BARCELONA, Spain — The World Cup proved a triumph for the predictions of Paul the Octopus, which accurately forecast the rise and fall of Germany and the ultimate victory of Spain, after football pundits and the quants with their battery of supercomputers had tipped Brazil, Argentina, Germany or even hapless England to win.
Nevertheless, now that the vuvuzelas have sounded their last hurrahs, troubling questions remain, particularly about the dirty play at the heart of the "Beautiful Game." FIFA, the governing body of the international sport, has a 140-page book of rules and regulations that say not a word about the most troubling aspect of the game — cheating.
Players and coaches are so intent on winning at all costs that cheating is part of the performance. Germany's goalkeeper Manuel Neuer boasted that by carrying on as if nothing had happened after Englishman Frank Lampard's shot had bounced out of his goal, he may have fooled the referee into believing that the ball had not crossed the line. FIFA said nothing, did nothing, even after Neuer made his provocative comments.