Not Only Can't Russians PLAY Sports, They Can't Even Manage to REFEREE Them
The Moscow Times reports yet more extreme sports-related humiliation for Russia (which, of course, the Russians will again blame on "russophobia" conspiracies -- you know, the same ones that force Russian men to kill one of their wives every 40 minutes and produce a GDP smaller than the Netherlands). And the final cruel stroke of humiliation is that while Russians are spectacularly failing in their referee tasks, Ukraine is moving into the FIFA quarterfinals (even as it also moves into NATO and the EU over Russia's frenzied objections).
NUREMBERG, Germany -- Russian referee Valentin Ivanov was given a resounding vote of no confidence by players, coaches and even FIFA president Sepp Blatter after he lost control of Portugal's 1-0 win over Netherlands on Sunday.
Ivanov produced his yellow card 16 times and his red card four times as both teams were reduced to nine men in their second round clash -- a record for any World Cup.
This increased the number of red cards for the tournament to a record 23 just midway through the second round and five days before the quarterfinals begin Friday.
Portugal, which had two players sent off, five cautioned and also lost winger Cristiano Ronaldo through an injury inflicted by a high tackle, meets England in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday. "I consider that today the referee was not at the same level as the participants, the players. There could have been a yellow card for the referee," Blatter told Portugal's SIC television channel.
"This was a game of emotion, with exceptional drama in the last instant, with a deserved winner," he added. "It was a great show with intervention by the referee that was not consistent and [had] lack of fair play by some players."
Ivanov, a 45-year-old music-loving teacher, attempted to establish his control from the start when he cautioned two Dutchmen in the opening seven minutes.
But instead of gaining command of the game, he sent the contest into a spiral of chaos as Portugal took a 23rd minute lead, thanks to a well-taken goal by Maniche, and defended it with every trick in the professionals' book.
In the end, Ivanov sent off Costinha and Deco of Portugal, each for two yellow cards, and Khalid Boulahrouz and Giovanni van Bronckhorst of the Netherlands, both also for two cautions. He also handed out yellows to Portugal's Maniche, Petit, Luis Figo, Ricardo and Nuno Valente and the Netherlands' Mark van Bommel, Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart.
"I must say it was a pity that there was no football in the second half," said Dutch coach Marco van Basten.
But Ivanov has received full backing from his most loyal fan, father and former top international striker Valentin Ivanov Sr. The elder Ivanov, who played in two World Cups in 1958 in Sweden and 1962 in Chile, where he was the joint top scorer, said his son had done a good job.
"It was a very difficult game to officiate and I think he handled himself quite well considering the circumstances," he said in a telephone interview on Monday. "It was a very intense match, both teams were considered title contenders, thus no one wanted to lose and go home.
"The referee tried to set the tone right from the start to keep tempers under control by showing yellow cards. If he didn't do it, the match would have ended in a mass brawl. I have heard that Blatter had criticized my son," said Ivanov Sr., who also played on the Soviet Union team that won the 1956 Olympic gold in Melbourne.
In a related development, the Moscow News reports that Russia failed in its bid to strip an American cycler of his medal. Russia complaining about doping? Talk about glass houses! Russia can't win medals of its own and can't even manage to take them away from those who do. Welcome to the Neo-Soviet Union.
31 comments:
I was certain you would leap glefully on this news item like the excitable goon that you are. Needless to say, as with everything else, you don't have the faintest clue what you are speaking about. The game in question was absolute carnage and it was frankly ridiculous of Sepp Blatter (who is an incompetent crook, incidentally, which must mean that all the Swiss are dishonest psychopaths) to make the remarks he did.
REITH: If you were certain, you should have said so before the item was posted, then you would have looked like a sage. Now, you just look like the childish little dork you are ;)
I'm not gleeful, I'm depressed. And the whole point of the post is so that Russians will stop doing things to make me depressed.
You, on the other hand, are an enabler, apologizing for Russian failure rather than confronting it. In other words, you're a big part of the problem.
Moreover, it's clearly you who hasn't got the faintest clue BECAUSE THIS IS NOT MY NEWS STORY, IT'S THE NEWS STORY OF THE MOSCOW TIMES. So if you want to call someone clueless, I suggest you send them a letter and tell them so.
Meanwhile, La Russophobe greatly admires the MT story and stands by her assertion that Russia has once again totally humiliated itself in the area of sports. And she notes that you haven't mentioned by way of rebuttal one single sports achievement Russia can be proud of.
"one single sports achievement Russia can be proud of."
wow!!! you are an ingnorant cow...
LR, get your babble-fish translator out:
ФИФА заявила, что у Федерации футбола Португалии недостаточно аргументов для отмены красной карточки полузащитника Деку в матче Португалия - Англия, который обслуживал российский арбитр Валентин Иванов.
26 июня главный тренер португальцев Луис Фелипе Сколари заявил, что футбольная федерация страны намерена обжаловать решение Иванова во втором тайме, когда россиянин показал вторую желтую карточку Деку.
Пресс-атташе ФИФА Маркус Зиглер сказал следующее: "По телефону мы ясно объяснили представителю Федерации футбола Португалии, чтобы они забыли об обжаловании этого решения".
Таким образом, ФИФА фактически признала правоту Иванова в этом эпизоде.
Just the first instance where Ivanov was right, and you were wrong! Subsequent rebuttals will follow...
wow!! you call me an ignorant cow and don't mention a single bit of evidence. now THAT is ignorant!! you're a total moron.
there is not one single word in the Russian text about Russia achieving anything in the world of sports to be proud of. typical gibberish of a propagandist.
did you even read it and understand it? (I know internet translator's are a pain.) ok, let's wait for your Russian speaking troll partner to translate it for you after s/he comes back from work at the golden arches... I understand that your mission of russophobia is very hard, so ya'll have to work in shifts...
For now, think about hockey, gymnastics, swimming, etc...
Yes, LR's wailing for "proof" is very odd indeed. The Ivanov story was Reuters's not MT's actually, and it merely reported objections to the referee's perfomance, which FIFA's findings has since validated, which was what the Russian text is about. The story is not about the referee's performance, therefore, but about what was actually a very unfair reaction to it. That LR doesn't understand this is down to two facts. One, she wants to see the worst in everything, so she distorts the truth wherever and whenever possible. This is amply demonstrated by the fact that she absurdly asks for evidence of Russian sporting success, as if this were an indicator of the country's moral rectitude anyway. China is one of the biggest rising sporting countries at the moment but how democratic are they? In predictably rushing to find the Ivanov story on the MT's site she somehow managed to skim past a story above it about Tatyana Lysenko. Is LR a fool or a liar? The reader must decide.
The second reason for LR's confusion is that she actually doesn't know what she is talking about. She didn't see the Holland-Portugal match and probably thinks the World Cup is something to do with baseball. As with everything else on this site, LR's judgements are a product of blind bigotry and ignorance.
REITH: Well then I guess you need to attack Reuters AND the Moscow Times then, don't you?
It reported that the referee was a total unprecedented disaster and an embarrassment to his country and the sport.
You present not one shred of evidence of Russia's atheltic performance because you lack the courage to be criticized that La Russophobe displays by allowing your valueless "comment" to be posted.
In other words, you're a pathetic little coward, and if you think the Russian ref's perforance was something to be proud of, you are a classic Russophile nutjob.
I think the only coward here is LR. You post articles subjectively, then someone straightens you out; then you insult that person and write something like "why don't you attack the original publisher?"
The article talks about one man and not a coutry as a whole:-) you just don't get it, don't you?
why don't you start taking responsibility for your posts? This is your blog anyway. "Don't point arrows at others." Strelochniki!
"If you think the Russian ref's perforance was something to be proud of, you are a classic Russophile nutjob."
Just out of interest, which of the referee's decisions (unprecedented disaster!!!) do you take an exception to? I somewhat doubt you could answer as you have obviously not watched the match. As usual, you talk without having the faintest clue.
a person named anonymous can't call anyone else a coward. especially one with no blog.
the whole world is laughing at russia and you deny it like a laughable soviet stooge. how lame.
on behalf of all the anonymous, reiths, johns, jacks, maries, suzans:
LR, do you really prefer to have some kind of name identification in order to direct your hate more efficiently? After all, we don't know your real names (there is more than one of you out there), locations, phone numbers, etc.
In your case, it's very clever thing to do by admiting to the whole world through your name that you are a bigot, and then stearing up trouble also in an anonymous way.
As far as I am concerned, you can call me Mr. Cheney.
As far as I am concerned, you can read another blog if you don't like this one. If you think your comments set an example of how to do things better than this blog, you are quite insane.
I'm still awaiting your detailed account of the football match you pontificated about so "knowledgably". The one thing you do better than lying is dodging the real questions.
The account is the the Moscow Times article. That is why I posted it you ridiculous moron. If you dispute it, write the MT and get a correction. When you do, I'll be glad to post the same on this blog and apologize. Until then, take your propaganda and drop dead.
So you don't know what you're talking about, it's agreed. The MT didn't use the words "unprecedented disaster" or imply it was a shame for Russia, as you did, because neither of these things are true. I wonder how you got these impressions. Did you watch the match? Can you explain how you reached conclusions that were not in the MT article and that have since been rebutted by a FIFA board? It's fun watching you dodge and squirm as yet again your dishonesty is exposed.
LR, what about, as some might say, an unjust penatly in the game of Italy vs Australia? Doesn't it prove, in your logic, that the country of referee is deserving the same bashing as the Russia?
Or you didn't watch the game, same as you did not watch Portugal vs Netherlands, but think that you would look so smart by copying and pasting an article from MT, with your ignorant comments?
Come on LR, you are smarter than that... just a bit though:-)
REITH: The ACCOUNT is in the MT story, the FACTS are there, the CONCLUSION is mine. That is what this blog is for. I stand by my conclusion. The fact is that the ref was attacked by BOTH teams AND the FIFA boss. The fact is that the whole world is laughing at Russia, and only the classic Neo-Soviet man like you, living in a pathetic world of denial and self delusion, cannot see this. Attitudes just like yours brought Russia to its knees, so thanks for hastening the end of the Neo-Soviet Union with your propaganda!
ANONYMOUS: It's classic Neo-Sovietism for Russians, when confronted with failure, to try to justify it by attacking the messenger or pointing to the acts of others. Whenever a success of another country is mentioned to Russians, Russians say: "That means nothing, we are a different country." But when a Russian failure is mentioned, they say: "Look at the other countries." This pathetic inability to accept criticism and reform is what is destroying Russia utterly. It's the old story of the Emperor's New Clothes.
Again, the MT didn't use the words "unprecedented disaster" or imply it was a shame for Russia, as you did. You drew these conclusions out of the nether regions of your perverse imagination. You have nothing else to base your ridiculously bigoted remarks. But do continue. I'm enjoying watching you squirm as you cover up for talking rubbish about something you don't have the faintest clue about. As always, for that matter.
REITH: That is just what I said you are repeating, you dimwit. I say that when both teams and the FIFA president attack referee, who makes international news on that basis, Russia is humiliated. You say it isn't. You agree with the ref's father. That's a very neat synopsis of you. And there we are.
Again, how did you make your conclusion about an unprecedented disaster when you know nothing of what you talk about? In actual fact, there is no story here, and nobody has spoken about the referee, who has since been vindicated by FIFA findings, in the context of Russia. This is all about you and your willingness to distort everything into your perverse and pointless Russia-bashing mode.
I know that the worldwide press is attacking the referee, I know that the chief of FIFA is doing so, and BOTH the teams. i know that he set world records for the abuse of his power. In other words, I know MUCH more than you.
"I know MUCH more than you."
with all due respect, you don't know shit, lewbowskiy!!! and you proved it many times.
The chief of FIFA is a corrupt individual, and he would do and say anything to deflect the light from his discredited persona... (there is a new book out there, by a former FIFA employee, who describes the corruption within the organization).
Yes, the Russian referee could have over reacted, but then FIFA vendicated him because he was more or less (actually less) right since the game was exceptionally brutal. "One Russian got his name mentioned in a newspaper, let's say that the whole country is like him." Did you ever go to college? I think generalization fallacy was discussed in English 101. (I covered it in grade school though.)
It was mentioned before that you are a Sovok, and you prove it once again by using "collective responsibility" principle, which was employed by your personal idol - Stalin.
So please do us a favor and stop twisting articles, facts, rumours to emphasize your limited intelect.
Couldn't have it put it better myself. I doubt LR would know which way up a football bat is held...
Ah, yes. The president of FIFA is corrupt. In fact, the whole WORLD is corrupt if it dares to critize Russia. When the pairs skaters lost in Salt Lake City, it was just an anti-Russian conspiracy. Same thing when Russia didn't qualify for FIFA. Same thing with the Russian hockey team at the World Championships in Piter.
Dude, you're sick in the head. Get a grip. The whole world is laughing at Russia and the only thing you can think to do is to claim that the whole world is a Neo-Soviet conspiracy. That's exactly the kind of "thinking" that brought the Soviet Union to its knees. Keep it up, and Russia will meet the same fate.
"The whole world is laughing at Russia"
This confirms that there are numerous voices in LR's head...
Thank God Sepp Blatter isn't Russian. If he were, everybody would be "laughing at Russia" and it would be a "sign of Russia's imminent extinction" and other similarly village idiot ideas. As it is, he is a latter-day Crusader leading the West against the ignoble Russians. Needless to say, LR continues to show her complete ignorance of the issues, her crass judgmentalism, and frenetic and exxagerated hysteria. I wonder if she can find one single quote of somebody saying that the referee's performance, since vindicated by FIFA's findings, is evidence that Russia is a laughing stock. Just one. Even a little one.
By the way LR, what do you think of Graham Poll? Terrible eh?
Ivanov is vindicated at last:
Я сожалею о своем замечании, сделанном ему в связи с его судейством в матче между Португалией и Нидерландами,– заявил Блаттер. – Игроки заслужили свои желтые карточки». Президент ФИФА также дал понять, что он намерен известить о своих сожалениях российскую Коллегию футбольных арбитров.
And the translation for La Russophone (who does not understand Russian, but pretends to a be an expert on "the rise and fall of the Neo-Soviet Union"):
The Head of FIFA Mr. Blatter said that he regrets his comments about the referee's job in the match between Portugal and Netherlands. He said, "the players deserved all of their yellow cards."
http://www.germany06.ru/2006/07/04/a_160615.shtml
LR, eat your heart out. And please don't start with things like "it's not me, it's Moscow TImes, etc." You choose to repost the article here, and you gave it a different spin with your dumb comments, so take some responsibility.
You are owned.
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