World Cup Thoughts: Columbia - England Debacle

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The much-anticipated Round of 16 match between Columbia and England was set to provide an exclamation point on the first round of knockout stage matches. Both countries have long histories at the World Cup, and both have struggled at this stage of the tournament - especially in recent history. While the match did provide plenty of drama, it was the wrong kind of drama - instead of brilliant goals and high-intensity play-making, the match divulged into ridiculous theatrics, dirty-play, and constant vehement objections from the players that made almost every single one on the pitch look like a bunch of professional whiners instead of professional futbol players.

A lot has been said, discussed, and written about how this match played out and the aftermath, etc. The protests are unrelenting from the Columbian side, with petitions being signed throughout the country (over 200,000 signatures as of yesterday) asking for a complete match review from FIFA, sighting instances of complete discretionary failure by American referee Mark Geiger.

Geiger was an interesting choice to official the match in the first place, as he fell under scrutiny during the group stage after he was accused by Moroccan players of asking a Portuguese player for a jersey during the match. Morocco were upset with how that match was officiated, indicating that Portugal may have received preferential treatment. FIFA denied the allegations without merit, and Geiger was tapped once again, for this Round of 16 matchup.

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Columbian captain Radamel Falcao has accused Geiger of an England bias during the match, and even Argentina great, and perhaps greatest player to ever live, Maradona, has come to the Columbians' defense, as he also heavily criticized the American referee. FIFA vehemently rebuked Maradona's criticism, but it hasn't stopped Columbians from pushing for a match review.

There were a fair number of calls that could have gone either way, and a lot of those went in England's favor, but it wasn't anything egregious like we have seen in the past (just think of the complete and utter incompetence of the Ecuadorian referee in the South Korea - Italy Round of 16 match in 2002). The truth of the matter is, while Columbia are squawking loudly, they were 1 penalty kick away from advancing, and had luck fell to them in the penalty shootout, there would be no petitions, etc, and all would be well.

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A lot of the accusations of incompetence by Geiger center around his penalty call for a takedown of England's Harry Kane in the box without going to a VAR. The call wasn't that controversial in my opinion, Kane was taken down, there was substantial contact from the Columbia player, and his arm was around Kane and on his back as he went down as you can see above. Now, whether the contact was the cause for Kane going down is debatable, but it was a foul. Granted it wasn't an egregious foul by any means, but I'm sure Geiger would have upheld the call even if he did go to a VAR.

Some of the Columbia frustration is probably owed to the fact that a lot of referees have allowed some contact and even takedowns to happen in the box without immediately signaling for penalties thus far at this World Cup. While that has been the case, it doesn't mean that the play in question wasn't a foul. Columbia got their late goal and forced extra time and eventually got to a penalty shootout. They had their opportunities to win the match, and unfortunately came up just short.

While Columbia were distraught over the officiating, they themselves were very physical, and certainly weren't without blame for the chippy, unfortunate way in which the match unfolded. Constant complaining, theatrics, and increasing roughhousing caused Geiger to issue an increasing amount of yellow cards, many for dissent, to try and keep some kind of control over the match and Columbia was plenty to blame for all of it. When you circle around the referee and protest for 5 consecutive minutes and disrupt the match that much, it does just as much bad as good for your own side and all of the drawn-out over-the-top protests from Columbia didn't help their cause in the end.

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Ultimately, it was an extreme disappointment how the match unfolded, as we were all robbed of what could have been a truly classic encounter between two exciting and intriguing teams. Instead, it divulged into a situation that made it difficult for the referee to maintain control over the proceedings. While England finally ended their penalty shootout nightmares at the World Cup, they weren't innocent in the shenanigans of the match either. They did a good job of acting up when needed to draw fouls and got in Geiger's ear plenty as well. They were not much better at times in this match.

Columbia's passion over having a second consecutive trip to the Quarter-finals so close but ultimately coming up short is completely understandable. You commend them for battling valiantly without their young star, James Rodriguez able to play, and getting the late equalizer in injury time. The tactics however were questionable at best. I was pulling for Columbia as well and while they came up just short, it wasn't the complete injustice that they are making it out to be. It's time to accept defeat like the other teams from this World Cup that have bowed out and move on. Let's hope the rest of this tournament produces much better quality and restores the saying of soccer being "the beautiful game" instead of the ugly disaster that this match was.