Sunday,
August 17, 2008
Italy out of Beijing 2008 Soccer in
Controversial Fashion - Belgium 3,
The
ANNOTICO Report
Outrageous. Five Egregious Referee calls
against
Could
it be attributed to an Argentine referee calling an
In
the Olympics the Soccer teams are composed of those from the Under 21 League.
It's the same old story with
First Half
The referee had hardly finished blowing his whistle when Luca Cigarini fed Giuseppe Rossi. The Villarreal man controlled
well and tried to turn but his effort was weak.
Minutes later, it was Sebastian Giovinco who tested
the Belgium defence when he went on one of his trademark
runs but although he did brilliant to skip his way into the box, the pint sized
player couldnt find the finish to match.
Robert Acquafresca was brought down inside the box by
Vermaelen who grappled the striker to the ground. The
referee had no choice but to point to the spot and pull out a red card for the
red faced defender.
Rossi stepped up and calmly sent the goalkeeper the other way with a fine
finish from twelve yards.
It was not all plane sailing for the Azzurrini though
as
[1] Dembele rose above the
defence to latch onto a corner which was - to the
naked eye - cleared off the line by Cigarini.
Incredibly, the linesman ruled the ball to have crossed the line - a shocking
decision as replays show the ball was cleared before it reached the goal line.
The Azzurrini huffed and puffed but they were caught
out on the break. Mirallas did brilliantly to control
the ball in the box, he twisted and turned Bochetti
and fired under Viviano to give ten man
Second Half
[2] Rossi was brought down in the box by Bailly but the referee booked the Italian striker for
diving. It was a harsh as replays showed that he had clearly had his ankle
taken away by Bailly.
[3]
[4] On 66 minutes
The Azzurrini kept on banging at the door but they
just couldnt bring it down. It seemed as if it
was going to be one of those games where bad luck ruined the day but finally
the official did award them another spot-kick.
De Ceglie was hacked down inside the box and this
time the referee gave a penalty. Rossi took the responsibility and you could
see the pressure but he kept cool and pulled his side level. The penalty was a
replica of the first and
However, just minutes later, Dembele restored his
sides lead with a left foot drive from 20 yards. Viviano was caught
napping as the ball crossed the line. To make things worse, the goalkeeper
reacted to some petulance by Mirallas and got himself
sent off. [5] The
Belgian striker threw the ball in the keepers face and Viviano hacked
him down. The ref was quick to pull out a red and add further misery to the
Italian side.The whistleblower should have also sent
off the striker as his action was violent, provoking and unnecessary.
Teams:
Italia: 1) Viviano; 2) Motta, 3) De Ceglie, 6) Criscito, 15) Bocchetti; 4) Nocerino, 5) Cigarini(Abate)
e 7) Montolivo; 11) Rossi, 10) Giovinco,
14) Acquafresca
Belgium: 1) Bailly(Makallambay); 2) De Roover; 4) Vermaelen; 5) Pocognoli; 15) Simaeys; 8) Haroun; 10) Vertonghen, 11) Martens(Vandenborre); 7) De Mul 9) Mirallas,18) Dembele
Goals: Belgium: Haroun, Mirallas, Dembele.
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