Soccer Goals Safari

Well I’ve seen it all now. What a crooked game soccer really is. We have now had two of the four Quarter Final matches, and both of them produced quite shockingly unexpected results, for different reasons. The early game was between Brazil and Holland. I have to admit to quite liking the Dutch team and would be happy to see them go all the way in this tournament, now that England have been dumped out. However, I’m probably right in thinking most people’s expectations today were that Brazil would be victorious.

Everything started okay and in the first half, Brazil took the lead thanks to a strike by Robinho which is how things stayed until after the break. The second half saw the Dutch fightback, and an equaliser courtesy of a Melo own goal. Somehow the Brazilian defence became more disorganised as the game progressed and by the time Sneijder scored a headed winner, they were all over the place. In fact Sneijder was probably the smallest man on the pitch and was allowed what was tantamount to a free header to take the score to 2-1. By the end, Brazil were sadly a spent force and down to ten men after Melo’s sending off for violent conduct, after stamping on Robben. It is nice to see Holland get through to the semis, but sad at the same time to see the classy Brazil going home at this stage.

The evening match had all the hallmarks of a game destined to be a display of monotony, with Ghana taking on Uruguay. The South Americans started swiftly enough, with Ghana seeming to take 20 minutes to get going. This game offered two of the best goals of the world cup so far, with Muntari putting Ghana a goal to the good in injury time at the end of the first half, with a deceptively curling power blaster of a strike from 35 yards out.

This set the stage for what became a riveting game of soccer. Uruguay struck back on the 55 minute mark with a beautifully taken free kick by Forlan, bent around the wall and wrong footing Ghana’s keeper, who desperately backtracked to no avail. The second half continued at a frenetic pace with chances for both sides, and as the players’ energy levels started to drop, the match became even more open. No further goals were forthcoming though, and the clash moved into extra time.

End to end stuff probably best describes the entire 30 minutes of extra time, and the most notable chances for a winner went to Ghana, but they were unable to capitalise. And then the moment that made monkeys out of everyone interested in fairness in football. Sustained pressure from Ghana and a goal mouth scramble saw multiple shots pepper the Uruguay goal line. The first couple were cleared out only to reach the head of Adiyah whose header was on target, but was cynically punched out of the goal by the Uruguay striker Suarez.

The rules are clear, and luckily it was not Uruguaian officials in charge of this match; the deliberate handball was spotted, and Suarez was immediately shown the red card. Unfortunately, the rules do not state that a goal should be awarded – I think this would be a great revision of the rules for such a cynical handball. Instead a penalty kick was given, and under immense pressure, with the last kick of the extra time period Gyan blasted his shot high, hitting the crossbar and launching the ball into the stands.

The ultimate insulting irony is that the inevitable penalty shootout saw Uruguay beat Ghana 4-2, dumping the last African team out of the cup, and with that, football died a little this evening. The phrase should be “Cheats always prosper”; Suarez will miss the semi-final but if they can beat Holland, he gets to play in the final. Sorry but that’s just wrong, and I feel a certain kinsmanship with Ghana from today onwards, because that entire nation have now become victims of their own “Hand of God” injustice.

So it’s Uruguay vs Holland in the first semi-final clash. The other is yet to be decided.