World Cup Soccer 2010: Brazil vs. Portugal, Germany vs England

Koman's off the hook, sort of

While it's a bit harder for this space to be excited about FIFA World Cup 2010 after the USA was eliminated by Ghana 2-1 on Saturday, the fire for World Cup still burns. After all you have to love a sports event where Soccer fans Mick Jagger and Bill Clinton have a better chance of scoring than some of the teams.

Take Brazil vs. Portugal, and England in it's match against Germany. In the Brazil vs. Portugal match, neither team scored; it ended in a 0-0 draw and both advanced to the second round. Brazil won Group G play, while Portugal was two points behind them. Now, Brazil will play Chile in the second round, with Portugal vs. Spain.

Portugal needed a draw and so played like they did, much to the frustration of Brazil. "It's really boring when we have to play against an opponent with 11 players on the back, only trying to draw," Brazil's striker Luis Fabiano said according to The LA Times.

England and the Disallowed Goal Problem

Not scoring more than one or two goals was England's problem against Germany, which clobbered the brits 4-1. But some viewers will contend that had England not had a disallowed goal, they could have come back to at least tie the match.

The diallowed goal by Frank Lampard of England and that was made in the 38th minute, is so controversial it's the third highest topic on Twitter and rivals the USA v. Slovenia controversy of two Fridays ago that made FIFA referee Koman Coulibaly a household name. The problem is that it wasn't the real difference maker; arguably England still would have lost 4-2, but the goal error, again, points to the need for Instant Replay in Soccer.

That the diallowed goal happened again, and again in the USA v. Ghana match, sorts of gets Koman Coulibaly off the hook, but not FIFA. Instant Replay must be installed.

My view is it will happen at some point because too much more is at stake now that America has become aware of Soccer and because communications technology has allowed viewers to see what should have been. FIFA's credibility could be damaged by lawsuits and claims of corruption; it can ill afford an large backlash regarding its integrity.