Guest blog: School reporters, Nigeria
Post categories: World Cup 2010, World Cup Have Your Say
| 11:04 UK time, Friday, 25 June 2010
Over the course of the World Cup, World Cup Have Your Say is running a series of guest blogs by bloggers from across the world.
This is the sixth, by three pupils from schools taking part in the British Council's Connecting Classrooms project and are working in partnership with BBC News School Report to provide on-the-spot reports from South Africa.
Too Many Red Cards - Timothy, 17, Abuja, Nigeria
The Fifa 2010 World Cup seems to be witnessing too many red cards - and I think that is making the players to play too cautiously.
Teams are given undue advantage over their opponents as a result of these red cards.
Take, for instance, the red card given to the Super Eagles' midfielder, Sani Kaita, in their second group B match against Greece.
In my opinion, that incidence was an off-the-field foul that should have just earned him a yellow card.
Of course, Kaita's removal gave the Greeks the advantage to win the match.
Again, consider the red card given to the Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Khone in their second group match against Uruguay.
The foul was dramatised by the attacker and Khone should not have been punished. South Africa went on to lose that match by a scandalous three goals to nil.
Fifa should please caution the referees to show mercy when it comes to brandishing the dreaded card at players.
World Class World Cup - Eniola, 16, Abuja, Nigerian
The Fifa 2010 World Cup, hosted by South Africa - the first ever World Cup on African soil - is truly a world-class World Cup.
The stadiums are world class, the facilities on ground are excellent, the watertight security measures put in place by the South African police to ensure safety of lives and property, the global publicity given to the tournament - and to crown it all, the excitement of the vuvuzela and the jabulani ball has added a lot of colour and fanfare to the soccer fiesta.
People from different nationalities have travelled far and wide to go and be part of the World Cup in South Africa, match tickets were completely sold out, and the stadia are usually filled to the brim with passionate soccer-loving fans.
The scenery I witnessed at the Ellis Park stadium on the day Argentina took on Nigeria was to say the least, electrifying and pulsating.
Just watching the fans alone was in itself a great entertainment.
This just goes a long way to show that Africa has come of age and can indeed host the world's biggest soccer fiesta - the Senior Fifa World Cup and should be given more slots for participation.
An African World Cup? - Emmanuel, student from Abuja, Nigeria
Is this truly an African World Cup?
This is the question I keep asking myself - seeing that the African teams, except for the Black Stars of Ghana, have performed below expectation in their first two matches of the competition.
The popular music icon Shakira, in her World Cup theme song, sang that this time is for Africa - meaning that an African team should win the World Cup for the very first time.
As motivational as her song might be, the African teams don't seem to be living up to expectation and must have to raise the level of their games if they intend to make any significant impact on the ongoing World Cup.
BBC News School Report project is a BBC News outreach project which helps young people develop journalistic skills and become "School Reporters".
Throughout the World Cup School Reporters will be sports reporting. To see all their reports and the news from schools in your area go to bbc.co.uk/schoolreport.
Comment number 1.
At 13:34 25th Jun 2010, DT1984 wrote:"Timothy, 17, Abuja, Nigeria"
I agree that there have been to many red cards and silly fouls awarded in the competition up to yet, and is threatening to stifle the competition but i think the two incidents you refer to aren't good examples.
Keita for Nigeria - wherever he was, he kicked the opposition player, straight red and on top of that a ban for violent conduct...
South Africa keeper - in the penalty area, last man, goal scoring chance - red card, no questions.
Some poor decisions for me have been Harry Kewell - penalty yes, but it wasn't a deliberate handball so no red there. Kaka against Ivory Coast - the Ivory Coast player there has disgraced his team and to certain extent the game, hopefully he will pick up a LENGTHY ban for his shameful playacting.
Again Brazil V Ivory Coast - two players go to head the ball, there was no contact between the players other than a clash of heads but the ref gave a free kick to Ivory Coast, disgraceful refereeing for me...
Then yesterday Italy V Slovakia, Pepe put in a viscious challenge on one the Slovakians, and only a yellow card!!
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Comment number 2.
At 16:54 25th Jun 2010, Kevin wrote:I personally think the red cards so far have all been justified (apart from Kaka).
The bigger problem is the offside rule, great decisions are being made, but too often people are judged as "not interfering with play" when in an offside position yet they clearly are interfering with play!
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Comment number 3.
At 01:19 26th Jun 2010, DT1984 wrote:Again tonight, another show of sub-standard refereeing... any one who has ever played football knows that a clash of legs happens - Fenando Torress pretends he's been shot and... yet another red card that has changed not only the game, but the group - consequently the last 16!! yet another refrereing disgrace...
Football - or certainly this worl cup is being ruined by bad referee decisions.
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Comment number 4.
At 10:23 13th Dec 2010, Poonma Bishnoi wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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