Mexico and England: Controversial, Yet Deserved Losses

Two games on Sunday and two more controversial calls from poor officiating. I don't know the current progress of the replay debate. I know the FIFA president seems pretty adamant at the moment that they won't do replay. Personally, I think they will have it in 2014. There have been too many blown calls. I think it's only a matter of time until the individual European leagues start to use replay or the ball chips that indicate when the ball has crossed the line, and that FIFA will eventually follow suit for the World Cup.

Regardless, no point in discussing that now since it's not going to change during this Cup. Nevertheless, two teams were on the raw end of the no replay stick on Sunday. But I don't think the missed calls actually changed the outcome of the game. Even if the refs had gotten the calls right, I think Germany and Argentina would still be moving on.

In the Argentina v. Mexico game, the missed call was so poor. Any ref, even the one on the other side of the field could have seen how far offside Tevez was. It wasn't even close. Just poor, poor officiating. But the goal only put Mexico down 1-0. Granted, its tough mentally to be down by a goal, especially one that shouldn't have been allowed, but one goal is not insurmountable. But it clearly was for Mexico because Argentina was just flat out better. Mexico never really threatened and Argentina put in two more goals before Mexico scored their only goal. Some may argue that the one goal messed them up for the entire game, but it shouldn't have. If you are the better team, you can and will come back and win. If the roles were reversed and Mexico got an undeserved first goal, Argentina would have come back and won the game. I think most people that watched the game today would agree.

The situation is a little different with Germany and England. Mainly because England was down 2-1 and the missed goal would have tied the game. Not only that, it would have come only a minute after the first goal. A huge confidence booster and swing in momentum. England really would have had a different mentality coming in from the second half. There could have been a different outcome.

However, I don't think anyone outside of England is actually convinced that the outcome would have been different. Maybe that second goal would have inspired them to play better and they would have pulled out the victory. But after watching the rest of the game, I don't think that England would have won even if they had tied the game. Germany exposed the deeper issues plaguing England: no defense, weak goalie, and not much going on at striker. England was pretty poor from the outset of the Cup. Elevated expectations that didn't match the quality of the product on the field. They were definitely shafted in this game and they should have deserved the goal, but they really weren't a better team than Germany on Sunday.



But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the outcome would have been different if the refs got the calls right. What do you think?

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Mexico v. South Africa - The Kickoff Game: Quick Hits

So Mexico and South Africa have started things off with a 1-1 tie. Here's a couple of quick thoughts on the opening game:

1. Man those vuvuzelas are annoying. I don't know who invented them, but the person should be tortured along with the person that invented the "boom sticks." They should be sentenced to a small room where their inventions are either smacked together or blown loudly until the person goes insane. They are so annoying. Just listen to the video. It's amazing that the noise is constant throughout the game. At any given point during the game there are at least a dozen 10 year old boys just blowing their lungs out on those things. I much prefer the singing.

2. Somewhat inexplicably, Mexico subbed in this guy: Cuauhtémoc Blanco. I say somewhat because he is clearly skilled. When he got the ball, he made some pretty precise passes. However, he didn't get the ball that much because they guy is 37 years old and at least 20 pounds overweight. It was actually really entertaining watching him play. He looked like every old man playing pick up soccer in your local park. Every time he ran or attempted to run, he looked like he was laboring quite a bit with a bad hip and or two bad knees. Apparently he's a legend for the Mexican soccer team. He played in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. I'm glad Mexico is honoring their elders, but at some point the guy becomes a liability because he's so slow and out of shape.

3. South Africa has some legit forwards. They are fast. South Africa didn't have many chances, but they played the long ball well and had some great fastbreaks. And they took advantage of one of them. What a great first goal to the cup. Just a beauty.

4. I know a tie is boring, but in this group, it's great. If Mexico had won they would likely go through as they could probably tie or beat France and Uruguay. But with a tie, it just adds to the unpredictability of this group. I guess we'll know more once France plays. Who knows what team will show up there. They could be brilliant or dismal. So with a tie in this game and bi-polar France, it sets up for a lot of fun drama. Which is always great.

Here is the goal, and the vuvuzelas:

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