That Are Rewarding Villains And Spoiling The Beauty Of Soccer:

By: Otchere Darko

STOP REWARDING THESE “HAND OF GOD” GOALS THAT SOUTH AMERICAN PLAYERS ARE USING TO “CHEAT” IN GAMES.

In 1986, Diego Maradona of the then Argentinean team, now coaching his country’s side, used his “hand of God” to score a cheating goal and robbed England of a possible victory. This year too, in South Africa, Luis Suarez of Uruguay has used his “hand of God” to deny Ghana of a clear goal. Diego Maradona coined his “hand of God” goal because he felt it was the power of God that helped him to cheat without being noticed. Even after the admission when this cheating became open, nothing was done to the Argentinean villain. Suarez was found cheating and punished but the punishment, according to the current rules, worked in the villain’s and his country’s favour.

*He knew that a penalty accompanied by a red card was better for his country than a straight goal that would certainly have meant Uruguay would be out of the tournament from the end of their match with Ghana. Suarez was a clever player who exploited the weakness in the rules of FIFA to turn a “straight goal” into a penalty kick which had a mere 50-to-50 chance of conversion to goal. Surely, he was right. And the rules worked to the advantage of the offender. *FIFA’s rules should have given the victim the benefit of the doubt and allowed a goal, rather than a penalty that could be missed or saved. Suarez’s application of his brain and his disregard for the rules against hand-balls and fairness were adequately rewarded when “pressure from anger resulting from the cheating forced Asamoah Gyan to understandably miss the penalty kick. So, who did the rules favour?

A commentator commented that what Suarez did was bad but Ghana was rewarded with a penalty kick which Asamoah Gyan missed. What an argument! That ball was stopped with Suarez’s hands on the line. There was no doubt that it would have been a goal if Suarez had not used his hand to stop the ball. And he intentionally used his hand to concede a penalty, instead of a goal, because a penalty might be lost while the ball he handled with his hand would have CERTAINLY resulted in a goal. Is this not what he wanted [and got]? Who then did the rules of FIFA favour....the offender or the victim? Certainly, they favoured the offender.

*FIFA should change the rules and ALLOW A GOAL stopped on the line or close to it, like the one involving Suarez which had a 100% probability of entering the net, if it had not been stopped with the hand. *Alternatively, instead of one penalty, such dishonest behaviour should call for TWO PENALTY KICKS administered in succession against the offending side.

*In addition to either decision, the player should personally be made to pay the price of such cheating by being banned for not less than six months at both club and national level competitions.

Apart from this Maradona-Suarez style of cheating, FIFA must review its rule to allow the many referee errors that are being witnessed in the last [on-going] World Cup to be eliminated. There have been a few off-side goals that could have been ruled offside, had video evidence been used to help resolve doubtful situations, while one or two good goals ruled offside and disallowed by the officials could have counted as goals. Also, Frank Lampard’s England goal would have been allowed. And who could guess what that could do to lift the morale of the English players?

FIFA should, also, rule as foul any deliberate shielding of the ball from an opponent who is behind and which causes the ball to go for a throw or goal-kick in favour of the shielding player. A player should kick a ball, but should not deliberately stand between the ball and an opponent in an obstructive way that amounts to deliberately preventing the opponent from reaching the ball. In the on-going World Cup, players run behind balls, and in front of opponents, without playing them when they could do so and with the sole intention of obstructing the opponent from reaching the balls. This is not good football and should be discouraged. My suggestion is that if a player runs behind a ball and in front of an opponent for a long time in an obstructive way, in the opinion of the referee, the player should be penalised against with a spot kick.

FIFA should not sit by unconcerned while cheats spoil the game of football!

Source: Otchere Darko, (Writing to FIFA in my capacity as a Ghanaian with locus standi in Suarez’s cheating and as a football enthusiast seeking the wellbeing of soccer generally)