DISGRACEFUL

BY MARK HALPERN

    Officiating, sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re wrong but more often than not they’re the center of attention. The World Cup has been no different. We have seen incidents with multiple players who think they’re being targeted more for calls based on their  (as we saw with the Red Card for Team U.S.A that was later rescinded) Grouping. 

    I wanted to wait to see as much information about this topic had been released before writing. During the Egypt vs Argentina match last week Egypt jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Argentina looked flat but, the “TOM BRADY PROTECTION” was not yet in use. If you do not know Lionel Messi is retiring after this season and a loss here would end his final run. Well in the second half there were multiple calls against Egypt but, there were blatant and I mean blatant calls that gave Messi and Argentina time to tie it. Mohammad Saleh had broken free and he would have scored and with barley any time left it would have sealed the deal. But, wait the whistle blew and called a penalty far away from the play. Instead of it sealing the deal for Egypt, that whistle created a comeback for Argentina. Argentina scored three goals in the span of about 13 minutes, including the game winner in stoppage time, to make the comeback. If Argentina can defeat England on Wednesday and go to the Final and potentially win, as great of a story that would be for Messi, there’d still be some controversy. What happens if the officials don’t call the foul on Egypt? That’s something we’ll never know.