the referee's call

today I think that all the fifa world cup games are actually about who the ref is. It doesn't matter how you play just what your whistled for and then how that psychologically affects your team's perspective...

example one...germany versus serbia...with names like swiensteigler (pig crawler) who wouldn't be afraid of messing with the germans...but add a strict ref from spain (I think secretly he was just sad his team lost their first no brainer against switzerland and is now trying to bring down all the arrogant power-house teams), about 6 yellow cards to the german side, and germany playing a man down for 3/4 of the match and you have a Serbian victory of historic proportions...I mean it's the first world cup game they have won as Serbia...the ref whistled absolutely every possible call he could and effectively put the german team on eggshells for 60 minutes of his dictatorship. The newspapers will hail this as a serbian winning upset of the tourney so far, but I say the refs domination ultimately played the feild to perfection.

example two...slovenia versus the united states...amazingly the US is a favorite to win this match...do american's even know how to play soccer is the first question one should be asking...add a ref who lets things get messy and makes the american's work through their innability to grasp that yes, soccer can sometimes be a contact sport, and yes, someone might get in your way as you try and make a go for the net...a little pushing, a little shoving, lots of getting your feet stuck in between someone elses-this is soccer. But the american's did rally to make thier game a 2-2 draw, they actually got the ball into the oppositions net 3 times but the ref blew the whistle on a (you guessed it) foul...just before the shot was made. You can't seem to get past the ref, when he doesn't call it, your upset...and just when he calls a foul...you score a goal and are equally upset when it doesn't count. So, while I think the American's did an admirable job of getting back into a game that had gone awry...once again, it was the ref who actually decided what the final score was.

once again, it's not who played the game, but how the ref called it that counts...isn't that a bumper sticker somewhere?

ps I think my coworkers are amazed at my ability to get completely addicted to just about anything...I mean, I have always liked soccer, but this world cup is making me a crazy person, I got myself out of bed at 7am to watch germany play...who does that...I have to work until 11 tonight...I am officially diagnosing myself with world cup fever...