PHILADELPHIA – I typically defend referees (and get some flak for it). It’s a very hard job with very little gratitude under very great pressure. All the while you have players trying to cheat and you have to be everywhere at once. When you get things right nobody notices. When you get things wrong everybody does. And, after all of those caveats, I need to say: France vs Paraguay was a disgrace.
Against Argentina, Cape Verde demonstrated one way an underdog can punch up: cavalier attacking, tactical courage and the liberty that comes with never thinking you would be in this position and never assuming you will be again.
Paraguay, for balance, had a different plan in mind. They completed 62 passes in the first 70 minutes. They defended so deep they risked creating a trench in their penalty area. They were physical to the point of farce. And that’s the point on which the game got stuck for an hour.
It worked because Paraguay were not stopped. There has clearly been a directive during this World Cup to keep the number of yellow cards to a minimum and avoid suspensions in the knockout rounds. Which on some level is to be applauded. We don’t want fussiness to the point of distraction.
But at some point laissez-faire ends and prison rules begin. In Philadelphia., Ilgiz Tantashev repeatedly allowed Paraguayan players to almost literally kick, claw and scratch their way into a contest. They lashed out. They went to ground too easily. They stayed down to get treatment.
