2010 FIFA World Cup: The Importance of England and Mexico's Controversial Exits

As has been stated many times by writers, including myself, the World Cup is a time for controversy more than anything. It's more than just a team winning and another one losing, it's about a country advancing, while another one gets screwed because of inadequate people.

There are so many angles, so many different perspectives, and so many people to blame, but before all this even occurs, we need to focus on a few things that have been witnessed in this World Cup, and that need to change once and for all.

There is no doubt that so far, refereeing has been a circus during the events of this unorthodox tournament. The events that transpired have shown us and taught us that there are a few rules that need to be changed and eliminated once and for all, and those idiots who created those rules must be criticized, rather than just blaming the referees for their part during a certain game.

The first idiotic rule was in the first game between South Africa and Mexico, where Mexico scored a goal from the corner, but was ruled offside.

As most people know by now, this alone raises eyebrows, but what was more strange was the explanation behind it.

It started when Carlos Vela scored the goal in a corner kick ; one of the Mexican players headed the ball towards Vela, who scored. There was a defender standing on the line, meaning the possibility of an offside was impossible.

The explanation to this situation is that if there are less than two players standing on the line during a corner kick, the ball will be ruled offside.

While the linesman demands respect for his ability to notice the offside, one has to wonder, what the hell kind of a rule is this?

What on earth does it even mean? Does it make sense? Absolutely not.

Today, England scored a correct goal through Frank Lampard that was disallowed because of a blind linesman, who couldn't notice the ball crossing a complete yard over the line. This in turn destroyed the England players' mentality, and the fact that there is no replay allowed proves that Blatter and his subordinates are acting as clowns.

But that wasn't the first strange call today; Klose was standing over three yards away from the last defender during Germany's goal kick that led to the first goal, a blatant offside.

Apparently, there are no offsides during goal kicks, just like throw-ins.

This begs the question, why on earth do you treat goal kicks like throw-ins, and not like normal free kicks? Had FIFA used logic and approved replays for such situations, and accepted goal kicks like normal free kicks, then at that point in time the score line would've been England 2, Germany 1.

But regardless of who won, the Germans or the English, if FIFA doesn't start to treat the game of football with respect, the corruption in football, which has already reached high levels, will become even worse than expected.

Fair play can't exist when there is a monopoly on who makes the decisions. It should be voted on by the majority of the officials in the footballing world, such as managers and players, rather than having Blatter and a few other simpletons making such decisions and calling the shots. One man cannot be held responsible for the outcome of a nation's fate.

Sadly though, it didn't stop there; the night was still young, and controversy was in the air.

Mexico and Argentina locked horns, and at the start, the Mexicans were surprisingly better than the Argentine, and it was too close a game to call. No one expected things to get any worse regarding refereeing decisions, but they were dead wrong.

Argentina scored a goal through Carlos Tevez, and replays proved that he was offside. The linesman was nowhere to be found, the game was turned upside down, and the Mexicans lost confidence, which resulted in their elimination.

Two abysmal showings by two different referees must make even the simplest of brains, in this case we refer to Blatter, think about things from the right perspective.

How did the Mexican fans feel? How did the English fans feel? Was it right to allow the game of football to continue without technology, especially after the Irish were eliminated in such a dreadful fashion by the French?

The no replay rule in specific has been more chaotic than archaic. It has taken football back 40 years, when technology (or lack of it) was one of the main problems, only for FIFA to contradict themselves time and time again when the solution is available. 

Football is the world's most popular sport—the money it generates is astronomical and the salary a player makes in one week is more than what a normal person makes in a year. A game as this should not be treated with such uneducated and unknowledgeable behaviour; the consequences are always to much to bear for too many people.

We are currently talking about 52 million Englishmen and 112 million Mexicans paying the price at this moment, and many have paid it in years past. They were going to be heartbroken anyways had they lost, but in such a manner is downright disgraceful.

We aren't talking about clubs or leagues, despite the fact that they should be treated with respect as well, we are talking about a tournament featuring countries and that comes only once every four years. Stupid decisions such as the Jabulani and no replay technology have no excuse to exist in the world of football, especially when we are living in the year 2010.

Instead of having dignity and doing the sensible thing by fixing the rules, they have been leaving the game of football to rot, and it's there for all to see. The likes of Maradona have been beneficiaries from the idiocy displayed by FIFA, advancing through the knockout stages by controversy as a coach, and cheating his way to World Cup glory in 1986 against England as a player.

FIFA are to be blamed more than anyone else for these endless controversies, and in the end only the fans suffer more than anyone else.

To conclude this article, one can only look at Blatter, at FIFA, and at all the bigwigs responsible for letting all these events transpire, and state one very important, yet saddening fact.

Evil prevails when good men do nothing.