Every African nation is either eliminated or has virtually no chance of progressing past the group stage...except for one country...and have a guess which country that is?

FIFA are already worried about poor attendances and lack of local interest...imagine how embarrasing it would be to have all the African countries eliminated in the group stage of their own World Cup.

Klose's red card last night

lack of a red card against Vidic

lack of a red card against a ghanian tonight

Kewell's red card tonight

one minute of lost injury time tonight

Poor refereeing tonight...not just poor but a clear bias.

Maybe I've had too many scotch's but is there a pattern forming?



Edited by Joffa: 20/6/2010 02:44:38 AM

How can how much injury time was played be part of a conspiracy?

I blame solo.

I'm wearing my lucky undies they sent me. They're made in china, obviously designed for small men downstairs and really tight and uncomfortable. It's a shame i can't demand a refund

Especially when Ghana had the ball when the ref blew for time.

unless man utd are playing of course

Three in a row - is it a conspiracy?

By Doug Conway
10:10 AEST Sun Jun 20 2010

Have the Socceroos been ripped off?

Three successive World Cup matches. Three massive refereeing decisions. Every one against Australia. It's time for the conspiracy theorists to come out.

First came Fabio Grosso's infamous "dive" over Lucas Neill, which gave 10-man Italy a hotly disputed last-minute penalty to sink Australia's 2006 campaign.

Then the 2010 mission opened with Australia's most influential player, Tim Cahill, sent off against Germany for a late but far from malicious challenge, which even the player on the receiving end, Bastian Schweinsteiger, said shouldn't have warranted a red card.

And now Australia's finest talent, Harry Kewell, is dismissed and suspended for a match after a ball blasted from close range hit him on the upper arm on the goal line in the fighting 1-1 draw against Ghana.

The resultant penalty meant the difference between victory and a draw.

How much can one nation bear? The conspiracy theorists don't necessarily claim that anyone cheats.

It's just that the really big decisions always seem to favour the powerhouses of the game, the Italy's and Germanys and Brazils, or the host nations, or in this case an African country when nations from the host continent aren't faring too brilliantly.

Maybe it's something buried deep in the subconscious minds of officials who have to make difficult snap decisions.

Whatever the case, the Socceroos were furious with Italian whistleman Roberto Rosetti's call which deprived Australia of Kewell's services for all but 25 minutes in Rustenburg and led to the equalising penalty.

"The guy has killed my World Cup," said a devastated Kewell.

"He is the referee, he's the judge, jury and executioner.

"Unless I detach my arm and put it somewhere else, there's no other way I can move my arm."

Defender Craig Moore said: "I didn't think it was a red card and I didn't think it was a penalty."

Captain Lucas Neill said: "When the ball goes 100 miles an hour at you and you're standing on the line, it's got to hit you somewhere, and it happened to hit Harry on the upper arm/shoulder."

Coach Pim Verbeek said: "It was a mistake. What can you do with your arm? You cannot cut it off. As far as I know in the rules it has to be intentional to send a player off."

The Australians are livid that Kewell received a red card for an unintentional act while Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic got off with a yellow against Germany for a clearly deliberate handball.

"Serbia has conceded two hand-to-ball penalties," said Neill, "but this could only be interpreted as ball-to-hand." Kewell asked: "Why's is this one different?"

"It's confusing because one minute they (the referees) are saying this and next minute they're saying that."

Neill said refereeing decisions usually evened out like "swings and roundabouts".

But when it was put to him that Australia only seemed to get swings, he replied: "OK, let's pray for a roundabout."

If the football gods have consciences, that roundabout must come against Serbia in Nelspruit on Wednesday.

And if it isn't too much to ask, also when Ghana and Germany meet at the same time in Johannesburg in a match which must also produce a favourable outcome for Australia.


http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1073246

Hickam's dictum.

Fair call, but we aren't talking about medicine.