Italians have themselves to blame
By MORRIS DALLA COSTA -- London Free Press
It provides an easy excuse for a team that underachieved.
When Denmark and Sweden played to a 2-2, the exact result needed for both teams to advance to the quarter-finals of Euro 2004, the Italian media and some Italian players screeched and whined about the fix being in.
Despite Italy's 2-1 win over Bulgaria and the fact the Italians had not lost a game in the tournament, they were going home early -- going home to a vitriolic press and a nation thirsty for soccer blood.
Denmark, Sweden and Italy wound up with the same point total, but the Swedes and Danes advanced because of a better goal differential. Anything other than ties of 2-2 or greater in the Denmark/ Sweden game, with the Italians winning their game, would have seen the Italians advance.
As suspicious as it looked, the Danes and Swedes didn't rig the result. It was simply too difficult because of the lateness of the Italian goal.
More to the point, the Italians didn't play well enough throughout the tournament and didn't deserve to advance.
That said, the issue of cheating is never far from the headlines when major soccer events take place. Players cheat every time they step on the pitch by faking injuries and fouls. Ruling soccer bodies such as FIFA and UEFA proclaim their teams are clean and would never think of playing to a convenient result.
That is a ridiculous notion. Of course teams play to convenient results and soccer's ruling bodies recognize that.
That is why the schedule in major tournaments is set up as it is. Early games in the round robin are played at different times for the convenience of television and fans wanting to see all the games. The final games of the round-robin are played at the same time, making it difficult for teams to know what's happening in the other game and rig their result accordingly.
But that's no longer good enough.
Teams and fans have so much invested in these major tournaments that removing any opportunity to cheat is vital to the integrity of the sport. It would be virtually impossible to close every door to cheaters. The goal should be to make it as difficult as possible for those who would cheat.
The one way to take most of the uncertainty out of a situation is to remove the tie from tournament soccer (World Cup, European Cup) forcing the teams to play until one team wins. The deal would be simple. If the teams are tied after 90 minutes, play 30 minutes of golden-goal extra time. If they are still tied, go to penalty kicks.
After watching the Portugal-England quarter-final yesterday, is there any question that is the route to go?
That would make it extremely difficult for anyone to arrange a convenient result. Fans would likely see a more entertaining brand of soccer and for the most part the better team would win.
There are traditional arguments against removing the tie from tournament competition the biggest being that in a long tournament a team forced to play a number of extra-time games would suffer physically.
Then one supposes teams had better be prepared to try and win in regular time instead of playing for a tie or a convenient result.
There is a saying in soccer that should send shivers up the spines of fans who want to see entertaining and positive soccer: "Play not to lose."
Here's a better saying: "Play until you win."
