world cup 2014

As a football fan the World Cup is undoubtedly the most anticipated football tournament of them all. Every 4 years the best of the best star studded national sides face each other in a competition that highlights not only their pedigree but their country. As the most popular single sport event in the world I can only imagine the pressure on all those involved in organizing, officiating and playing in the tournament. There is a large sense of national pride associated with this competition and the 2014 World Cup has provided a few controversial decisions in its opening 2 days. From “soft” penalties to erroneous offside decisions, human error has once again been the major talking point of a football tournament.

Accusations of favoritism for the home side, Brazil, have already been made after their encounter with Croatia on opening day. The repercussions of refereeing decisions are obviously amplified on such a grand world stage. I would like to see these errors eliminated and would rather see teams score goals on merit rather than poor decisions or, in the case of Mexico on day 2, having goals disallowed for questionable offside calls. I also recognize that these referees and their assistants are human and mistakes will be made occasionally.  Unfortunately for the players who have worked so hard to represent their countries these mistakes can be devastating.

I hope these early controversies help to make the remainder of the competition better. The Netherlands had a remarkable display against World Cup holders Spain which exemplified the beauty and unpredictability of the game. Do not let these early poor decisions ruin the tournament for you ad enjoy the rest of the 2014 World Cup. I know I will.