The tragedy of histrionics on the soccer pitch

Canada lost to Costa Rica last night in a World Cup qualifying game. The lads played well, hitting the post and the bar, and dominating most of the game, but one goal was enough to seal it for Costa Rica. Official qualification for Canada will have to wait until Sunday and the game against Jamaica.

But Canada played most of the game with just ten men, the soccer equivalent of playing with one hand tied behind their backs, as a result of an off-the-ball incident in the 34th minute. Canadian midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye, already on a yellow card from earlier in the game, and incensed at the lack of a call for an earlier foul on him, did that childish thing we've seen so many times in professional soccer: he walked past Johan Venegas and "accidentally" caught the Costa Rican's shoulder, a glancing blow, hardly anything, as any number of video replay angles show. 

Venegas, of course, crumpled dramatically to the ground and writhed around in apparent agony, because, well, that's what you do in professional soccer. You ham it up and hope for a call. Well, Venegas got his call, and Kaye was sent off. The rest is history.

Maybe the Honduran referee had no choice in the circumstances, I don't know what the refereeing protocol is in these cases, but a sending off for such slight contact, however puerile, seems draconian. Is there not a case for penalizing Venegas as well for play-acting? Is this not the equivalent of a dive? Given that a sending off, particularly quite early in the game, completely changes the complexion of a game, is this the kind of thing that should trigger one? Well, you know my (biased) opinion, but I'm not sure that I wouldn't be arguing the same thing were the situation reversed. Certainly, many others are in agreement.

I just hate the histrionics that professional soccer now takes for granted, the rolling around in agony, faces set in a rictus of spurious pain, something that I blame the Brazilian, Portuguese and Italian teams of the 1970s for introducing. And I hate that whenever a ball goes out of touch, both teams automatically claim the throw, ALWAYS, however obvious the actual possession is. Basically, I hate the win-at-any-cost mentality.

Soccer games used to be closely-contested, but fair and honourable. That kind of mentality seems like it belongs to a different century today (well, technically it does!)