[Fee-Go]

My wife Christina (who's Asian) initially believed that it was Korean voodoo (she says it's practiced with some consistency all over Asia) that won the games. She has now had a change of heart after watching the Argentina, Portuguese and Italian games. We both believe referees were INDIRECTLY manipulated by FIFA.

I certainly believe this. FIFA wouldn't be so stupid as 'to tell' the refs to make these dubious calls but they may have discussed how wonderful for the game it would be if an Asian team could make it far$$$$$$$. They do this in the media, meetings, meetins behind closed doors. Who knows. And I believe the refs have been affected by this syndrome. They understand very well the game would benefit immensely from A$ian success.

We all know that FIFA is not in good financial standing at the moment and needs a boost of some sort. They only get so much money from the European community and obviously this is not enough. An A$ian team making it big would obviously enhance the reputation of the game in A$ia but would bring much needed dollars into the game.

Am I suggesting that FIFA and referees colluded? No. I AM suggesting that they manipulated referees minds one way or another. Either by mentioning something in meetings, letting them meet with Asian officials, giving them an unlimited supply of Asian nookie on the trip, etc...I whole heartedly believe this.

Italy, Argentina, and Portugal were all dealt with harshly by dubious calls. Not just one call either. If you watch the games as closely as I have you'll quickly realize that in all the South Korea games that decisions were in their favour. Even 50/50 balls went in their favour if they were deemed dangerous.

Is this a coincidence? Partially. Is it purely coincidental? Not a chance. Something was at work here. Again, I AM NOT suggesting that FIFA acted directly or even the referees. But I am suggesting that the refs were manipulated, whether they know it or not.

 

[OGOLO]

no it wasnt that, it was that argentina,france, and even portugal all sucked. They all deserved what they got

 

[Pila]

We are truly doomed to fail. And it has zero to do with FIFA and poor officiating. It has to do with this tired, used and abused, victim mentality that ails us. This "we're small and have no money" inferiority complex is what's killing our changes of ever winning anything.

Fer crying out loud! Go out and win the f*cking games and leave the officials no choice but to awards with the win, already.

 

[Bgomes]

sup FEE GO long time no SEE BRO

hey bud i heard of that a friend of mine came to visit from south korea, hes right now in their army and has told me quite a few stories about that! interesting.....

 

[lili]

of course they are manipulated!!
where do you thing we are? in disneyland?

 

[lili]

oops! disneyland is not a good example

 

[::shinji::]

We are truly doomed to fail. And it has zero to do with FIFA and poor officiating. It has to do with this tired, used and abused, victim mentality that ails us. This "we're small and have no money" inferiority complex is what's killing our changes of ever winning anything.

Fer crying out loud! Go out and win the f*cking games and leave the officials no choice but to awards with the win, already.

bingo!

 

[O Glorioso]

Well then I guess Sanchez really deserved that punch in the stomach.

 

[Fee-Go]

We are truly doomed to fail. And it has zero to do with FIFA and poor officiating. It has to do with this tired, used and abused, victim mentality that ails us. This "we're small and have no money" inferiority complex is what's killing our changes of ever winning anything.

Fer crying out loud! Go out and win the f*cking games and leave the officials no choice but to awards with the win, already.

When a game comes down the wire and no one is winning then the ref has enormous power. Their decisions whether to make offside calls, call an accidental trip a harsh tackle, call a collision of bodies: 'a dive', etc...

I feel anytime it came down to a 50/50 situation where refs were unsure they sided against the supposed superpowers: France, Argentina, Portugal, Italy.

Guys, I'm not saying FIFA made the refs do it. All I'm saying is they either directly but most likely indirectly placed a few nuggets into the refs mind. Hence, manipulation.

Of course teams like France and Argentina should leave no doubt in the course of a match and beat the opponent before the 90th minute. But when it comes down the wire the ref tends to harshly penalize or just make very bad calls that decided the game.

In an NHL hockey game, the referee will let the rough play go in the dieing minutes of an important match because they don't want to decide the game. It's understood that as the game goes the distance there will undoubtedly be some rough stuff. FIFA refs actually don't mind deciding games. They do it on a regular basis and this is a shame!

Why should important games be decided by referees? You all saw that call on Beto. What a disgrace! And just minutes before Joao Pinto's tackle he was harshly tackled by the same player. The ref saw this and just awarded a free kick. But then he sees JVP looking for revenge and decides to red card him. Same tackle, different circumstances/reasons for it. Again 5 minutes after JVP's sending off a second Korean is clearly seen by the ref in a two-footed tackle and the ref only awards a free kick. Sure the Portuguese player didn't go down like a sack of potatoes. We ain't sissy's ya know. But the Korean went down via a slow-mo oscar winning performance that made it look like he'd been shot down.

Why red card one player for a two-footed tackle one minute and award a free kick another minute? Was it the degree of severity? Was the referee sick and tired of JVP diving-sucky rumours and wanted to make an example of him once and for all? Surely the ref knew JVP's reputation. Did this influence his call? If the Korean player who did the two-footed tackle was known as a diver/suck, would he have been awarded a yellow or even a red?

I believe JVP's reputation had something to do with it as well. If it did then again, very bad call. Refs can and sometimes should be aware of a players rep for diving and whining. But they should never let it get in the way of good judgement. In other words, if a ref decides that being strict is the order of the day then he should apply that philosphy evenly throughout the entire match. Never at whim!

By far the worst refereeing I've seen thus far in my life and FIFA is partially to blame with this 'no tolerance' towards diving and other bulls*t. Sure on paper it seems like a good idea but it cost Italy the World Cup and gave the feisty South Koreans the calls they needed to get through.

I believe history will judge this WC as the as having the absolute worst officiating ever.

 

[Pila]

Teams that get favorable calls are those that handle the bad ones with dignity.

Somehow that lesson continues to escape our fans and team. Fine. Get used to be sent home prematurely.

 

[Fee-Go]

Teams that get favorable calls are those that handle the bad ones with dignity.

Pila, I sometimes forget why you're a king. Absolutely, positively on the money.

You know when something's on your mind but it's hard to describe that feeling. In other words, to put it into words? That's exactly how I feel about the Portuguese NT. They complain about every bad call they get. Even Figo does it. They roll their eyes, throw their hands up in disbelief. What's the point of it? Why can't they just play on and win the friggin' game?

That said, I still believe that FIFA refs were more lenient towards South Korea in both the Italian and Portuguese game. Let's not forget how the English media's whining won them that call against Argentina.

 

[Flo]

Point taken Fee-Go...

But I think we lost because we sucked......

 

[Tinto]

As usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Pila (still feel funny typing that name ), is correct, the Portuguese are particularly bad at learning the importance of accepting bad calls.

That said however, I think talk of our team, or the Italian team 'sucking', is going a bit far. They didn't suck. Rather, they were definately not firing on all cylinders - and more importantly, they entered the tournament with some arrogance, believing that even at 75% they would still be able to dazzle the smaller teams.

Portugal failed to correctly identify their mission. In a perfect world, it wouldn't matter where you are playing and it wouldn't matter what the nationality of the crowd was. But we're not in a perfect world. Portugal's mission was to go in expecting the ref to be a bit biased, expecting the Koreans to be on fire, and still beat them. Which I believe they could have done if their heads were screwed on right. Unfortunately, Dr. Oliveira was the team psychiatrist.