World Cup Conspiracy.

June 18, 2002 5:52 PM

World Cup Conspiracy. Here's one for the X-Files. The Azurri believe they were the victims of a conspiracy to oust them from World Cup 2002.

Alessandro Del Piero broke his usual cool exterior as anger seeped through. "In ten years of my career I have never complained," said the Juventus star, "but in four games too many strange things have happened."
posted by percine (19 comments total)

They said the same thing four years ago, about France upsetting nation after nation and ending up winning. The game didn't look rigged to me, though the Italian team was controlling the first half and mysteriously laid it down the rest of the game.
posted by mathowie at 6:01 PM on June 18, 2002

That's what the Italians love to do though... score a goal early and then try to stall and play defensively. Sure backfired on them.
posted by gyc at 6:16 PM on June 18, 2002

Conspiracy my ass, they just did not finish of the game and it is the World Cup and South Korea are one of the host nations and therefore you are going to have to expect a hard fight especially the way they have played and Guus Hiddink is a damn good coach to get South Korea to play like that.

If you are going to sit on a 1-0 lead you better make sure they don't equalise and there was no conspiracy in sight for South Korea's golden goal, it was just good.

Just so it's in writing, England will win, i'll eat my words later if necessary.
posted by Zool at 6:21 PM on June 18, 2002

Daehan Minguk!

Go Korea!

(This from a guy that determinedly ignores sport in all its manifestations. What's the world comin' to?)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:22 PM on June 18, 2002

*cough*worldcupfilter*cough* :)
posted by louie at 7:37 PM on June 18, 2002

I'm glad the whinging, defensive crybabies are out. They had a bit of bad luck along the way, but that's sport.
posted by salmacis at 12:58 AM on June 19, 2002

i·ro·ny
n. pl. i·ro·nies

1.The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. See Synonyms at wit1.

2.Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: “Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated” (Richard Kain).
An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity. See Usage Note at ironic.
Dramatic irony.
Socratic irony.

3.The italians complaining about match fixing.
posted by fullerine at 1:05 AM on June 19, 2002

Despite being a fanatic Italian football hater, I have to agree with the Italians this time. Both Totti's ejection and the disallowed goal at extra time were a scandal. Given the fact that this is the second time that the Korean opponents had questionable decisions against them (the first time was with Portugal), one has to accept that this is a classic case of a referee "helping" the host country... Still a team that loses (Vieri 89') the easiest goal of the tournament, should blame primarily themselves...
posted by talos at 1:21 AM on June 19, 2002

to be fair they have had more than their fair share of dodgy offside decisions against them. Match officials seem to be erring on the side of defenders this world cup, as was very obvious in the Ireland / Spain match.
posted by kev23f at 1:23 AM on June 19, 2002

Totti's ejection (?!) a scandal?!!!

He was lucky to be on the pitch having flattened a Korean defender a few minutes beforehand. A lot of the time a ref will base a yellow card on previous infringements by a player & I think that Totti would have got away with the dive (sure, contact was made but it was a fair tackle. He went down & was appealing to the ref b4 he'd even hit the ground!) if he hadn't whacked the defender earlier.

They can cry about refs as much as they like but *every* team has similar stories of woe. It all evens out in the end.

England can complain about Maradona's hand of God in Mexico, Simeone's collapse to get Beckham sent off and Campbell's disallowed goal at France '98, the Irish could quite easily complain about dodgy decisions v Italy in 1990 (in ROME!) and so on for ever.

The Italians got what they deserved. If you are going to rely on an approach that is so old then you take what comes your way & shut up whining. They lost to S Korea in the same way they lost to France in Euro 2000. Early goal, defend, defend, end the game with 8 defenders on the pitch & get taken to extra time at the last gasp & then get turned over 'cos the team of defenders is knackered.

Celtic beat Inter in the '67 European Cup final & they didn't learn then!

Celtic's stirring victory over Inter Milan in the European Cup Final was a triumph for attacking football over an ultra-defensive Italian style that at the time was threatening to suffocate the game on the Continent.

Ha!
posted by i_cola at 2:25 AM on June 19, 2002

England got knocked out of the competition in 1986, when a ref failed to call a blatant hand ball against the cheating argie bastards.

But such is life, and the english don't cry like the Italians. FIGHTING BULLDOG SPIRIT !
posted by Frasermoo at 3:40 AM on June 19, 2002

ObWWIIReference:

Greasy surrender monkeys.

ObWWIIReferencesToCome:

Two world wars and two World Cups. Doo-dah. Doo-dah.
posted by vbfg at 5:48 AM on June 19, 2002

Haha! Let it not be said that the Italians are good losers:
Ahn [Korean match-winner] sacked by bitter Perugia
'Death to the referee'
and for good measure a Google-translated Gazetta dello Sport
posted by i_cola at 7:09 AM on June 19, 2002

"He was a phenomenon only when he played against Italy. I am a nationalist and I regard such behaviour not only as an affront to Italian pride but also an offence to a country which two years ago opened its doors to him," Gaucci was quoted as saying.

What pathetic drivel! Reminds me of something I read yesterday: Soccer, the last acceptable form of nationalism. Bah, I'm an American but I've been rooting for Senegal since they beat France. Go Senegal!
posted by homunculus at 8:51 AM on June 19, 2002

I won't believe it's a conspiracy until Nader weighs in.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 9:08 AM on June 19, 2002

This is fantastic...isn't it good to know just how much it hurt.
posted by niceness at 9:11 AM on June 19, 2002

How can anyone say that the goal in extra time should have counted? That was a very clear case! I watched it twice and the referee's asst. made the right call.
posted by cell divide at 9:12 AM on June 19, 2002

A young boy battered by his parents sits in court.

The judge asks the boy whose parents are about to divorce:
- Do you want to live with your father?
- No, he beats me.
- Do you want to live with your mother?
- No, she beats me.
- Who do you want to live with then?
- With the French soccer team, because they don't beat
anybody!
posted by rushmc at 7:52 PM on June 19, 2002

celldivide
you need glasses, man. or you need someone to explain to you how the offside rule really works
We can argue until we're blue in the face wether or not Italy actually deserved to lose -- but facts are facts, the Korean defender kept Tommasi in play. Jesus, even Joseph Blatter did admit it.

niceness
hurt pretty bad, yes, because Italy got some really lame referees (I'm not interested about bad faith or good faith, the mistakes were made in 3 different games, corruption or not).
anyway it hurt definitely less than Maradona's hand trick in '86 and Beckham's red card in '98.

you know, it's pretty sad when the home team gets an edge thanks to referees mistakes (like England's phantom goal in the 1966 final, for example). Spain got robbed just like we did -- 2 perfectly good goals, come on...

oh, and next time, niceness, try and include your e-mail in your profile
posted by matteo at 7:28 AM on June 25, 2002