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The Truth about Cheating in Football


Amanda Rodriguez
Message Amanda Rodriguez
It's the World Cup tournament, teams are anxious, nations are anxious, and fans are, well you guessed it, quite anxious too. Sports are highly competitive, especially when they are played for an audience as big as the world, while representing one's country. So, what's cheating if even the referee didn't see it? If it was that bad it would have been noticeable, right? Well, some footballers have confesed to cheating, whether it's been during a qualifying game or a quarter final or the final battle for the Holy Cup of International Football. After the match between Germany and Argentina, Neuer gave this account of his actions: "I tried not to react to the referee and just concentrate on what was happening. I realized it was over the line and I think the way I carried on so quickly fooled the referee into thinking it was not over." Ah, so the ability to cheat through clever manners justifies the cheating.The most famous of these incidents was Diego Maradona's goal in Argentina's 1986 World Cup match against England, which he later described as having been scored "a little with the head ofMaradonaand a little with thehand of God." Replays left no doubt that it was the hand of Maradona that scored the goal. Twenty years later, he admitted in a BBC interview that he had intentionally acted as if it were a goal, in order to deceive the referee. Clever, quite clever indeed.Something similar happened last November, in a game between France and Ireland that decided which of the two nations went to the World Cup. The French striker Thierry Henry used his hand to control the ball and pass to a teammate, who scored the decisive goal. Asked about the incident after the match, Henry said: "I will be honest, it was a handball. But I'm not the ref. I played it, the ref allowed it. That's a question you should ask him." Of course, how could France not make it to the World Cup tournament. There are noble sportsmen who play for the love of the game, not only for the love of the aftermath.The Australian batsman Adam Gilchrist "walked" in the 2003 World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka, although the umpire had already declared him not out. His decision surprised some of his teammates but won applause from many cricket fans. Many young people consider athletes as their heros. If the hero cheats, will he/she stop being a hero and disappoint a fan, or will this fan continue this pattern and cheat too? The bottom line is: cheating in any circumstance is wrong; honesty, even when it means you have to give up the World Cup, is sometimes more appreciated than the winnings.
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I study anthropology, mathematics, and German. I am very interested in traveling the world and speaking more than 3 languages (already on my way). I basically like to read about theoretical physics and math and linguistics.
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