Does the World Cup reward flopping?

By Josh Hirsch
Western Herald

Is football the biggest flopper of all?

No, I’m not talking about the NFL. I’m talking about soccer.

The World Cup hasn’t even reached the elimination rounds yet and we have already seen flopping. So much so, that instant replay will be demanded soon. The France vs. Mexico game was won on a deciding free kick. Mexico’s Cuauhtémoc Blanco was awarded the free kick after a penalty was committed in the box.

The penalty was a complete flop. Yes, the tackle might have been a little late but Blanco could of easily jumped over it. Instead, he decided to keep his feet so close to the ground, that he purposely took the contact and the flop all in one swift moment.

I know we have some epic floppers in our own sporting events, but come on. Paul Pierce is a pretty bad one and we all remember what happened in the 2008 NBA Finals against the LA Lakers.

We remember him having to be carried off the court in the third quarter by teammates and seeing him later in a wheelchair because of how much pain he was in. But than miraculously, he comes back and scores 15 points in the third quarter and Boston ended up winning the game 98-88.

Even the NFL has some historic floppers: kickers. You can’t so much as breath on a kicker or its an automatic 15 yard penalty. Mitch Berger, kicker for the Arizona Cardinals demonstrated this in the 2009 playoffs.

But soccer is the worst, hands down and the World cup is proof. On every tackle, one player or the other is looking for the free kick or to get the other player a yellow card. Flop after flop and most teams have only played once. Especially since yellow cards carry in the opening stage but do not in the knockout round and the final.

So even though a yellow card might not affect them directly in their game, a yellow card within the next game or two could hurt their chance of winning the group. A team might lose a key player due to obtaining a yellow card in the previous game and the current game.

So flopping is a part of the game and it is something we will have to get accustomed too. Don’t get me wrong, though. I will be watching the world cup, as much as I can. Flopping is a part of every sport and something us fans have to learn to accept.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Jun 21 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
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