Elizondo

Elizondo getting the WC Final is an insult.

This should positively be the last football post. But I feel the same as when I buy any other product and find I've been done.

Here's my post on the Guardian blog on what's wrong with the game:

The main problems with the game for me are the influence of the officials on the game and time-wasting.

I agree with many of the ideas here. Some are no brainers, in particular using video/technology for line calls and offsides, and reviewing punishments after the game. Much as I've admired Figo over the years, he should have had more than a yellow for the head-butt.

One thing I detest is players - usually defenders - shepherding the ball out of play, sometimes for 10 yards. If you prevent another player getting to the ball, it should be treated as if you've touched it.

Another no-brainer is to give us the 90 minutes we've paid for and stop the clock when the ball is out of play. The clock should be stopped if a player is shielding the ball (usually in the corner) so that an opponent can't get to it.

Because of the role of officials, players try to influence them far too much. It's absurd that this is allowed. Football is well behind other sports in this respect: rugby referees don't tolerate Ronaldo-esque behaviour.

Football also lags in the use of technology. Photographs have been used to separate race-horses for a century! Yet we can't even get offside decisions right. Spain-Ukraine could have been quite a different game: probably about 6-3, since Spain could have got as many as they wanted against that defence. Correct calls might have told the Spanish their offside trap was pants while there was still time to do something about it. There's absolutely no reason why video replays couldn't be used when a goal has been scored to check for offside or other infringement, as is done for tries in rugby. Having said this, though, they're apparently thinking about using Hawkeye technology (as used to judge LBWs in cricket) at Wimbledon to replace the current Cyclops line call machine which gives real-time decisions. Football will be two generations of technology behind! Even boxing has addressed some of its problems by having many judges "voting" on decisions in real-time. Football could even do something like that.

These things are unlikely to happen, though, with the present structure of the game. FIFA is far too dictatorial: we're now being told we can't have a FRIENDLY with Greece, because some Greek government minister has put FIFA's nose out of joint. And Blatter is telling us the World Cup will be in Brazil in 2014. Um, are we having a vote? FIFA should just run the World Cup (and women's, U-20, U-17 etc.) - and be a bit more transparent (how are referees selected, for example? Elizondo getting the WC Final has annoyed me again, just as I thought I'd got over Sunday) - and keep its nose out of other competitions. This might also allow a bit more experimentation in national leagues etc. FIFA could then see what changes might work best for the World Cup.

Far too much that FIFA does is to preserve its own authority and the myth that the man in black can stand in the middle of the pitch and get every decision right.

There also needs to be a complete rethink of what behaviours want to be eliminated and the best way to do that. For example, professional fouls have to be picked up and punished at the time, so that a team can't gain an advantage, but violent conduct should be punished with a lengthy ban through looking at video evidence in the cold light of day - the Bowyer-Dyer fight ultimately ended up in court. And (back to the Rooney incident) you can't assume guilt. Players should only be red-carded if they're totally out of control.

Have a look at the vision on FIFA's site if you want to see what's wrong with the game.