... in response to Re: Colombia out of World Cup, posted by Kiltboy1 on Oct 13, 2005[This message has been edited by Cali James]
Colombia should never have put itself in this situation to begin with and so in that sense I agree with you. Had they beaten Chile instead of tying them last week, they would have controlled their own destiny. Nothing that had occured between Argentina and Uruguay would have mattered.
But that didn't happen. Qualifying out of the most successful group of soccer nations (South America) is not a given, it's difficult, often times it's settled in the very last matches.
I personally think the 2001 game between Argentina and Uruguay was a huge joke. Maybe not a conspiracy as such but Argentina was content to do nothing, neither team played to win, a tie would send Uruguay through. Do I think that Argentina preferred that Uruguay enter the world cup in 2002, yes. Do I think Argentina took it easy in the game, yes. Do these kind of things happen in the sometimes corrupt world of soccer, all the time. For instance, Mexico was disqualified from World Cup 1990 after a youth national team of theirs played overaged players. Or have you ever watched the U.S. play in Central America with a latin american referee. The Latin American referee's almost always favor the Central American team. I try to be objective but it's not even subtle favortism, it's blatant. Also, soccer in many cases is just a game of inches. United States qualified for the 1990 World Cup after 40 years of absence. They were away from home, needed a win in the last game, and they scored on a fluke shot from 30 yards. A few inches to the right and no trip to Italy for the U.S.. So even the smallest thing that one team does can mean the difference between going and not going for another.
As for this year, a lot tougher to tell if Argentina played less than they're capable of, nevertheless I'm sure the Colombians are wondering.
