WC 2002. Biggest farce in terms of referring the world has ever seen.


What do you think about the FourFourTwo article ...Dodgy Refereeing Decisions?
WITH FIFA's continued reluctance to introduce video technology to help out the man in the middle's every decision is increasingly exposed and dissected from more angles in slower motion and now even in 3D!

Have your say.

Suprised there was no reference made to it. The Italy Korea game was a shocker.

WC2002 - whilst the referees got blamed, perhaps a certain world governing body may have had some influence on what happened. It may explain the reluctance on their part to introduce video replays as it may expose or be counterproductive if they try to exhert pressure. Conspiracy theory or observation? When there's so much money involved, who knows.

Everytime I almost forget how bad it was, I watch this...

[youtube]Z4iW8pDnft8[/youtube]

I'm so glad Germany taught them a lesson in the semis and they ended up getting no silverware at all thanks to Turkey.

Edited by charonis: 8/6/2010 12:19:46 PM

+1
There's was certainly an effort to ensure the host nations in 2002, particularly South Korea, were given every oppurtunity to go far in the tournement.
South Africa are widely considered to be the first host to go out in the first round, but I really wonder if FIFA would ever let that happen.

The decision against Spain was worse than the one against Italy. The one where the Spanish player crossed it and the guy headed it in from the cross but it was adjudged to have gone out when in actual fact the ball was a foot inside the byline.

^^ yeah, Spain were screwed more than Italy. Was a total farce and I revelled in the fact that Korea were knocked out in the group stages in 2006.

(also a subplot to Australia's exit was the revenge of Italy against Hiddink 4 years later)

I never understood why the Italians were (and still are) making a bigger fuss about 2002 than Spain. You could say Italy had themselves to blame to an extent, but not Spain.

Sth korea also had a legit goal dissalowed agaisnt italy..... more likely the refs were just crap than any special favors.

That was some of the worst ref'ing ever! Unbelievable

If you look back to previous World Cups, you will see many decisions that went against the "smaller or less favoured" countries as referees favoured the "traditional or home" nations.
Germany v France '82, Italy v Chile '98, Germany v Holland '74
Look at Italy v Bulgaria '94 for a team robbed by terrible decisions.
What goes around, comes around.