BOAT RACE

I’ve watched a good bit of the World Cup, mostly for the drama and pageantry and excitement.  I was in Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market at noon on the day Brazil played Haiti, and the scene was full of fun and energy, with hundreds of yellow-jerseyed fans lining up for pork sandwiches and cheesesteaks and soft pretzels, and singing their team songs.  I can’t say I follow the game or root for a particular team, but I was prepared to be a soccer fan for a couple of months.

 

In other words, I wanted to like the damn thing, and I did at first, but the tournament, as run by FIFA, will offend any real sports fan.

 

I will not dwell on the suspension of U.S. star Folarin Bologun, and his reinstatement following a phone call from Donald Trump to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, except to point out the only conclusion one can draw from the incident---that FIFA and Infantino really don’t care what the world thinks of their integrity and honesty.

 

Regardless of the merits of the Balogun suspension, there was only one possible response to Trump’s plea that would preserve some hint or intimation or soupcon or suggestion that FIFA and Gianni were on the square---the appeal HAD TO BE DENIED, perhaps with an explicit statement that FIFA had been reviewing the suspension but that the process was terminated when the American President attempted to intervene in FIFA’s internal deliberations. 

 

Instead, Infantino, the guy who invented the FIFA Peace Prize and presented it to Trump last December, rolled over.  He didn’t care what his actions said about FIFA and himself.  Or perhaps, in a perverse way, he did.   There is a dictatorial, boss-man mindset in some dictatorial bossmen that doesn’t want to be viewed as fair or impartial.  They just want the world to know THEY are in charge and if you don’t like it, the hell with ya.  Maybe that is the explanation. 

 

But that’s the executives, and bureaucrats, and Trump, and politicians.  It’s not what happens on the field, right?  The problem is that what happens on the field is even worse.

 

Results of games have been pre-arranged, either by refereeing or by agreement of the teams.  The Algeria-Austria match, for example, occurred in the final round of the group stage where a draw would give each squad a single point and allow both to proceed to the elimination rounds.  With Algeria leading 3-2, the final minute of the game featured an absurd spectacle where seven Algerians gathered near the left sideline while an Austrian was permitted to head the tying goal into the net.  The refs then whistled the game over before any more action could occur.

 

Then there was Iran’s surprising elimination when they had taken a 2-1 lead with seconds left in their final match against Egypt.  Their winning goal would have advanced them into the elimination rounds, but it was taken down based on an offsides alert from the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).  The on-field referee did not make the call himself, and the VAR “proof” is still being disputed.  But taking down the goal sent Iran home, which is all anyone wanted, apparently.

 

And that is the fundamental problem with the officiating.  The goal removals and delayed penalty calls only benefit the good guys, the teams FIFA likes and that are “supposed” to advance.  Nobody wanted Iran in the tournament in the first place, and somehow they wound up getting screwed.  Coincidence?

 

And no one is “supposed” to win more than defending champ Argentina with its beloved aging superstar Lionel Messi.

 

In the round of 16, the Argentines faced Egypt, and with the clock ticking away in the second half, the Egyptians forced a turnover in their own end, took the ball all the way down the field and scored to go up 3-0, which would have been an impossible margin for Argentina to overcome.  The referee then reviewed the VAR footage from the other end of the field and decided Egypt had to be penalized for the steal that had happened 40 seconds before the goal was scored.   This took down the goal and allowed the Argentines to execute their “miracle” comeback.

 

In the next game, the quarter-final match against Switzerland, Argentina took a 1-0 lead into the second half.  The Swiss, however, began to dominate play and scored a goal to tie.  IMMEDIATELY after the tying goal, the ref threw out one of the Swiss players, leaving Argentina with an extra man advantage for the remainder of regular time and overtime.  With the Swiss offense hamstrung, Argentina won easily.

 

Defenders of world soccer and the status quo will tell you that VAR, with its embedded cameras and lasers, allows much more accurate officiating.  But as we have seen, that is not what it is used for.  Since the on-field ref maintains complete authority to use VAR suggestions or reject them entirely, the video is used only as CYA evidence by a referee who wants to go back in time to make a call he didn’t make when it happened.  The Egypt penalty that was discovered only after the team had driven the length of the field and scored a goal is ample proof of that.

 

“Boat race” is an archaic bit of slang that only ancient horseplayers like me remember.  Nobody uses it anymore, not even horseplayers.  It means a fixed horse-race.   For many years, the race after the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs was reputed to be a boat race, and it may have been.  It was the perfect time to cheat since, after the Derby, nobody was paying much attention. 

 

As a sports fan, I am appalled by the World Cup.  It appears to be a boat race for Argentina.   That doesn’t mean they will necessarily win it all, since France and Spain and England will probably not cooperate.  (It’s not like pro wrestling where the loser knows he is supposed to lose.) It does mean that FIFA and its officiating will do everything in their power to send Messi and company out in a blaze of glory.

 

Copyright2026MichaelKubacki