The Dream is Dead! Let the Whining Begin!
UPDATE: Thoughts of a Goat provides a You Tube link that proves CONCLUSIVELY that it was NOT an offsides situation. It is clear from the video that, as stated in some of the comments below, that the pass was NOT to Frei. The Swiss player initiated the pass to another teammate, at which time Frei was not offsides. The Korean player intercepted pass and deflected the ball back toward his own goal. Frei advanced toward the Korean goal at the time the Korean intercepted the ball. Frei then, apparently unprepared to be in a position to get the ball, seemingly a bit and disoriented and unsure exactly where the net was made a shot toward the goal that went into the net. Meanwhile ALL the Koreans reacted to the flag and stopped playing. You NEVER stop playing until the whistle is blown. I learned that when I was 8 years old. Koreans who are still up in arms about the clearly correct call need to stop embarassing themselves and their nation.
One thing that has always amuses me about the world of sports is the way that fans and athletes remain silent when the referees make a mistake in their favor, but they will go absolutely out of their mind with rage if the referres make a mistake that goes against their team. While I am amused by this sort of behavior in general, it is downright hilarious here in Korea.
Korea has been on the receiving end of so many officiating errors, oversights, and other mistakes. However, the ref in the World Cup game between the Swiss and the Koreans makes a mistake THAT HAS ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT ON KOREANS ADVANCEMENT TO THE NEXT ROUND and people are out for blood.
Here is what happened:
Becasue of the way the point system worked out, Korea had to WIN its match against Switzerland. If Korean lost, they went home. If Korea tied, they went home. It was a MUST WIN situation for Korea.
As the Chosun Ilbo so correctly points out:
Right before the end of the game, Korea had several chances of scoring — a free kick from Lee Chun-soo, Park Chu-young’s left foot shot and Lee Chun-soo’s turning shot — but none of them went in. Kim Jin-kyu had another shot in front of the goalmouth in the 38th minute of the second half, but it bounced back after hitting the post, and Ahn Jung-hwan’s last shot also failed to score. That inability to convert opportunities cost Korea the match.
There we have a list of several chances for winning the game. Several missed opportunities to advance to the next round. But do Koreans hold their team responsible for the loss? Of course not! That would be absurd! They blame the referee.
It is, of course a traumatic experience.
“The moment the referee acknowledged it as a goal, I cried utterly because it was too unfair. He just turned a deaf ear to our claim,” said Kim So-yun, 17, still on the verge of tears.
What was too unfair? According to everyone in Korea (and, after all, who else is entitled to an opinion?), a Swiss player was offsides during a shot on goal, the ball was being passed to the offsides player. However, during the pass, a Korean player touched the ball. Then the Swiss player who was original offsides kicked the ball into the net for a goal. The sideline referee raised the offsides flag, but did no whistle was blown. The head referee waved off the offsides flag. For SOME COMPLETELY INEXPLICABLE REASON, the Korean team stopped playing as soon as the flag when up. They didn’t wait for the whistle. Korean announcers screamed that it made no sense, all of Korea was up in arms screaming in apartment buildings and on the streets and about the evil, incompetent referee who made a mistake. BUT…..
We see that it is ACTUALLY the KOREAN team that made the mistake:
The ball did last touch off a Korean defender before Frei got on it. Unfortunately, most referees will see that and will not call offside since the laws state that if the defender last plays the ball, that would nullify offsides. Instead of playing the until the whistle, the Koreans played until the flag went up.
In other words, if the Swiss had passed the ball to the offsides player without the Korean touching ball, then it would have been offsides and the goal would have been disallowed. However, what essentially happened is the Swiss player TRIED to pass the ball to the offsides player, but the pass was technically intercepted the instant the Korean defender touched the ball. Thus, the offsides call was nullified. The referee was exactly correct. There was NO error.
Look at the above quote again. Beautiful…. UNFORTUNATELY, most referees will follow the rules. Nice quote. It sums up a lot of things quite nicely:
- The average Korea is completely clueless about the technical rules of the game.
- The average Korea doesn’t care about the rules and just expects to win at all costs.
- If Korea loses, then it must be someone else’s fault.
- Koreans don’t stop to consider that that one call (ultimately correct) did not affect their standing in the World Cup finals in any way, shape or form.
- It is unfortunate when referees follow the rules if it means a call against Korea.
So. What has Korea done since “the call?” Have they studied the rules and realized that it was their OWN TEAM’S FAULT for touching the ball during the offsides pass? NO. Have they considered that even if that goal was disallowed, THEY STILL LOSE 1-0? NO. Have they stopped to consider that even if BOTH goals were disallowed and it was a tie, then they STILL would not move on to the next round? NO.
What have they done? They have started a petition for a rematch. They have crashed the FIFA website. They have threatened online to take knives and kill all Swiss supporters. They have theatened to kill the Swiss team if they ever come to Korea. They have accused the Swiss of bribing the referee and accused the referee of accepting the bribe. They have done all manner of stupid, childish,and reprehensible things, including THREATENING TO BLOW UP THE SWISS EMBASSY. Some actions are more childish than others (hat tip to Lost Nomad).
To put all of this in perspective, back in 2002, when Korean was playing Spain and the Spanish team had TWO goals improperly disallowed and an improper out of bound call, Koreans didn’t say anything… hmmm… strange.
Again. There was nothing wrong with the call, but even if there was, Korean still lost and does not advance. Even if the goal was disallowed, the would still have lost 1-0 and not advanced. Even if BOTH goals were disallowed for some reason, Korea would have tied 0-0 and not advanced. Korea failed to score a single goal. THAT is why the lost. Under even the best reasonable circumstances where the second Swiss goal was disallowed, Korea would have still have had to score TWO goals to win…they scored NONE!! Quit your stupid, ignorant, childish whining and embarassing behavior. Korea is DONE. It’s over. Shut up already.
Lee Chun-Soo gently cradles a heartbroken, weeping Ahn Jung-Hwan
To quote from The Rocky Horror Picture Show:
On the day I went away
Goodbye was all I had to say
Now I want to come again and stay
Smile and that will mean I may
‘Cause I’ve see blue skies
Through the tears in my eyes
And I realize I’m going home
I’m going home….