If it were left to dives the Italians would be walking off with the World Cup right now, unequivocably. The sideshow is the Serie matchfixing scandal, which has taken its share of dives in fortune of their premier clubs. If implicated then Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio, and Fiorentina will be relegated to the Serie second division and barred from playing in the European Cup. Juventus will also be stripped of its Serie title.
The stats on all 8 quarterfinalists: (4 games)
Dives/ Tantrums/ Bullying referees/ Fake injuries
Italy: 25/ 9/ 4/ 7
Brazil: 6/ 5 /0 /3
England: 11/ 11/ 1/ 2
Ukraine: 11/ 5/ 0/ 3
France: 9/ 16/ 2/ 2
Germany: 14/ 7/ 0 / 4
Portugal: 11/ 12/ 2/ 4
Argentina: 14/ 4/ 1/ 6
The cleanest team- Brazil. They really haven’t had to break a sweat. Germany also has had a fairly easy time so they haven’t really had to sell hard either. Their number of dives is a bit high though, but it maybe because of the pace that they play at.
England is not a very clean team either but the Three Lions have had a tough go in each of their matches and this probably accounts for the increased extra-curricular activities. Portugal’s increased stats can be attributed to one game, the war against Netherlands. Before that game, they were quite a clean living team. Ukraine has not done much on the field and they seem naive in the acting department too.
The Romance language countries are the best when it comes to the fine art of selling emotion. France is a bit dive chary but they are not tight lipped at all. The Argentinians are well balanced in all categories but if their dives and fake injuries do not work then they go about their business.
The worst team, Italy. They dive, they fake injuries, and if that does not work they throw tantrums, and if that does not work either then they are most likely to bully the referee too. It is a common consensus that the Italians are the hardest team to officiate. Strangely enough, apart from the Australia and to some extent, the USA match, they really haven’t had a tough tournament. So it probably means that the intensity of the match means less to the Italians when it comes to unleashing their thespian spirit. They just love to emote, and not just with their hands.
I am sure the Socceroos will agree.
Stats from here
9 comments on “Eight teams left: Which team’s dive will win them the World Cup?”
Germany never bullied the referees? Didn’t you watch the Sweden game when they hassled the ref to give Lucic a second yellow and he obliged?
You should have subtitled your table “This table is subject to my bias and not so hidden agenda”.
I would say a table compiled like this might be a useful thing, but of such subjective data only when compiled by the most neutral of people, which it is abundantly clear to me you are not.
And then analysing your table to draw conclusions? Gimme a break.
meh…I’ll pretend that this post is the joke similar to the article it came from 🙂 on the other hand, Italy is a significant contender in these final matches of the cup. Portugal has more firepower than England, ESPECIALLY if they could oust Holland out of the tournament. I still forsee an Argentina/Brazil final, unless Italy holds on, but either one will be fun to watch.
I disagree, it isn’t fun to watch Italy unless you’re specifically pulling for them, because there’s no flow to the match since they’re on the deck half the time.
Sternip,
You don’t wear your biases lightly either. How is it possible to compare Fontaine (dead and gone for many years)? Did you see him play? I am interested in your criteria for comparison.
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Look if the stats had proved me wrong I would have written this article too. And I would have been happy that the Italian team had proven me wrong. As for Sweden they got thoroughly outplayed by the Germans. Lucic, was ineffective marking Klose and got burned again and again. Maybe the Germans got into the referee’s face but Lucic did not do much other than pull and grab players.
But the stats back me up.
The stats were from ‘a website’, therefore it’s not right to treat them as a reliable source.
All I can say to you Dave is that Ronaldo has scored an average of 3.5 goals per world cup in 4 cups (all the other top scoring contenders played 3 cups or less). Fontaine scored 12 in one. I don’t see what difference having seen him play or not makes. I’ve seen clips of most of his goals though.
All I was saying is that newspapers and websites are lauding him is the “greatest ever world cup goalscorer”, which to me is clearly a different thing from holding the record of scoring the most goals
Italy is just a bunch of divers, that it the only way they win their games. The most fair teams would be Brazil, Germany, and England.
meh, all i can say is bitterness..thats all. Diving will always be a part of soccer but think about it..they over-act to grab the refs attention TO make sure they get the penalty..yea italy may overact but atleast there is contact to warrant a penalty. In the final when france was awarded the penalty was absolutely shocking, no contact was made..if contact is made to warrant a penalty by all means go ahead and act..atleast you get the refs attention and actually get your penalty
meh, all i can say is bitterness..thats all. Diving will always be a part of soccer but think about it..they over-act to grab the refs attention TO make sure they get the penalty..yea italy may overact but atleast there is contact to warrant a penalty. In the final when france was awarded the penalty was absolutely shocking, no contact was made..if contact is made to warrant a penalty by all means go ahead and act..atleast you get the refs attention and actually get your penalty