Sorry about your World Cup, says FIFA boss
Australia-
It won't change what's happened but world football boss Sepp Blatter has at last offered Australia's fans an apology that might help ease the pain of the Socceroos' World Cup finals exit. Millions of Australians were left stunned on June 26 when Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo awarded Italy a dubious and decisive penalty against defender Lucas Neill in the dying seconds of their final 16 encounter with Australia.
Fans were disgusted at what appeared to be a blatant dive by Italy's Fabio Grosso to claim the penalty that took his team to the quarter-finals with a 1-0 victory and eventually to claim the World Cup trophy. But governing body FIFA had turned a blind eye to the growing problem of diving and faking of injuries, or simulation, refusing to acknowledge it effectively ended the Socceroos' campaign.
In an exclusive interview to be aired on SBS's The World Game at 2pm today, Blatter concedes referees at this year's World Cup finals in Germany "were not at their best" but said the antics of the players was the real problem. "I think there was too much cheating on the players' side," Blatter said.Interviewer Les Murray then told Blatter millions of Australians had been "shocked by the amount of simulation" at the World Cup."
I agree with them and I would like to apologise [to] our fans in Australia," Blatter said. Neill welcomed Blatter's apology but warned the situation appeared to be getting worse."It's pleasing to see FIFA is at last acknowledging and paying more attention to the issue."Blatter praised the Socceroos." The Socceroos were great. The Socceroos . . . should have gone into the quarter-finals in place of Italy because they were up to beating Italy," he said.
The above article is from the Sydney Morning Herald. So they should be sorry.
It won't change what's happened but world football boss Sepp Blatter has at last offered Australia's fans an apology that might help ease the pain of the Socceroos' World Cup finals exit. Millions of Australians were left stunned on June 26 when Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo awarded Italy a dubious and decisive penalty against defender Lucas Neill in the dying seconds of their final 16 encounter with Australia.
Fans were disgusted at what appeared to be a blatant dive by Italy's Fabio Grosso to claim the penalty that took his team to the quarter-finals with a 1-0 victory and eventually to claim the World Cup trophy. But governing body FIFA had turned a blind eye to the growing problem of diving and faking of injuries, or simulation, refusing to acknowledge it effectively ended the Socceroos' campaign.
In an exclusive interview to be aired on SBS's The World Game at 2pm today, Blatter concedes referees at this year's World Cup finals in Germany "were not at their best" but said the antics of the players was the real problem. "I think there was too much cheating on the players' side," Blatter said.Interviewer Les Murray then told Blatter millions of Australians had been "shocked by the amount of simulation" at the World Cup."
I agree with them and I would like to apologise [to] our fans in Australia," Blatter said. Neill welcomed Blatter's apology but warned the situation appeared to be getting worse."It's pleasing to see FIFA is at last acknowledging and paying more attention to the issue."Blatter praised the Socceroos." The Socceroos were great. The Socceroos . . . should have gone into the quarter-finals in place of Italy because they were up to beating Italy," he said.
The above article is from the Sydney Morning Herald. So they should be sorry.
posted by Jennifer at 3:59 PM
4 Comments:
we wuz robbed!
5:03 PM
Po po po po po pooooo po
Po po po po po pooooo po
at least you can say you lost against the World Champion. So please stop complaining :)
1:18 AM
Jen - I think I wrote that last sentence. :-)
2:48 AM
the one that lost, has the right to complain!
hehehhe
good luck on the next world cup!!!
9:00 AM
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