Refs at the World Cup

Refs at the World Cup

So after the scandal of Koman Coulibaly and the USA-Slovenia game, I thought that the big refereeing controversies would be over, at least for a little while. After all, how many controversial calls can you fit into the course of a weekend?

I was proven wrong. There were plenty, such as in the Germany-Serbia game, where there were 9 (9!!) yellow cards called in that single game alone. And then, in the Brazil-Ivory Coast game, two handballs were committed in Brazil's second goal, but neither one was spotted by either the refs or the players.


But I think the most mind-boggling one I witnessed was during Sunday's same Brazil-Ivory Coast game. In the replays, the Ivorian Abdul Kater Keita is running, knocks into Kaká (who isn't looking his way), and falls down, clutching his face, even though Kaká's arm had only knocked him in the chest. The ref apparently doesn't really see what went down, but sends Kaká off with a red card anyways, meaning that he's not allowed to play in Brazil's next game against Portugal. Of course, Brazil is already through the group stage, so it's not really that big of a problem, but still. You can see the footage below. What dirty playing from Kader Keita - go to :20 for the action.