Luckless 'Roos need to learn tricks of trade

By Dejan Kalinic / Roar Guru

As the Socceroos battled out a courageous draw with Ghana that all but ended their World Cup, a lesson of tricks of the trade must surely be considered in the near future.

No one likes it, but diving and refereeing are part and parcel of football that must be effectively utilized on the pitch.

Australia was the better team, with 11 and 10 men on the pitch against a side they should feel they should have beaten.

But the stark contrast could be seen throughout the encounter.

We may call using the following methods as un-Australian, but this is football and if you want to win, as every Australian does, it’s time to put these into place.

The first example came early on as golden boy Harry Kewell beat his marker in the area before tangling feet with his opponent.

No penalty. Fair enough. But were there protests from the Australians? Only from Harry, who was attempting to utilize his experience.

On 24 minutes, when the man himself was dealt a cruel blow on his goal line, things were different.

The ball struck Harry’s arm, yes, but the Ghanaian players ran to the referee and demanded a red card.

They got it.

Whether it was or not is open for discussion, but had Kewell been in another area in the box, it would have been a yellow, and outside of the box, probably nothing.

He may have denied a clear goal, but his arms were up against his body the whole time.

I’m no judge, but FIFA will more than likely approve the referee’s decision.

But when Ghana’s Lee Addy brought Mark Bresciano down with a crude tackle on half way, protests were somewhat muted by the Aussies.

It was late, from behind, and could have caused serious injury.

A Ghanaian midfielder was seen clasping his hands in a praying motion to the referee. Yellow card.

The missing Kewell may have been the number one speaker on this occasion, but the other experienced heads in the side should have been up in arms.

They should have remembered teammate Tim Cahill was sent off for a challenge nowhere near as reckless as this one.

Differences throughout were in challenges across the ground.

Late in the game, Josh Kennedy should have felt obliged to drop to his knees in protest of a foul in the air.

He didn’t and the ball went up the other end for a Ghanaian striker to suffer the same treatment, falling over and winning the free kick in a dangerous position.

It happened throughout, be it aerially or not.

Early in the first half, the impressive Brett Holman had his opportunity to go tumbling to the ground on the left hand side after another late challenge.

He didn’t.

In a gutsy performance, the Aussies deserved more.

They now rely on Ghana beating Germany and they beating Serbia – without Kewell and Moore, with Cahill returning.

This might not be the way we play football, but is it time to think about it?

The Crowd Says:

AUTHOR

2010-06-21T01:29:53+00:00

Dejan Kalinic

Roar Guru


That's fair enough. Majority verdict. I think Italy is more hated because they fall over when there is no contact .. rather than making contact obvious. Harsh on Kaka this morning.

2010-06-20T23:46:36+00:00

AndyRoo

Roar Guru


Honestly I would rather support the world cup less Socceroos than Italy. If we played like them then any world cup we didn't win (if we won the world cup I would forgive anything as a means to an end) I would be full of self loathing for the disgusting antics of my own team. I love results (was happy to suport offside trap playing 1 nil Arsenal) and would consider failing to qualify for the world cup a tradgedy now but I publically display my support for the Socceroos all the time. I have a Socceroos sticker on my car and even after the 4 nil defeat still didn't mind people commenting on it. If I was Italian with an Itlaian sticker then after last night I would be trying to peel it off.

2010-06-20T21:19:13+00:00

sheek

Guest


Bad Karma will get Italy eventually. Maybe the Kiwis delivered a taste of bad karma last night..... !

AUTHOR

2010-06-20T14:57:52+00:00

Dejan Kalinic

Roar Guru


That's the final question - results or the way you go about it?

2010-06-20T14:51:43+00:00

dasilva

Roar Guru


That's why the entire world hates this Italian team. Of course with 4 world cups, the italians won't care.

AUTHOR

2010-06-20T14:22:22+00:00

Dejan Kalinic

Roar Guru


A team that calls itself Italy utilizes such tricks magically. De Rossi just won penalty for GOING DOWN for a shirt pull ... had he not, no penalty. The USA must be seething after they had three players being hugged in the box - scored with another - and had the goal disallowed. Then there's Cannavaro's constant chirping..

2010-06-20T13:46:05+00:00

dasilva

Roar Guru


I thought Wilkshire played pretty well but a made a key mistakes for the goal when he was out-muscled by Anew. After that, he responded very well and was solid both in defence and in attack. I felt he only made two mistakes the entire match. Unfortunately the first one led to us conceding a goal and the 2nd mistake stopped us from winning the match (the one on one chance with the keeper)

AUTHOR

2010-06-20T13:42:51+00:00

Dejan Kalinic

Roar Guru


Midfielder, You see a contrast if you watch Asian football and then watch European football. Good point. First we've heard from you - what do you think about using the ref and/or going down for free kicks? Part of the game? Part of the Socceroos' game? Why/Why not?

AUTHOR

2010-06-20T13:39:54+00:00

Dejan Kalinic

Roar Guru


Spot on. An inconsistency in two halves of football is unacceptable for mine. I raised the idea of simply the best reds, regardless of location, in a conversation I had today.

2010-06-20T13:35:03+00:00

Midfielder

Guest


Sheek Sometimes there is line between incompetent and rigid and inconsistency... Tennis and golf have very easy rigid rules... hard to get them wrong .. OK a missed call but overall difficult... RU is lucky that in the main the ref's all come from a similar background i.e. ANGLO and often private school .. yet still mistakes occur... Football has people from all over the world and they all have their own take on what they see... the Germany ref's allow shoulder to shoulder other countries do not... I am not trying to defend more explain why ref's from different parts of the world can vary... I think the major cause of concern is this in Football a ref may make 60 calls during a match and only if a call leads to a goal or a goal not being allowed is much attention paid... the low scoring nature of the game means the player or ref that made the mistake is blamed... it's part of the game...

2010-06-20T13:30:02+00:00

sheek

Guest


Dejan, The Spanish ref in the Serbia-Germany game was just ridiculous. In the first half he was handing out yellow cards left, right & centre. Klose was lost to the game as a result, which probably had a huge bearing on the final result (with all due respect to Serbia). At half-time he must have thought to himself, if I keep this up, there won't be many players left on the field. So in the second half, tackles that would have drawn yellow cards in the first-half, were let go. Just plain mind-numbingly stupid..... Once a ref decides to manage a game a particular way, he has to go through with it, remaining equally savage/lenient to both sides. You just can't change the way you manage mid-stream. And if you started out with the wrong strategy, then obviously your competency comes into question. The Mali ref in the USA game was clearly out of his depth. Perhaps FIFA might have to look at having the best 32 refs at the world cup, irrespective of where they come from. Or give exposure to refs from other countries, into the major European leagues (I don't know if this is done). Whatever is decided upon, the standard of international refereeing must be raised. Sorry, end of rant..... !

AUTHOR

2010-06-20T13:20:12+00:00

Dejan Kalinic

Roar Guru


Great. Thought Culina was poor too .. got better as the game went on but never reached any great standard. He lost a bit of confidence too I think because the vast majority of his passes went backwards after his first couple of errors. Wouldn't mind seeing Jedinak but feel Verbeek has soft spot for Culina. Agree on Jabulani. Curling free kicks will be difficult to score - it's going to be the powerful shot ala Bresciano.Whether it's goal keeper error as fumble last night or keeper completely misreading it - possibilities. I think keeper's own worst enemy - thinking too much about the ball and not enough about how to make a successful save (or parry away from goal rather than directly in front). Was surprised by Wilkshire (despite what Basheer said) - thought he had one of his poorer games of the last month or so (which has been high standard). His defensive work was below his best although set pieces still crucial.

2010-06-20T13:11:03+00:00

dasilva

Roar Guru


Honestly, I thought Culina was the weakest link of the Socceroos and I felt he gave the ball away in dangerous position in our own half about 2-3 times in this match due to his shaky passing. Something in me tells me that he left PSV Eindhoven one year too early. Apparently Mile Jedinak had a great season for Antalyaspor and I would consider replacing Culina with him. Jedinak is pretty good at handling the physical challenges and winning the ball although there is question marks over his distribution but I think he's improve alot in that. He also be good for set pieces as well (he scored 5 goals last season, about 3 of them from free kicks). If Bresciano free kick is the way to go (low and try to fool the keeper with tricky bounce due to the jabilani). Then Jedinak would be a good option as he pretty much scored 3 goals like that for his club. Pretty much a low powerful shot forcing a keepers error.

AUTHOR

2010-06-20T13:04:56+00:00

Dejan Kalinic

Roar Guru


I'd say most players - in Australia - are taught to stay on their feet. Overseas - good question. Not naive, very worthy argument. I just feel watching this tournament the player who falls gets rewarded. Shame? Maybe. But it protects the best to an extent. Inconsistencies between referees I don't mind too much because they are all different, but inconsistencies during the game are shocking. See Germany-Serbia I guess? USA most hard done by team thus far no doubt.

AUTHOR

2010-06-20T13:00:01+00:00

Dejan Kalinic

Roar Guru


Managerial games. Damn silly challenges they were too. Dasilva - how'd you rate Culina's game last night? I thought Valeri was good - just looking at team without Grella.

2010-06-20T12:58:42+00:00

sheek

Guest


Dejan, No, unless it's unavoidable or the player is injured, attempt to stay on your feet at all costs. Players can train to do this. If you start relying on the ref to award you free kicks/penalties, he mightn't. And you might also have let another opportunity slip by. Perhaps I'm being naive myself, but I truly believe this. However, the inconsistency & incompetence of the refereeing is a massive problem. Every nation is a victim of it, we all take our turns. This is a problem FIFA must address. And even the refs from the major European leagues, where you would expect them to be more capable, are prone to major errors. But exactly how you improve the overall refereeing quality, I'm not sure, since FIFA isn't exactly noble themselves. Perhaps cynically on my part, the refereeing merely reflects the same inconsistency & incompetence of FIFA themselves..... !!!

2010-06-20T12:51:25+00:00

dasilva

Roar Guru


From PIERLUIGI COLLINA "As a referee, you need to look at player performance - knowing how a team plays, which runs players like to make - little details like this helps you perform better. " That New Zealand friendly bit us in the arse. I'm quite sure the refs saw that game and look at the challenge Cahill and Grella made and reacted accordingly. Referees research teams before they adjudicate the match Similarly in the last world cup. They saw the friendly against Netherlands and saw Luke Wilkshire horrid challenge that injured the player and got him sent off. After the match the manager of Netherlands were livid and accused Australia of treating the match as a World Cup final rather then a friendly (They don't know how to say the word friendly indeed)

AUTHOR

2010-06-20T12:48:36+00:00

Dejan Kalinic

Roar Guru


Sheek, I understand what you are saying. I refer more to the touchy tackles - where there is an option to go down because you have been "tripped". Many World Cup players are really good at going down - should the Aussies? Not so much diving to win a foul that isn't there - one that is there, but isn't paid unless you fall. Spot on with the reputation - probably a discussion for another day but - has it been costly? Did it cost Cahill? The tackles in some of the lead-up games? Are the refs watchful when it comes to the Socceroos?

2010-06-20T12:36:14+00:00

sheek

Guest


In a reply to Dejan near the beginning of replies, I argue that it's important for players to stay on their feet as often & as long as possible, with only the ball in mind, & the opportunity that might lie ahead. This applies to defence as well as attack. Too often I've seen players diving to milk a penalty/free kick, while had they stayed on their feet, they might have capitalised on an opportunity. If you're putting your thought & energy into milking a dive, then I reckon you're missing an opportunity elsewhere. Australians have this reputation of being physically crude, & the refs penalise us accordingly. Into the future, we will develop our technical ability. In the future, the Aussies might develop a reputation of staying on their feet at all times, at all costs. The refs might then penalise the opposition accordingly. Perception, it seems, is everything.....

2010-06-20T12:28:17+00:00

sheek

Guest


Dejan, Sorry, emotions were raw this morning, as you'd understand. Yes, Aussies are perhaps naive, but should we follow the rest of the world with cynical tactics? One day in the future our players will be better skilled technically. We mightn't need to be cynical then? I have this belief that players should stay on their feet at all times, whilst ever possible. The ball is the thing, & the opportunity that lies ahead. I have watched games where players have tried to milk a free kick/penalty by diving, but missed a possible opportunity had they stayed on their feet. This applies equally to defence as to attack. At present, Australia has this reputation for being physically crude, & the refs punish us accordingly. In the future, they might realise the Aussie player will stay on his feet at all costs, & penalise the other player accordingly. Perception seems to be everything.....

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