Blatant Cheating:

Last night a whole continent and anyone who dislikes cheats fervently supported the Dutch in their World Cup semi-final against Uruguay. Thankfully Bert van Marwijk’s team spared Africa the disgusting sight of having its World Cup disgraced by the most blatant cheat in this World Cup getting to play in Africa’s World Cup final. A thrashing would have been nice, but 3-2 would have to suffice. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben scored the goals the whole of Africa cheered.

Most players would have done it. Ghana had the chance to score the penalty and go through. So what? A blatant piece of cheating by Luis Suárez was rewarded as the Rennes striker Asamoah Gyan struck his last gasp penalty against the cross-bar and over. The cheat was sent off, but stayed to watch the penalty and ran off celebrating. Uruguay broke African hearts in the penalty-shoot out by eliminating the last African side in the competition. No African side had come closer to getting past a quarter-final.

Suárez is a cheat – no ifs nor buts. His cheating took advantage of rules that do not punish it adequately. So what would I do if I was in Suárez’ position with the only chance of robbing another country of its just deserts of qualifying for the semi-final? Simple – the rules should never have allowed me or anyone else to be in that position.

FIFA clamped down on feigning injury, punished a referee for not giving a goal that should have been – Frank Lampard’s against Germany – apologised to England and did u-turn on the issue of technology. They apologised for showing a replay at the ground of an Argentinian goal that should have been ruled out for offside against Mexico and ordered a clampdown on the issue of players trying to get players booked.

All worthy causes you may think, but none were as obvious as what Suárez did, nor had a greater effect. The hopes of a whole continent drained away as the advantage shifted to Uruguay with Gyan’s missed penalty. His success in the shoot-out that followed meant nothing to him. He was inconsolable as Ghana crashed out – taking Africa’s hopes with them. So what has FIFA said about it. Suárez serves a one match ban and could have disgraced the final with his presence had Uruguay beaten Holland.

Preparation:

It’s been a tumultuous few months for Pakistani cricket. Denied the right to host international cricket since the Lahore atrocity they must play their ‘home’ series abroad, despite the fanatical support they enjoy in Sharjah and England too. The MCC was determined to help as all cricket realises that a strong Pakistan is essential for the sport. The MCC put together a strong team led by former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, but what drew him to this fixture?

“An invitation from John Stephenson [the Head of Cricket at MCC], who is someone I have known for a long time,” Ganguly told us, “and it’s always good coming back here. We rather pulled up a team to play Pakistan and I thought we did very well in the end.” The match was arranged to aid Pakistan prepare for their series against Australia and England

West Indian great Brian Lara rolled back the years and rustiness – he hadn’t wielded willow in anger for a couple of years. “He’s a great player – one of the all time greats,” Ganguly said of Lara. “He hit the ball very well and he said he picked up a cricket bat since 2008 for the first time, so that is good. There are some good players around – some young guys who will be good for Pakistani cricket.”

Lara made 37 from 31 balls, but MCC’s innings was held together by an unheralded opening batsman Aiden Blizzard – currently on Victoria’s books. His 73 from 59 balls was almost a match-winning effort – perhaps it should have been – but the MCC, needing 18 from the final over, lost an exciting match by six runs.

Big Guns Mis-fire

Both of the teams who appeared in the 2006 World Cup failed to make it past the group stages this time round.  Runners-up France finished bottom of Group A after losing their final game 2-1 to hosts South Africa.  Though Bafana Bafana did not progress to the knockout stages they can be proud of the quality of their performances in this tournament.  Goals from Bongani Khumalo and Katlego Mphela saw them beat the European giants, whose morale issues got the better of them.  It was Thierry Henry’s handball that got France to the World Cup, and after that showing it may have been wiser if the Barcelona man hadn’t bothered.  Mexico and Uruguay progressed, and have mouth-watering ties with Argentina and South Korea, respectively, to look forward to in the next round. 
 
2006 World Cup winners Italy also finished bottom of their group, managing to be worse than the combined might of Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand.  Their final game was a 3-2 thriller against Slovakia, Robert Vittek putting the Eastern Europeans two goals up with one in each half.  There was a mad rush for goals in the final ten minutes, with Antonio Di Natale pulling one back for the Italians, Kamil Kopunek responding for Slovakia, and Fabio Quagliarella scoring what turned out to be a consolation for the Azzurri.  It is not only the first time that the hosts have failed to make it past the opening phase of the tournament, but also the first time that both of the previous cup’s finalists have failed to progress.  That both finished bottom of their group only bodes well for potential upsets once the knockout rounds begin.