The foul that set up Ghana's final free kick looked bogus. It seems like the Ghana player went down on his own, with little or no contact from the defender. I don't feel bad for Ghana now. They should have never had a free kick that led to the handball that resulted in the PK that they missed. Extra time was all but over. It would have ended tied and PKs would have followed normally.
Agreed about the Ghanaian last minute. I would have felt horrible for Uruguay if they lost on a goal from that last free kick. The player went to turf easily. Then they almost score as a result. Shameful Retroactive cards for obvious dives are easy. If a player simulates a foul that was non-existent or cursory at best (totally subjective but all could probably agree upon it) then give them a yellow, with accumulating yellows equivalent to suspension. Embellishing is not so easy when a foul has occurred. Possibly warn a player that he has been seen to embellish in games and he will face serious scrutiny in the future. If you are embellishing on a clear foul, it is annoying, but not a "dive". Robben is a classic example of this. He can piss you off (and I'm a Dutch fan), but at the same time he is getting hacked. The "dive referred to earlier" he was clearly avoiding a vicious tackle. He totally embellished the foul, but you can't deny the Brazilian came in with no intent to play the ball and was clearly trying to foul. Those are the tough calls. You just tell Robben that all of his attempts at embellishing will be reviewed after the game. For players that call for medical treatment, the fourth official starts a clock when they get off the field. After five minutes when medical personnel clear him to return, then he can re-enter the game after signal from head referee. A five-minute wait will help determine who is hurt and who is miling the clock.
Short of injuring another player, they should do whatever it takes to win. It should be a straight red for a no contact dive, but I've no problem with players embellishing for the foul when there's contact.
The truth is hardly ever well received. Especially not online. And yes, diving, exaggerating and those little fouls behind-the-refs-back are to a very large extent cultural. More diving in, say, Argentina, than in Sweden, for example? Ya betcha. A lot more. FIFA will do nothing, at least not as long as merchandise sales for diving teams remain high (which they will). The only thing anyone could do would be if a renegade referee started red-carding ANY and ALL divers, time-markers, actors and similar creeps. Which would very, very quickly empty the pitch (faster in some countries than in others) and cost him his job for life immediately. 68 minutes of 2-on-1 soccer.
Same crap again today. No outcry in the Spain game after two back to back penalties. How was the Paraguay one any different than what happened to DeRossi? How was that not another Spain dive? Instead we get more praise from the commentators on the ref and the players. It's not even in their mindset when they comment or see a replay. It's getting borderline racist with the outcry and criticism there was to the Italians