I Can See South American Tears Over The Next Two Nights

TONIGHT, we reach the sharp end of the World Cup, with Brazil facing Germany in the first semi-final. I fear the host nation, minus Neymar and Thiego Silva, just might be cast into a pit of gloom and despair.

 

The Germans, when they get a sniff of World Cup victory, are awfully-hard to beat and, without their two main men, I fear for the men in canary yellow.

 

However, it is the second semi-final, between Argentine and Holland which I am really looking forward to - Messi v Robben; two defences which have wobbled at times. This one could be a football feast; it could also be a kicking match.

 

Argentine will miss Di Maria, so, I have a feeling we might be looking at a Germany v Holland final - when most of the world fancied a Brazil v Argentine one.

 

 

 

MEANWHILE, I note the challenge - to call it a tackle would be wrong, which put Neymar out of the World Cup is not to be retrospectively punished - good.

 

I have seen similar challenges galore - a defender, moving with power towards a dropping ball, taking-out an attacker standing under the ball. In such instances, the poor attacker always gets the second prize.

 

I still, some 15-years down the line, can feel such a coming together, between HIbs' Yogi Hughes and St Mirren's Mark Yardley, at Easter Road, which left big Yards out for the count, and Yogi on a yellow card.

 

I felt then, and I was reporting the game for the Paisley Daily Express, that Yogi was hard-done-by. The collision as these two players, who together weighed some 30-plus stones, could have been felt back at Love Street.

 

Anyway, this World Cup has convinced me that it is way past time football adopted some rules from other games. Let's have personal fouls, as in basketball; whereby, each foul is counted to the perpertrator and, after a given number of fouls, the player is out of the game.

 

Another basketball innovation worth trying, I feel, is to count up team fouls; these days, opponents virtually queue-up to foul the likes of Neymar, Messi and Robben, safe in the knowledge, they will get away with the wee, niggling fouls, aimed purely at stopping the skilled guys from playing.

 

If these team fouls were counted-up and, after a given number, each defensive foul resulted in a penalty - it would open up the game and allow the skilled players to play.

 

I would also bring-in retrospective citings, to punish bad fouls which the officials missed,or to punish diving.

 

This would entail a simple change to the wording of the Laws - "The referee is the sole judge of fact" would become: "The referee is the sole judge of fact for the duration of a match".

 

Thus, if a player dived to win a penalty, that decision wouild stand, but, he could be retrospectively hammered for his cheating. Ditto, fouls which were missed could be punished and teams which felt they had been hard-done-by by the referee would have grounds for redress.

 

I am not advocating that games won by a dubiously-earned penalty should be replayed, but, the cheat would not prosper, he'd be suspended for his trouble.

 

I know, it's a thorny subject. I know, rugby hasn't yet got it 100% right, but, I feel something has to be done to make football a better spectacle.