More WC2010 Controversy

[Logicalman]

the BBC ran this story today ..http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/8490140.stm

Referee Bonaventure Koffi Codjia suspended by Caf

Benin referee Bonaventure Koffi Codjia has been suspended indefinitely by the Confederation of African Football.

The move comes after he took no action against Algeria's Fawzi Chaouchi, who appeared to head-butt him in the semi-final of the Africa Cup of Nations.

The keeper was only given a yellow card for his confrontation with the referee.

Codjia, who is on the shortlist for the World Cup, did not put the incident in his match report on the game that Algeria lost 4-0.

Chaouchi was enraged by the way in which Egypt's Hosni Abd Rabou ran up to the ball, stopped and feigned his spot kick before stroking it easily into the net.

Codjia awarded the goal and Chaouchi chased after the referee, grabbing him from behind and turning him around and appeared to butt him.

He was quickly dragged away by team-mates.

A minute earlier the referee sent-off Algeria defender Rafik Halliche for a second caution for a tackle that led to Egypt being awarded the penalty.

Chaouchi was later sent off when an attempted kick at an opponent earned a second caution.

Algeria wing back Nadir Belhadj was also given a straight red card for a two-footed lunge with 20 minutes left as his side lost 4-0.

Caf said disciplinary proceedings against Belhadj and Chaouchi would be held next month.

Both face bans which could see them ruled out of the World Cup in South Africa.

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..but for the background to this, the following story makes chilling reading ... The reference to Shankly came to my mind when reading this, as well

http://www.socceramerica.com/blogs/soccer_talk/?p=198

Algeria-Egypt clash proves Orwell right
Posted January 29th, 2010 By Paul Gardner

As soon as I saw his name come up, I felt sorry for the guy. I'm referring to the selection of Koffi Codjia, from Benin, as referee for Thursday's African Nations Cup semifinal between Algeria and Egypt.

An utterly thankless task, a lose-lose situation if ever there was one. This was one of those rivalries where the much praised "passion" of the fans had boiled over and more or less guaranteed a game surrounded by what are often euphemistically called "incidents."

The two countries are old opponents, but there has been very recent bad blood (that is, I'm afraid, the correct word) between them in the World Cup qualifiers for South Africa. When Algeria traveled to Cairo in November its bus was stoned, and three players were injured. Those passionate Egyptian fans, of course.

Despite the attack, the game was played anyway (with the Algerian players hardly having time to recover from the trauma). Egypt's 2-0 win forced a playoff game, which was played at a neutral site, Sudan. A 1-0 win for Algeria in that game sent them to South Africa, and left the Egyptians empty handed.

But the passion needed to vent itself again, and there were more incidents in both Algeria — where Egyptian businesses were attacked — and in Cairo. There was even a charming contribution from Alaa Mubarak, the son of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. On television he accused Algerians of insulting Egyptian dignity, and when that happens, he announced, "I will punch your head."

So when the African Nations Cup, being played in Angola, managed to arrange itself to produce yet another meeting between the two sides, apprehension was already in the air. This was hardly the match the organizers had been waiting for. The Egyptian players, though, saw it differently. A chance for revenge, maybe. There were appeals for calm from the foreign ministers of both countries (yes, we're still talking about a soccer game, not the buildup to a war), plus pompous statements from various political bigwigs — "The match should reflect the historical and fraternal relations between the peoples of the two countries," was how Hisham Youssef from the Arab League saw matters.

Right. And this is what we got from Egyptian striker Mohamed Zidan: "It will be a matter of life and death ... for both sides it will be like a war."

The ghost of good old Bill Shankly and his famous dictum that "soccer is much more important than a matter of life and death" haunts the sport yet again. The Angolan authorities hastened to let everyone know that all would be well and we were reassured with the phrase that has become so familiar at soccer events over the past two decades, "enhanced security measures."

One thing should be emphasized. In last November's crucial games, the incidents had all been among the fans. On the field, between the players, things were competitive but under control.

Not this time. By the end of the game, Algeria had seen three of its players red-carded for violent play. Final score: Egypt 4 Algeria 0. Revenge indeed. And of course, exactly as one had feared, most of the criticism from the losing side was heaped on the referee, the hapless Koffi Codjia. Algerian coach Rabah Saadane was quite certain that "the referee decided the outcome. There was a plan against us when he gave our best defender a red card for what was not a penalty."

What the African soccer confederation website had optimistically billed as the SemiFinal of Reconciliation disintegrated into a nasty tangle of player violence, red cards and accusations of conspiracy.

You can forget about Shankly's inflammatory comment — it is the calm, unemotional logic of George Orwell that applies here. Characterizing sport as "an unfailing cause of ill-will" he felt that if it has any effect at all on international relations "it can only be to make them slightly worse than before."