Nestor Zapata-Lopez
____________________
Its been over four years and I can still picture his open mouth shriek, dramatic fall, and pro-longed roll on the ground. The Mexican defender had barley grazed his toe but whats that your parents tell you, if you believe it hard enough it will come true. Well thats just what this soccer player named Arjen Robben from the Netherlands did in the 2014 World Cup round of 16. In a close match against Mexico this attacker put the acting skills he got from his eighth production of Peter Pan on display. Oh! and by God did he believe and unfortunately for Mexico so did the referee whom if he saw a women getting mugged on the street would've given the assailant his car so he could get away. The penalty he awarded Robben would end up being converted thus eliminating Mexico from the competition.
Let me give you a quick lesson on the two types of floppers I dislike. The first one is serial flopper whom I love because their pretend skills suck and even my 6 year old niece who still believes Santa is real would call b.s. The second type are the suspected floppers and were obviously part of the Drama club in high school because you could say its Golden Globe worthy performances. These type of floppers for the most part get away with it. Take Christiano Ronaldo for example who will probably audition for a role in the next Fast and Furious as Mr. Steal Your Goal, sometime after he retires. This guy has pulled so many calls his way mostly because of his world class caliber play coupled with his GQ appearance and his ability to sell his flops at just the right time. His performance in the 2010 World Cup is a prime example in a match against Iran to advance to the knockout stage. The whole match he kept challenging the left wing ultimately to finally draw a foul inside the box and receive a penalty kick. In the end the joke was on him as the goalkeeper blocked the kick and gave Iran the draw. But it was how he sold the flop and the timing of it that was impressive.
Flopping in various forms is mostly used to achieve a reward. My passion for the sport of soccer carries on only because legends like Lionel Messi still remain on the pitch demonstrate integrity day in and day out. Players like this realize that flopps take you only so far whereas just staying on your feet can result in putting the ball into the back the net more often than none. His most memorable goal was in April 27 2011 against Real Madrid where despite getting dirty tackles from their whole defense Messi stayed on his feet and converted a beautiful goal.
You know how a little part of you dies anytime you see a person dip a perfectly thin crust New York Style pizza slice into a bath of ranch. Well every time I see a World Class soccer player dive himself into the grass following a whisper of a boot to his leg, my blood cell count decreases.
Whats even worst than watching someone flop is being victim to the crime. Take me for example. It was earlier this past summer and my club had fought well to make it to the city Championship. Now given the demographic of the city the opponents looked like they just rolled in from the Hampton, an all white cast. While my club consisted of mostly Hispanics with a dash of others ethnicities. Nevertheless our backgrounds had nothing to do with the great match that was put on display. With this in mind it was a close score towards the end with my team down by one with just under 10 minutes remaining when that flopping crime occurred. I had defended number 7 near flawlessly all match until he decided it was time to unveil his secret weapon. By the way it was no secret. Number 7 decided to put on a show after both of us went up for a header which led to his solo performance of "to fake an injury" as he fell to the ground. He clutched his head so tight as if it was being sucked up by space. Then in a brief moment when the referee back was turned to him he look up at me as I arguing with ref and shot a grin. Needless to say my blood cell count rose causing me to rifle words at the ref that shouldn't be heard by anyone thereby reducing my team to 10 men as I was sent off.
Provided that flopping is as much part of the game as the ball itself, the cost of getting caught flopping must not out weight the reward of actually getting away with flopping. That is not the case with me, whereas I hope whom ever is about to flop mistimes it and ends up receiving a red card for trying to fool the ref over a free kick from mid field. "Justice is served!' I yell every time I see that. May the reign of soccer integrity rule over the evils of flop doers all over the world for many years to come. This last part is for FIFA; Eliminate this absurd act of flopping from the world of soccer and restore it to its natural glory.
____________________
Its been over four years and I can still picture his open mouth shriek, dramatic fall, and pro-longed roll on the ground. The Mexican defender had barley grazed his toe but whats that your parents tell you, if you believe it hard enough it will come true. Well thats just what this soccer player named Arjen Robben from the Netherlands did in the 2014 World Cup round of 16. In a close match against Mexico this attacker put the acting skills he got from his eighth production of Peter Pan on display. Oh! and by God did he believe and unfortunately for Mexico so did the referee whom if he saw a women getting mugged on the street would've given the assailant his car so he could get away. The penalty he awarded Robben would end up being converted thus eliminating Mexico from the competition.
Let me give you a quick lesson on the two types of floppers I dislike. The first one is serial flopper whom I love because their pretend skills suck and even my 6 year old niece who still believes Santa is real would call b.s. The second type are the suspected floppers and were obviously part of the Drama club in high school because you could say its Golden Globe worthy performances. These type of floppers for the most part get away with it. Take Christiano Ronaldo for example who will probably audition for a role in the next Fast and Furious as Mr. Steal Your Goal, sometime after he retires. This guy has pulled so many calls his way mostly because of his world class caliber play coupled with his GQ appearance and his ability to sell his flops at just the right time. His performance in the 2010 World Cup is a prime example in a match against Iran to advance to the knockout stage. The whole match he kept challenging the left wing ultimately to finally draw a foul inside the box and receive a penalty kick. In the end the joke was on him as the goalkeeper blocked the kick and gave Iran the draw. But it was how he sold the flop and the timing of it that was impressive.
Flopping in various forms is mostly used to achieve a reward. My passion for the sport of soccer carries on only because legends like Lionel Messi still remain on the pitch demonstrate integrity day in and day out. Players like this realize that flopps take you only so far whereas just staying on your feet can result in putting the ball into the back the net more often than none. His most memorable goal was in April 27 2011 against Real Madrid where despite getting dirty tackles from their whole defense Messi stayed on his feet and converted a beautiful goal.
You know how a little part of you dies anytime you see a person dip a perfectly thin crust New York Style pizza slice into a bath of ranch. Well every time I see a World Class soccer player dive himself into the grass following a whisper of a boot to his leg, my blood cell count decreases.
Whats even worst than watching someone flop is being victim to the crime. Take me for example. It was earlier this past summer and my club had fought well to make it to the city Championship. Now given the demographic of the city the opponents looked like they just rolled in from the Hampton, an all white cast. While my club consisted of mostly Hispanics with a dash of others ethnicities. Nevertheless our backgrounds had nothing to do with the great match that was put on display. With this in mind it was a close score towards the end with my team down by one with just under 10 minutes remaining when that flopping crime occurred. I had defended number 7 near flawlessly all match until he decided it was time to unveil his secret weapon. By the way it was no secret. Number 7 decided to put on a show after both of us went up for a header which led to his solo performance of "to fake an injury" as he fell to the ground. He clutched his head so tight as if it was being sucked up by space. Then in a brief moment when the referee back was turned to him he look up at me as I arguing with ref and shot a grin. Needless to say my blood cell count rose causing me to rifle words at the ref that shouldn't be heard by anyone thereby reducing my team to 10 men as I was sent off.
Provided that flopping is as much part of the game as the ball itself, the cost of getting caught flopping must not out weight the reward of actually getting away with flopping. That is not the case with me, whereas I hope whom ever is about to flop mistimes it and ends up receiving a red card for trying to fool the ref over a free kick from mid field. "Justice is served!' I yell every time I see that. May the reign of soccer integrity rule over the evils of flop doers all over the world for many years to come. This last part is for FIFA; Eliminate this absurd act of flopping from the world of soccer and restore it to its natural glory.
Comments
Post a Comment