futbol floppers

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IRENE, South Africa – Despite errors by FIFA referees that disallowed two goals and almost knocked the United States out of the World Cup, coach Bob Bradley isn’t in the mood to complain about the refs.
(Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

“The game is very hard to officiate,” he said.

Instead, Bradley took aim at a soccer tradition that assaults the sensibilities of many of the casual or new American fans this U.S. team has attracted this week – flopping.

If you’re tired of seeing generally fit, strong players writhe on the field like a wounded duck after a phantom touch, only to have one of their wincing eyes peeking at the referee, then Bradley feels your, ah, pain.

He ripped the players who do it, called for postgame reviews of incidents and demanded stiff penalties for offenders.

“I hate to see players act like they’ve been hit and get away with it,” Bradley said Thursday in advance of the Americans’ game against Ghana on Saturday. “I would be ashamed if I was the one doing it.”

Bradley is a self-described “old school” coach and while he’s railed about the pathetic andat times, comical strategy of players faking injuries to draw penalty kicks, the coach’s goal is generally to avoid controversy in his dealings with the press. It’s why, for the most part, he won’t discuss officiating.

He’s rightfully focused on advancing the USA through the World Cup knockout round, so why add a distraction?

That said, like a lot of soccer enthusiasts over the past two weeks, Bradley has watched too many players getting lightly bumped only to drop like a sniper just blasted them for him to remain silent.

“I like to see real competition,” he said. “And at times there’ll be contact.”

Bradley brought out his strongest criticism of Ivory Coast player Kader Keita, who in a group game against Brazil took a light elbow to the chest from star Kaka only to fall to the ground in agony holding his face. Referee Stephane Lannoy was duped into believing Kaka had slammed Keita’s face and promptly issued Kaka a second yellow card and subsequent red card to eject the former world player of the year.

“When I see Kaka get sent off, I think that’s too bad for the game because he’s a great player and that is playacting at its best – or worst,” Bradley said. “I think it’s terrible that a player [like Kaka] misses a big game.”

Bradley’s solution is for FIFA to review such blatant acting jobs and assess proper penalties then.

“If it’s as obvious as somebody getting pushed in the chest and grabbing his face, I’d rescind the other red card and suspend the player a number of games,” Bradley said.

Blown offsides calls or tough judgment decisions on obstruction will never be solved. This assault on the sensibility of the game – and the fans that watch it – can be fixed.

“I think that’s the simplest thing of all to clean up,” Bradley said.

The chances of the Bradley plan coming to fruition?

“I don’t think that FIFA is going to be asking me,” Bradley joked.

So prepare for more playacting. The World Cup is just getting to the serious part and faking an injury may be the only way to stop Kaka.


In hockey its a pen. to 'flop'

i like bradley's post match review idea as well. im pretty sure you can appeal red cards post match now, so it should go the other way too - handing out reds post match.

btw, its also a penalty to flop in football, you can get a yellow card (maybe even a red if its really bad), but its hard to determine, just like in basketball, things happening fast, plus its one ref on the whole pitch, hard to follow everything going on.

It's far too subjective to call something a dive unless there is literally zero contact and someone goes down.

The far more pressing matter is goal-line and/or viedo replay technology.