Nigerian coach cries Racism

[jpg75]

You can't be claiming racism without proof, that's defamation and it's also a blatanly false claim...

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Soccer/article/236304

But while Chile came away relieved, the Nigerians were fuming.

English referee Howard Webb ruled there was no offside as Isla lobbed the ball over a crowd to two teammates on goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwu's doorstep for a tip pass and an easy headed goal by Grondona in the 96th minute. When FIFA's anti-racism campaign was brought up at a post-game news conference, Nigerian coach Ladan Bosso said "What happened on the pitch, the officiating, I think FIFA has a long way to go to beat racism, because that official showed racism."

When asked if he felt Webb was a racist, Bosso said only that, ``It's good for FIFA to bring in the fight against racism, but they have to follow it to the letter, so the implementation will be done."

[vancity eagle]

this is kind of silly for the coach to say that. On the other hand I did not see one good replay of the first Chile goal, to see whether or not it was offside. They kept showing angles where you could see absolutely nothing. Poor broadcasting.

[LOS_DE_ABAJO]

Wow I'm surprised by the accusations of the Nigerian coach, if they are true then it should be an extremely serious matter and penalties should be given. However, if he is inferring that the ref was racist because of some controversial calls(the video replay proves that the referee was right in both of them) then that coach should be penalized because racism is a very, very serious matter and accusing someone of racism because of some controversial calls in a soccer game like that is a very dirty thing to do.
If someone should be mad about the game it should be Chile:
1- I understand Nigeria may have been desperate to get a goal in extra time but they did not follow the Fair Play rules. The should have given the ball back in the 2 opportunities where Chile kicked it out for them and that shows disrespect to Fifa, the opponents, and just the fairness of the game.
2-Many Nigerian players had undershirts that had religious writing on them and that has been dissalowed by Fifa many times, I don't know why I haven't heard of any penalties for that yet.
3-A Nigerian newspaper said the penalty was an extremely controversial call, however the penalty was clearlyyy a foul:
and the red card was well-shown. There shouldn't even be an argument about that.
4- The first goal was definitely not offsides, the final lob was a back pass while the Nigerian left back did not move up and clearly kept both Chileans onsides.
Here's a good replay of the first goal and the penalty call as well as the first goal:
a) http://youtube.com/watch?v=b6BqnZ7z0-c&mode=related&search=
-00:05 in the first video proves the pass was onsides and the video below proves it was a back pass so the call was right.
b) http://youtube.com/watch?v=lAe8K_pQxVM -it takes about 10-15 seconds for it to load.
5- In the second half, the Nigerian goalie lifted his foot and axe kicked Grondona from the back, yet no penalty, foul, or cards were shown. Grondona as well many other player's dreams like Vidangossy's and Carmona's are at stake because of some really nasty fouls that should never take place in Soccer.



PS: Congrats to Nigeria for doing so well and holding us to a draw in the first ninety minutes. They should be received with open arms when they arrive in Abuja.

[vancity eagle]

thanks los de abajo for the clip. It was definately onside, though I had to watch it a few times and pause it. It appears that one Nigerian defender went all the way back to the goal after the initial freekick, when it was cleared and then lobbed back in he was very late pushing up and clearly played two Chileans onside. The rest of the Nigerians appeared to play the trap not realizing that one of their defenders was way behind them.
As for the coaches claims, they are absurd. Racism is no joke, and accusations should not thrown around so casually and made without basis. It is these kind of ridiculous claims that detract from the seriousness of real incidents of racism.

[European16]

im surprised tehe coach said that.
i dont think it was a 4-0 nothing game but thast football for ya. anything can happen. it was anawsome game. everybody who ddidnt watch the game and seen the result probably thought nigeria got killed the entire game but much respect to nigeria. AWSOME team, a game lie kthat should of ended like 2-0 tops

[El_Bulla]

It wasn't an offside and they didn't even do fair play.

[vancity eagle]

It wasn't an offside and they didn't even do fair play.

in all honesty though, why should a team down a goal with few minutes left to play pass the ball back to a team who were clearly time wasting and not genuinely injured.

[LOS_DE_ABAJO]

in all honesty though, why should a team down a goal with few minutes left to play pass the ball back to a team who were clearly time wasting and not genuinely injured.
The player who was injured was a Nigerian though and Chile's gk(Toselli) kicked the ball out so he could be attended, yet we never got it back.

I agree 100% with you about the comments on the Nigerian coach though, your analysis hit it right on the spot.

[2010wcfans]

honestly i don't think there was any racism involved in the game...unless i missed it. but Nigeria had a good tournament and something they should be proud of.

everyone check out this site:
http://www.2010wcfans.com

[astar24]

My take is that I very highly doubt the Nigerian coach is referring to racism necessarily for the reason his team lost 4-0 but moreso through the duration of the tournament.

It is hard to argue losing 4-0 due to any reason, but officials can show preference to a team in the calls they make during a game and I think that is were this coach was leaning more towards. I dont think he was trying justify the result or his team's play in that game. But 1 or 2 poor calls by the officials can change the dynamics of a game.

From my experience of watching internationally tournaments I have noticed, and this is strictly from my perspective that officials tend to favour European and South American teams. I think it even goes further as officials favouring teams in the calls they make to the so called 'traditional soccer countries' as they say. But then again this type of bias happens in all sports.

I may be right or wrong but this is just something I have noticed. Again this is just my observation, other people may see things differently.

[Alberto]

My take is that I very highly doubt the Nigerian coach is referring to racism necessarily for the reason his team lost 4-0 but moreso through the duration of the tournament.

It is hard to argue losing 4-0 due to any reason, but officials can show preference to a team in the calls they make during a game and I think that is were this coach was leaning more towards. I dont think he was trying justify the result or his team's play in that game. But 1 or 2 poor calls by the officials can change the dynamics of a game.

From my experience of watching internationally tournaments I have noticed, and this is strictly from my perspective that officials tend to favour European and South American teams. I think it even goes further as officials favouring teams in the calls they make to the so called 'traditional soccer countries' as they say. But then again this type of bias happens in all sports.

I may be right or wrong but this is just something I have noticed. Again this is just my observation, other people may see things differently.

I think you are completely off base on this accusation. You would have to present specific incidents to support that theory. I think certain high level players get more of the benefit of the doubt, but I seriously doubt there is any conspiracy overt or subconscious to favor the established soccer powers.

Look at all of the different teams that have reached the semi-finals of the world cup over the past few cups and compare them to previous world cups.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup

Since 1970 40 teams have made it to the world cup semi-finals. They are by order of appearance

Germany 7 x
Brasil 6 x
Italy 6 x
France 4 x
Argentina 3 x
Holland 3 x
Poland 2 x
Portugal 1 x
Croatia 1 x
Korea 1 x
Turkey 1 x
Bulgaria 1 x
Sweden 1 x
Belgium 1 x
Uruguay 1 x
England 1 x

That's 16 different teams. I believe that's a pretty representative mix of teams.

12 from UEFA, 3 from CONMEBOL and 1 from the Asia Confederation. Africa is not represented in my view not because of any bias, but because for all their talent, they are poor defensively and routinely make sloppy mistakes that cost them goals. Italy, Germany, and Brasil get to the semis because their talent is better, not because of a bias against their opponents.

[Leedsunited]

Sorry but Howard Webb is one of the best refs in the PL, I think when teams play the race card, its sad. He should be banned from the game, if his comments prove unfounded.

[vancity eagle]

i have to agree with astar. I'm not saying there is any conspiracy or anything, but in past FIFA tournaments many refs seem to have the notion that African sides were too physical and rough( probably partially true in the late 80's early 90's) Certain European and south american sides knew this and would try to con referees with diving and usually the refs would give them the benefit of the doubt. This doesn't happen as much today but it still does. Diving has become much more of an issue than it used to be in the past. I believe subconsciously some refs will give the benefit of the doubt to so called " star players " over lesser teams, unestablished players, and in some cases what they may percieve as " rough and undisciplined african players " Stereotypes still do exist. As far as this Nigeria Chile game, I saw nothing to complain about.

[astar24]

I think you are completely off base on this accusation. You would have to present specific incidents to support that theory. I think certain high level players get more of the benefit of the doubt, but I seriously doubt there is any conspiracy overt or subconscious to favor the established soccer powers.

Look at all of the different teams that have reached the semi-finals of the world cup over the past few cups and compare them to previous world cups.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup

Since 1970 40 teams have made it to the world cup semi-finals. They are by order of appearance

Germany 7 x
Brasil 6 x
Italy 6 x
France 4 x
Argentina 3 x
Holland 3 x
Poland 2 x
Portugal 1 x
Croatia 1 x
Korea 1 x
Turkey 1 x
Bulgaria 1 x
Sweden 1 x
Belgium 1 x
Uruguay 1 x
England 1 x

That's 16 different teams. I believe that's a pretty representative mix of teams.

12 from UEFA, 3 from CONMEBOL and 1 from the Asia Confederation. Africa is not represented in my view not because of any bias, but because for all their talent, they are poor defensively and routinely make sloppy mistakes that cost them goals. Italy, Germany, and Brasil get to the semis because their talent is better, not because of a bias against their opponents.


First off most high level players come from the so called traditional footballing nations if I did not clarify that in my original post.

I guess I could think back and provide specific incidents but is there a need to? I am merely pointing out an observation. The reason I do not want to provide specific incidents is due to the fact that I do not think it plays that large a role in the results of these matches and even if it did do not think team's should rely on referee decisions for their success or failure. I said it because it is something I have seen in my view, I dont expect everyone to see the same thing but that is what I see and I am bringing it up in this thread as it pertains to what the Nigerian coach is accusing the officials in this tournament of.

The key words in your response is "I seriously doubt..." You are not certain. Which means you are leaving open the possibility of this infact being the case. But I do have to agree with you on one point, that it probably is not a widespread conspiracy, but in my opinion has more to do with individuals preference for a team.

I was not saying that teams didnt deservingly win games or tournaments but what I am saying is a preference is given to teams that have traditionally done well in the past or have higher profile squads. That list is hardly a representative mix of teams, like I said European and South American nations are given preference and the benefit of the doubt in games against teams from other confederations. Your list is enhancing my argument because if you notice besides Korea who qualified while being the hosts in 2002, that group is all European and/or South American nations.

[deejay]

First off most high level players come from the so called traditional footballing nations if I did not clarify that in my original post.

I guess I could think back and provide specific incidents but is there a need to? I am merely pointing out an observation. The reason I do not want to provide specific incidents is due to the fact that I do not think it plays that large a role in the results of these matches and even if it did do not think team's should rely on referee decisions for their success or failure. I said it because it is something I have seen in my view, I dont expect everyone to see the same thing but that is what I see and I am bringing it up in this thread as it pertains to what the Nigerian coach is accusing the officials in this tournament of.

The key words in your response is "I seriously doubt..." You are not certain. Which means you are leaving open the possibility of this infact being the case. But I do have to agree with you on one point, that it probably is not a widespread conspiracy, but in my opinion has more to do with individuals preference for a team.

I was not saying that teams didnt deservingly win games or tournaments but what I am saying is a preference is given to teams that have traditionally done well in the past or have higher profile squads. That list is hardly a representative mix of teams, like I said European and South American nations are given preference and the benefit of the doubt in games against teams from other confederations. Your list is enhancing my argument because if you notice besides Korea who qualified while being the hosts in 2002, that group is all European and/or South American nations.

I think your overstating this. If anything African sides have had greater success than expected in the sub-xx cups. Considering the results of the full world cup it should be the norm that South American and European teams dominate.