter and LA Times and clean them dry.
Even Korea may be able to sue LA Times for defamation.
I agree with Baduk–even if some of this has an element of truth (shoddy officiating) it is still slander. I think the Times published it because the paper’s editors don’t know squat about football and don’t care. The author is apparently considered an ass by some locals who do know about football:
http://incadenza.typepad.com/s.....jones.html
According to this article, Italy was the victim of 2002 FIFA conspiracy. And, now Australia is the victim of the make-up browny.
Who said that Koreans are big on conspiracy and victimization complex? All those crybaby ex-pats will say, Korea f***ed up Australia’s chances.
Sure. Sure. Stop crying now. This brave LA Times reporter has dug into the Conspiracy about Korea and FIFA.
He just wrote it to sell more paper. There are more Italians and Australian-lovers buying his paper than Koreans. He has to eat. Truth? F*** truth. He has to eat first.
Baduk, there are hundreds of thousands of Koreans in L.A. and a handful of Italians and Aussies at most. The guy is pissing in his corn flakes. If any of them bother to read his bullshit the management will probably get an earfull.
“Given the massive public support for the team, keeping South Korea alive as long as possible was very much in FIFA’s interests. So Italy paid the price.”
“Teammate Scott Chipperfield goes further. ‘They look after the big nations,’ he said. ‘They want the big nations through to the semis and final. It’s always the way.’”
So which is it? If FIFA “always… looks after big nations,” how could they possible have allowed South Korea, host or no, to defeat Portugal, Italy and Spain in 2002?
Like Micheal says, this reporter evidently knows diddly squat about football, and fails to explain exactly why the refereeing was so bad in the Italy-Korea game.
Just like Korea against Switzerland, the Italians only had themselves to blame. Incessant diving and sitting back on a 1-0 lead (despite having some of the most extravagantly gifted attacking players on the planet) ultimately did for Italy in 2002, not the, admittedly, questionable sending off of Totti. Besides, Totti reaped what he sowed, having crumpled like a sack of spuds every time Korean players so much as looked at him askance.
The call in the Oz-Italy match was contentious too, and Grosso certainly seemed to let his feet drag ala oafman Adriano against Ghana. But again, the Aussies — who I dearly wanted to win, by the way — had almost the entire second half to capitalize on being a man up and failed to do so. If you do that, you’re always going to be a hostage of fortune to the whims of the referee.
I used to be opposed to instant replays, but not any more. If it means a partial end to shamless diving and big matches being decided on questionable or downright wrong calls, bring it on.
Conspiracies are big in football. Like the one where the host nation and the previous winners rarely meet in the round of 16…just to keep the interests of the host nation..kinda strange and makes u wonder..who knows?
Right now, many people are mad at Italy for stealing a win from Australia. Dirty Italy deserves to be hate.
But, this reporter puts “spin” on the situation. He tells his readers, “Don’t hate Italy. Hate Korea and FIFA, instead”.
Very similar to these pro-North politicians’ ploy, “Don’t hate North Korea for killing all those people. Hate America. Americans and Russians have split the peninsula. North Korea is a victim too.”
F***.
baduk i guess the same could be said for the korean media writing such crap and manipulating the situation
there are 2 things to point out here
one is the korean media keeps showing all the bad NO CALLS or BAD CALLS of the world cup….oh but the one they never include is FRANCE’s missed second goal against Korea…..
the other thing is that against switzerland they only show the side judge raise his flag and the koreans stop playing but they never zoom in on the ball hitting the defenders foot like the rest of the world’s media did
i guess thats why koreans still wont say it was a clean goal
also the off sides rule was in full display today in the france vs. spain game
Henry was 4 feet offsides when france got their first goal but bierry was the first player to get the ball thus nullifying the offsides
I understand the point about Italy being robbed in 2002…they were. The decision that gave Korea the victory in 2002 was even more blatantly wrong than the one that gave Italy the victory over Australia in 2006. That’s how futbol goes….it’s more manipulated at times than professional wrestling.
But what is the connection here between the Korea-Italy 2002 game and the Italy-Aussie game of 2006? Is it because Hiidink now coaches the Aussies?
Ah…just reread it and now see the connection. Italy was given a horrible call vs. the Aussies to make up for the horrible call that went against them vs. Korea in 2002.
There could be some truth behind this. What other way to explain such poor officiating?
Nonsense. Italy was the dominant team in the first half of the game and on a winning streak. Then the ref made a bad call by red carding Materazzi for an offense, which was worth only a yellow card. The Spansih referee was a blind fish at that match.
In the case of the ref officiating the Korea vs Italy game is what is known as a “homie” (no, not homo. hold the jokes), a referee who is swept up by the vocal support for the home team and becomes less partial to the away team. One has to think about the number of Koreans that he would need to look at in the eye before departing the country. Not to mention the potential fear of being lynched coming out of the stadium. No conspiracies theories here.
Sugar….The Spanish ref had a horrible match. Maybe the worst so far in the tournament. Horrible calls went against both sides but the final awarding of the penalty shot for Italy when the striker ran into an immobile defender and flopped was truly ludicrous. Love your avatar BTW.
Ryan…you’re right and it wasn’t just the Italy game vs. Korea in 2002. Spain and Portugal also had bad calls go against them vs. Korea. It’s too bad that poor officiating (or intimidated refs) always seem to have a huge impact on the outcomes of futbol games. Reminds me of the WWE sometimes.
Horrible calls went against both sides but the final awarding of the penalty shot for Italy when the striker ran into an immobile defender and flopped was truly ludicrous. Love your avatar BTW. Mr. Maekchu or Beer
Yeah, you’re right, I mentioned that awful penalty call from the Spanish ref in another post here at Marmot’s. In the 94th minute afte an obvious drama queen dive from that Italian cheater… my ass.
Thanks, and I really love the taste of Shin Ramyeon, too
in every sport the officiating tends to go in the home team’s favor. for all the reasons pointed out above. this is why it’s called home field/court advantage. this is why about a quarter of the world cup champions won when they hosted the tournament.
it cracks me up when people say korea and japan only advanced because they were playing in their own countries. duh. but no one mentions how france won it’s only title when they hosted. people, it’s a factor for everyone, not just the koreans in 2002.
in 2002, much was written about how the asian teams did well only because they were at or closer to home. but it could also be said that it exposed the european teams as dependent on their home field advantage to advance.
i think the asian and african teams will get better results when they don’t have to travel halfway around the world to compete.
Maekchu:
Tell me what the bad calls were in Korea-Portugal in 2002. PLease, since you seem to have such a definitive opinion about the refereeing in that game.
And then this:
“The decision that gave Korea the victory in 2002 was even more blatantly wrong than the one that gave Italy the victory over Australia in 2006.”
How is that possible? Nobody “gave” Korea a victory. Totti was red-carded, but Ahn still scored the golden goal. Conversely, the Italy-Australia penalty call (which was not necessarily a bad call in my opinion) was an absolute gift.
In a nutshell… Maekchu, please refrain from commenting on footy matches you obviously didn’t watch.
Getting back to the original post, all this guy has for evidence is comments by the losing team’s players? I could write a refutation post haste by jotting down quotes from the Korean team in ‘02 and the Italian team in ‘06. “We commend the referee for his accurate judgment and clearsightedness,” yada yada yada.
That last bit is not an actual quote, but a Nulji-style anticipatory paraphrase.
Donnieknutts,
Actually I saw every game Korea played in 2002 either on TV or in person. I didn’t have a choice coz my gfriend lived and breathed the WC. The Portugal game was marred by the refs constant one sided calls that even from the outset seemed to benefit the hosts. At least one offsides call was made against Portugal that shouldn’t and more than one questionable yellow card was given out that perhaps should have been a penalty but not a card. The result was Portugal played the final 25 minutes with only 9 men against Korea’s 11. Once Portugal was down two men, I believe Park Ji Sung scored Korea’s only goal. You could see this coming from the start of the game with the way the refs were giving every call to the hosts. It was only a matter of time. I also remember seeing the Portuguese player Fernando Couto arguing so vehemently with the official after their second red card that I thought he’d be sent off too.
Now these sort of things happen all the time in futbol but usually they even out between the two teams over the course of a game. It didn’t happen in this one and the only other time I remember seeing one team get so many calls against another was in game five of the Miami-Dallas NBA Finals this year when Dwayne Wade shot more free throws than the entire Dallas team. This is the only comparison I can make to the Korea-Portugal game of 2002. It was that one sided.
I did make a mistake in saying the decision that gave Korea the victory in 2002 was even more blatantly wrong than the one that gave Italy the victory over Australia in 2006. In truth, it was not. The decision against Australia was far worse especially being that it was the last kick of the game. The fact that you didn’t think this was a bad call kind of nullifies any credibility you have regarding futbol anyway. No offense.
Maekchu:
You’re still speaking in vague terms. I’d like you to exactly tell me which of the yellow cards branded by the ref in the Korea-Portugal game was undeserved. Please tell me, please. Which were the “questionable” yellow cards? I want the name of the player and the time of the incident. Just remind me, since you seem to have it etched in your memory. Because I remember. In case you forgot, Pinto almost snapped Park’s leg in half. (And Couto’s vehement arguing proves what exactly?) And I’m quite sure you clearly recall Bebeto’s cynical chop-down on Lee Young Pyo, leading to his (very well-deserved) second yellow card. Of course, of course, you remember all of that, since you’ve committed the game so well to memory.
“I believe Park Ji Sung scored Korea’s only goal.”
… to continue…
“I believe Park Ji Sung scored Korea’s only goal.”
Wow, your memory of the game is infallible. Really. Korea got lucky when Totti was sent off, yes. Spain was the victim of bad officiating. But Portugal, Portugal, Portugal…. they were not jobbed. Seriously, watch the match again (eBay, DVD, whatever). No objective observer (including the two ESPN commentators) would say that Korea was not a totally deserving winner.
(Note: Korea fouls - 22; Portugal fouls - 19… clearly one-sided)
As for the Italy-Australia penalty: To me, it’s spirit of the law versus letter of the law that makes it a questionable call. Had the play in question occurred in, say, the 55th minute, it wouldn’t be so controversial. The Australian defender made an exceedingly clumsy attempt at a tackle inside the box, and when you leave your legs out like that, more often than not you will get punished. Far less egregious tackles have resulted in penalties throughout this WC. Of course, since it was the penultimate call of the game, it is highly controversial. It was certainly harsh though.
The fact that you can’t see that side of the argument proves that you’re just a blabbering anti-fan blowhard anyway. No offense.
I’m gonna have to side with Donnie Knotts on this one. Korea didn’t play a great match against Portugal and skillwise it wasn’t really close, but its only the final score that matters and keeper Lee, Woon-Jae kept the Korean side in the match.
The only obvious bad call against Portugal was the second yellow against Beto. In fact, Lee could have been carded for what looked like a very obvious swandive. However, the first yellow on Beto was proper and the foul by Pinto against Park was extremely reckless and dangerous. Had it been just a red card Pinto could have gotten a 4-5 game suspension but because replays showed he tried to punch the ref in the stomach in defiance his attitude got him a 6 month suspension from International and League play.
I also agree on the call against the Aussie defender. It was a lazy tackle that had all the appearances of recklessness. Even if it was a bad call by the ref, the defender should never have made such a poor stab at the ball.