There's no middle ground in 'soccer' debate

You know what I want to see?

I want to see an article that is able to cast a critical eye over the code formerly known as soccer - that doesn't resort to pathetic cheap shots.

Neil Mitchell wrote in today's Herald Sun:

"This temporary fascination will soon end and soccer in Australia will resume its appropriate place alongside such riveting and massively popular spectator sports as lacrosse and croquet."

Yes, Mitchell actually compared the sport's popularity to lacrosse and croquet. He might have had a valid point or two somewhere in his article, but comments like that make you turn off immediately.

Jason Akermanis wrote the other day:

"Anyone can play soccer, but not everyone can play our native game."

Obviously, not everyone can play Aussie Rules. But to place our game on some big pedestal, especially in light of recent events, is a bit much.

Rebecca Wilson, true to form, wrote in the Daily Telegraph:

"A penny should have dropped in the last few weeks that players coming out of the A-League have not got a hope against the world's best."

She wrote this despite the run of New Zealand's All Whites, with their A-League coach and eight A-League players, not to mention those below A-League standard, who held Italy - the world champions, no less - to a 1-1 draw. Who held the rampaging Paraguay to a scoreless draw. Who earned the world's respect despite being written off prior to the tournament.

The digs - both subtle and not-so-subtle - did not end there.

It's a shame these people had to stoop to such a level. Because there are some topics stemming from this World Cup that could do with a critical eye cast over them.

The empty seats were a joke. How can there be empty seats at the freakin' World Cup? Honestly, how is it even possible?

Kaka's red card was a joke. The fact FIFA didn't overturn it and allow him to play the next game is an even bigger joke.

The prevalence of acting/diving/simulation is a joke. Unfortunately, I didn't think to write a note after every incident that struck me as suspicious. Luckilly, there's YouTube for that:

And again:

(Having said that, I got this message when looking for footage of the Kaka incident: "This video contains content from FIFA, who has blocked it on copyright grounds." That's a joke, too.)

Pim Verbeek being made the sole scapegoat is a joke. He screwed up the Germany game, yes, but it's not like Guus Hiddink didn't make the odd bad judgement. Anyone remember Željko Kalac getting the job between the sticks against Croatia? Anyone remember the substitutions not used in the Italy game in the hope of extra time?

The way the Socceroos carried on when things didn't go their way was a joke. Their whining at a number of referee decisions looked very much like poor sportsmanship to me. In all sports, players should rise above challenging the officials over almost every contentious call they make.

Hopefully you get the point. Quite a few things at the World Cup were a joke.

Those outside of the sport are well within their rights to point such things out. But I, for one, would like to see the quality of their criticism go up a few notches.