To fill the void during the countdown to kickoff, lists of the World Cup’s greatest goals, teams and players are endlessly paraded out and debated. But while the tournament is a platform for exquisite moments of individual beauty, team perfection and general human superlatives, soccer is a sport of both high and low culture. Rogues are celebrated as much as legends, and as any longtime fan will tell you, the searing pain of a nation’s hopes being dashed in sinister circumstances lasts longer than the thrill of any crucial goal, sublime pass or plucky victory.

Disgrace and controversy have been fixtures of every World Cup from the very first tournament onward. In 1930 a Uruguayan goalkeeper went on a scandalous, Caligula-style bender to release eight weeks of isolation suffered in training camp. And in 2006, French legend Zinedine Zidane’s remaking of soccer in Vince McMahon’s image courtesy of his infamous coupe de boule was detected not by the referee but by the fourth official, despite the fact FIFA had steadfastly eschewed the use of instant replay.

Controversy plays a hallowed role in the tournament’s history. For FIFA, an audience of millions watching the game is important, but making sure that audience talks about the tournament is almost as critical. The thrill of victory makes the heart skip a beat but the joy fades and can be forgotten. The stain of scandal or the sting of being robbed and cheated sticks in the throat like a fishbone that cannot be dislodged for decades. (To test this theory under scientific conditions, wait 20 years, go into any Irish bar and raise your glass in public toast to Thierry Henry.)

Here are 10 of the most fabled controversies in World Cup history, the embers of which still burn today.

1. Back in black: Italy versus France, 1938

AP Photo

With Europe on the brink of war, Mussolini’s Italian team, defending champions, reveled in their role as tournament heel. Their fixtures in France drew boisterous mobs of exiled Italian anti-fascists, up to 10,000 strong, who came to jeer their country’s every move. These protests only appeared to raise the Italians’ game. Led by the cunning play of Giuseppe Meazza, the team strolled to a second consecutive world championship.

Controversy came in the quarterfinals against the hosts. As both teams sported blue jerseys, Italy was asked to bring its alternate shirts which were traditionally white. Instead, on Mussolini’s orders, the team took to the field in black shirts, the Maglia Nera, a symbol of the feared and despised Italian fascist paramilitary. It was a gesture purposefully designed to goad the thousands of French and Italian protestors in the crowd. As an additional flourish, Il Duce ordered his players to hold the fascist salutes they effected before kickoff until the howling protestors had run out of energy. The team kept the title for the next 12 years as even the World Cup was trumped by the swirling conflict which consumed the Continent.

2. Fists of fury: Italy versus Chile, 1962

AP Photo

The Italians’ reputation for Machiavellian tactics became legendary in the wake of the “Battle of Santiago,” against Chile. One of the most violent games in World Cup history, this was more martial arts demonstration than soccer match. The action was so shocking that the BBC saw fit to preface a broadcast of the game film with the following warning: “Good evening. The game you are about to see is the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football, possibly in the history of the game.”

It took just 12 seconds for the first foul to be inflicted and 12 minutes for the first player to be sent off, Italian midfielder Giorgio Ferrini, who refused to leave the field and had to be forcibly removed by police. After attempting to officiate the 90-minute riot, referee Ken Aston was inspired to invent yellow and red cards in the wake, admitting “I wasn’t reffing a football match, I was acting as an umpire in military maneuvers.”

3. War reparations: England versus West Germany, 1966

Soccer truly came home when the World Cup was played for the first time in England, the nation which invented the game. The hosts won their only championship, but the legality of their winning goal has always been hotly contested, and their beaten foe, West Germany, proceeded to become one of their greatest rivals.

The final was played at Wembley Stadium in London, a city the Luftwaffe had nearly blitzed into submission 26 years before. The 93,000 who packed the stands were bolstered by 400 million others tuning into televised broadcasts of the game — the first played between these two rivals since the war. The game was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation. Eleven minutes into overtime, English striker Geoff Hurst smashed the ball goalward from close range inside the German box. The ball cannoned off the underside of the German bar and appeared to bounce either over the line or exactly on it depending whether you are English or German. The only opinion that mattered, though, was that of Soviet linesman Tofik Bakhramov, who awarded the goal. There is an apocryphal story that when Bakhramov was on his deathbed he was asked how he was so sure it was a goal and he gave the one-word reply “Stalingrad,” referring to the bloody World War II battle in which 750,000 Soviets died.

4. Wristicuffs: England’s Bogota bracelet scandal, 1970

England may have been defending champion at Mexico 1970, but the English were vehemently despised across Latin America. The entire continent was still simmering over the last World Cup, which was widely believed to have been fixed. The English further offended their hosts by flying in an arsenal of frozen meals so their squad could avoid local cuisine and the Montezuma’s revenge they associated with it.

On the way to the tournament, the English stopped off in Bogota, Colombia, and their captain and national talisman, Bobby Moore, was apprehended for allegedly stealing an emerald bracelet. The rest of the team travelled on, but the iconic defender was placed under house arrest for four days before being released.

The modern-day equivalent of the incident would be if Wayne Rooney was jailed on the way to South Africa. The temporary loss of Moore unsettled the English squad, who became further sleep-deprived thanks to the flotilla of Mexican automobiles that spent the wee hours honking its horns as it circled the Guadalajara Hilton, the poorly chosen English base camp. West Germany had its revenge for 1966 as it picked off a tired England in the quarterfinals.

5. Don’t cry for me, Netherlands: Netherlands versus Argentina, 1978

Argentina, the hosts, reached the final against the creative Dutch side in murky circumstances. The Argentineans needed a four-goal victory to qualify for the championship game, and were able to blast six past a strangely paralyzed Peruvian side that was later rumored to have been paid handsomely to fix the score.

Few games have been played in a more intimidating atmosphere than the final, held in the raucous atmosphere of Buenos Aires Estadio Monumental. The trophy was claimed with moments of technically brilliant soccer, but the hosts’ gamesmanship also had an influential role in the outcome. First, the Dutch team bus was taken on a prolonged and circuitous route to the stadium. Then the Dutch were kept on the field for nearly 10 minutes before the game began, as their hosts chose to remain in the locker room, leaving the Dutch to face a war of nerves, alone with only a hostile crowd of more than 70,000 for company.

The Argentineans finally emerged, only to question the legality of a plaster cast on Dutch midfielder Rene van der Kerkhof’s hand, which had been sanctioned by FIFA and worn in previous games. Having won the mind games, Argentina set about winning the actual game, delivering the trophy the ruling Argentinean military junta craved.

6. Teutonic stitch-up: West Germany versus Austria, 1982

AP Photo

Plucky Algeria kicked off its first World Cup tournament by shocking West Germany 2-1. Back then, group games were not played at the same time, and subsequent results meant the Germans lined up for their final group game against Austria aware that a 1-0 victory would allow both teams to progress at Algeria’s expense.

The Austrians proceeded to leak a goal within the first 10 minutes before the competition drew to a screeching halt. Collusion has never been proven, but suffice it to say the ball barely made it out of midfield for the remainder of the game. Outraged Algerian fans powerlessly waved banknotes from the terraces to suggest that the fix was in. One German fan expressed his displeasure by setting fire to his own flag. The team’s hotel was besieged by its own fans, who mounted a protest back at the hotel, but the team’s coach, Jupp Derwall, dismissed his critics, arguing “we wanted to progress, not play football.” The incident’s legacy was the changing of the rule for subsequent tournaments. The final two games in each group are now played simultaneously.

7. Sheiken, not stirred: France versus Kuwait, 1982

AP Photo

The fluid French delighted with their elegant and potent attacking soccer throughout the tournament. Led by the offensive creativity of the “Three Musketeers” — Michel Platini, Alain Giresse and Jean Tigana — they were almost unstoppable in the opening round. And then they met the Kuwaitis, who unleashed a novel strategy to prevent them from scoring. Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, president of the Kuwait Football Association, left his seat and stormed the field, removing his players in protest of a French goal that he believed had been scored only after his players had heard a whistle blown from the stands and stopped playing. The match official, Ukrainian Miroslav Stupar, wilted in the spotlight and reversed his original decision, disallowing the goal, the only time a World Cup decision was vetoed by a member of the crowd. The French still won 4-1.

8. Fallen god: Maradona, 1986, 1994

England faced Argentina in the 1986 quarterfinal grudge match, the first time the two rivals had met after fighting a real war over the Falkland Islands. Logic would dictate that an experienced referee would be handed the duty. Instead, the Tunisian representative Ali Bennaceur was awarded his first World Cup game. In the 51st minute, Maradona used the “Hand of God” to punch the ball past a stunned English goalkeeper into the back of the net. Everyone in the world saw the illegal use of a fist, apart from the one guy who mattered. Bennaceur awarded the goal, and later blamed his error on a hemorrhoid treatment he was taking that affected his sight. When challenged about the legality of his goal, Maradona innocently yet poetically suggested it was scored with a “little bit of the hand of God, a little bit of Maradona’s head.”

Just eight years later, the Argentinean was the villain of the tournament, sent home for ephedrine doping. After scoring an opening-round goal, he celebrated in such a hopped-up style that a urine sample was almost unnecessary. Grabbing a sideline television camera and pressing his mug against it, Maradona was, in the words of the Guardian, “broadcast around the world, his contorted features made him look like a lunatic, flying on a cocktail of adrenalin and every recreational drug known to man.”

9. Diving is believing: South Korea versus Italy, Spain, 2002

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Just because you are paranoid does not mean they aren’t out to get you. When host South Korea bounced Italy from the 2002 tournament, Italian manager Giovanni Trapattoni cried conspiracy. The referee, Byron Moreno of Ecuador, seemed hell-bent on ensuring the Koreans progressed, disallowing a perfectly fine Italian goal and controversially sending off their star, Francesco Totti, for diving to draw a foul.

The Spanish newspapers belittled the Italian claims, but when Spain lost to Korea in the next round, the Spanish newspapers changed their tune, with Marca’s headline screaming “Italy was right!” Referee Gamal Ghandour disallowed two legal Spanish goals and his linesmen — one Ugandan, the other Trinidadian — judged one Spanish attack after another to be offside. Moreno returned to a hero’s welcome in Ecuador but was out of the game within a year after receiving two domestic bans for crooked refereeing. Ghandour retired shortly after Spanish newspapers accused him of accepting a Hyundai car as a “gift” on behalf of the Korean Football Association.

10. Battle of the brewskis, 2006

The most protracted argument at the last World Cup was neither the “Battle of Nuremberg” between Portugal and the Netherlands — in which a jittery Russian referee, Valentin Ivanov, awarded a startling 16 yellow cards and four reds — nor was it the performance of English referee Graham Poll, an infamously smug official who awarded Croatian Josip Simunic three yellow cards when two should have been sufficient to grant him an early bath. The most heated controversy occurred before a ball had been kicked when the German media discovered that America’s own Budweiser, King of Beers, had been granted a monopoly on sales inside World Cup stadia.

Bitburger, plucky manufacturers of a local beer known as Bit, were goaded into suing as the hometown press whipped up the conflict to a foamy head. Der Speigel demanded, “What is this U.S. beer? An amber-colored cold drink that gives you a headache without making you drunk,” furious that an American brew was the only one on sale in a country famed for its beer. Under local pressure, Bud was forced to relent, permitting its local rival to be available on tap as long as it was sold in unmarked cups.

Roger Bennett is the co-author of the forthcoming “ESPN World Cup Companion,” your guide to everything you need to know to enjoy the 2010 World Cup. E-mail him at sirfabiocapello@yahoo.com.

In an earlier post I went into great detail about this. Today I am only going to show that the atheist and humanist has no intellectual basis for saying that one group of humans versus another group should survive at all. Of course, Christians have the Bible which teaches that all are created in God’s image and have value.

1919 Adolf Hitler Letter Unveiled

A letter written by Adolf Hitler in 1919, over a decade before he became the future Chancellor of Germany , has been revealed to the public for the first time in New York.

According to BBC, the letter was displayed briefly at the Museum of Tolerance in New York, before being purchased by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which will place it on permanent display at their Los Angeles location.

The statement by the then 30-year-old soldier is regarded as a key historical document from the period because it demonstrates how early the future Nazi leader was forming his views.

The document suggests that Hitler already believed, more than two decades before the Holocaust, that Jews should be removed from society.

“To begin with, Judaism is definitely a racial and not a religious group,” writes Hitler in the four page document that is also known as the “Gemlich letter.”

Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in LA explained that his organization purchased the letter- originally found at the end of WWII by an American soilder- for $150,000 from a private dealer.

When questioned on the reasoning behind the purchase, the Rabbi explained:

“It does not belong in private hands. It has too much to say to history. It belongs in public hands, and it has found its home at the Museum of Tolerance.”

“This is the first document of its kind that deals with the Jews exclusively and postulates the solution,” Hier went on to say. “We have 50,000 archives, and this is the most important archive I’ve ever seen.”

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I am a big Woody Allen movie fan and no other movie better demonstrates the need for an afterlife  than Allen’s 1989 film  Crimes and Misdemeanors. This film also brought up the view that Hitler believed that “might made right.” How can an atheist argue against that?  Basically Woody Allen is attacking the weaknesses in his own agnostic point of view!! Take a look at the video clip below when he says in the absence of God, man has to do the right thing. What chance is there that will happen?

Crimes and Misdemeanors is  about a eye doctor who hires a killer to murder his mistress because she continually threatens to blow the whistle on his past questionable, probably illegal, business activities. Afterward he is haunted by guilt. His Jewish father had taught him that God sees all and will surely punish the evildoer.

“Come on Sol, open your eyes. Six million Jews burned to death by the Nazi’s, and they got away with it because might makes right,” says Aunt May.

Sol replies, “May, how did they get away with it?”

Judah asks, “If a man kills, then what?”

Sol responds to his son, “Then in one way or another he will be punished.”

Aunt May comments, “I say if he can do it and get away with it and he chooses not to be bothered by the ethics, then he is home free.”

Judah’s final conclusion was that might did make right. He observed that one day, because of this conclusion, he woke up and the cloud of guilt was gone. He was, as his aunt said, “home free.”

The basic question Woody Allen is presenting to his own agnostic humanistic worldview is: If you really believe there is no God there to punish you in an afterlife, then why not murder if you can get away with it?  The secular humanist worldview that modern man has adopted does not work in the real world that God has created. God “has planted eternity in the human heart…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). This is a direct result of our God-given conscience. The apostle Paul said it best in Romans 1:19, “For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God  has shown it to them” (Amplified Version).

Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen – 1989) – Final scenes

It’s no wonder, then, that one of Allen’s fellow humanists would comment, “Certain moral truths — such as do not kill, do not steal, and do not lie — do have a special status of being not just ‘mere opinion’ but bulwarks of humanitarian action. I have no intention of saying, ‘I think Hitler was wrong.’ Hitler WAS wrong.” (Gloria Leitner, “A Perspective on Belief,” The Humanist, May/June 1997, pp.38-39). Here Leitner is reasoning from her God-given conscience and not from humanist philosophy. It wasn’t long before she received criticism.

Humanist Abigail Ann Martin responded, “Neither am I an advocate of Hitler; however, by whose criteria is he evil?” (The Humanist, September/October 1997, p. 2.). Humanists don’t really have an intellectual basis for saying that Hitler was wrong, but their God-given conscience tells them that they are wrong on this issue.

Prince William and Kate moved in together about a year ago. In this clip above the commentator suggested that maybe Prince Charles and Princess Diana would not have divorced if they had lived together before marriage. Actually Diana was a virgin, and it was Charles’ uncle (Louis Mountbatten) that gave him the advice that he should seek to marry a virgin. 

I really do wish Kate and William success in their marriage. I hope they truly are committed to each other, and if they are then the result will be a marriage that lasts their whole lifetime. Nevertheless, I do not think it is best to live together before marriage like they did, and I writing this series to help couples see how best to prepare for marriage.

Researcher Scott Stanley’s case is this: Women living unmarried with guys and expecting a lasting, committed marriage down the line had better review their options. His research finds that men who cohabit with the women they eventually marry are less committed to the union than men who never lived with their spouses ahead of time. Stanley, co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver, says the evidence from his research is so strong that cohabiting women “should be very careful about how aligned they are with a particular man if he does not show any strong sense of marriage and a future together.” Men who either drift into marriage “through inertia” following a cohabiting arrangement or who are “dragged down the aisle” by women who finally put their feet down aren’t good marriage risks, he says. (Cohabiting Is Not The Same As Commitment – by Karen S. Peterson, USA TODAY July 8, 2002)

Weekend to Remember “Getaway” Half Price Discount

By Steve Goff  |  June 19, 2010; 9:59 AM ET
Categories:  2010 World Cup , U.S. men’s national team  | Tags: American soccer, Bob Bradley, South Africa, World Cup

Wilson Picks the Argentina vs Peru in 78. (below I got this from the internet)

Argentina have been involved in numerous World Cup controversies over the years – some going for them, and others against. In their own edition of 1978, they were involved in a hugely notorious affair that saw them qualify for the final where they would beat the Netherlands 3-1.

In the second group stage, Argentina needed to beat Copa America holders Peru by four clear goals to reach the final ahead of bitter rivals Brazil. They won 6-0 but there were dark rumors that Peru, who had an Argentine-born goalkeeper, had thrown the game. Certainly the ease in which the Peruvians capitulated raised eyebrows, especially as this was a fine team that contained stars such as Teofilo Cubillas.

I got this list below off the internet.

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Top 10 Most Controversial World Cup Games

Following the ‘Hand of Henry’ on Wednesday night that prevented Ireland from traveling to South Africa, Carlo Garganese counts down the 10 most controversial World Cup games.

10) Fabio Grosso’s Fall – Italy vs Australia 2006

Ask your average Australian football fan (those without Italian heritage) who their most hated individual is, and Fabio Grosso will be high up on the list.
This all revolves around a controversial incident during the 2006 World Cup second round clash in Kaiserslautern. The Azzurri were in a very precarious position as they were down to 10 men, had used their three substitutes, and were starting to tire as the game moved towards inevitable extra time.

Then, deep into injury time, left back Grosso pounced on a mistake, cut into the area before going down under the challenge of Lucas Neill. The referee pointed to the spot, and Francesco Totti buried his penalty with the last kick. Italy would go on to win their first World Cup in 24 years, but Australia still argue to this day that Grosso dived. While Neill was naive in going to ground, and there was definitely contact – at the same time it is clear that Grosso was looking for the penalty. Nevertheless, Italy fans often point out that they had been dominating the game until the 50th minute when defender Marco Materazzi was straight red carded for an offense that wasn’t worth any more than a yellow.

9) Schande von Gijón (The Shame of Gijón) – West Germany vs Austria 1982

Next summer Algeria will make their first World Cup appearance for 24 years, and if there is one team they will be dying to face it will be Germany. Back in 1982, the North Africans caused a sensation when they defeated the European Champions West Germany 2-1 in the opening game of Group 2 thanks to goals from the legendary Rabah Madjer and Lakhdar Belloumi.

Algeria attained four points from their three games (two wins and a defeat), and would be guaranteed a place in the next round providing West Germany didn’t defeat Austria by one or two goals in the final game of the pool.

The West Germans launched wave after wave of early attacks, taking a 10th minute lead through Horst Hrubesch. For the following 80 minutes both sides, knowing that the current scoreline would qualify them both, made virtually no attempt to attack with the ball almost continuously being passed sideways.

The crowd in Gijón were disgusted by what they saw. Algerian fans waved banknotes and white handkerchiefs, while Spaniards chanted “Fuera, fuera” (“Out, out”). One German supporter was so ashamed that he burnt his national flag. Algeria complained to FIFA, but their protest was rejected. This game did result in one important change to the rules as from Euro ’84 onwards the last games of a group in international tournaments always took place at the same time so that teams didn’t know in advance what result they required.

8) Peru Pummelling – Argentina vs Peru 1978

Argentina have been involved in numerous World Cup controversies over the years – some going for them, and others against. In their own edition of 1978, they were involved in a hugely notorious affair that saw them qualify for the final where they would beat the Netherlands 3-1.

In the second group stage, Argentina needed to beat Copa America holders Peru by four clear goals to reach the final ahead of bitter rivals Brazil. They won 6-0 but there were dark rumors that Peru, who had an Argentine-born goalkeeper, had thrown the game. Certainly the ease in which the Peruvians capitulated raised eyebrows, especially as this was a fine team that contained stars such as Teofilo Cubillas.

7) Spain vs Yugoslavia 1982

Spain’s performance at their own World Cup in 1982 was a really miserable one. They won just once in five games, scoring only four goals – of which two were controversial penalties.

Indeed the Spaniards wouldn’t have even made it out of the groups but for refereeing favors. They trailed 1-0 to outsiders Honduras in their opening match and only earned a 1-1 draw thanks to a disputed Roberto Ufarte penalty, while they were humiliatingly defeated 1-0 by Northern Ireland in their final match of Group 5.

Only a 2-1 win over Yugoslavia saw them qualify for the second group phase, but this was secured in infamous fashion. Trailing 1-0, Spain were awarded a penalty for a Yugoslavian foul that occurred clearly two yards outside the area. Ufarte struck his penalty wide, but the referee then demanded a retake which Juanito made no mistake from. Spain went on to win 2-1, while Yugoslavia would eventually be eliminated despite going into the tournament as one of the favorites.

Yugoslavia would earn their revenge eight years later at Italia ’90 when they defeated Spain 2-1 in the second phase, thanks to two brilliant goals from the legendary Dragan Stojkovic.

6) From Russia With Two Offsides – USSR vs Belgium 1986

Believe it or not, there are some people who believe that Argentina vs England was not the most controversial game of the 1986 World Cup. The alternative is the round of 16 clash between the USSR and Belgium in Leon.

The match ended in a thrilling 4-3 extra time win for the Belgians, but it would not be unfair to declare that the USSR were cheated out of the tournament. The Soviets, who contained many of the exceptional Dynamo Kiev team that had won the Cup Winners’ Cup just a month earlier (including star man Igor Belanov below who scored a hat-trick and won the Ballon d’Or that year), were clearly the superior team and created chance after chance throughout the 120 minutes.

But they were denied by a referee and two linesmen seemingly wearing Belgian shirts. The USSR twice led in normal time, but twice Belgium equalized through clearly offside goals, the second from Jan Ceulemans on 77 minutes in which he was an incredible five yards ahead of play.

5) Antonio Rattin’s ‘Violence of the tongue’ – Argentina vs England 1966

For many people in Argentina, Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ in 1986 was revenge on England for another World Cup quarter final between the two countries twenty years earlier where the South Americans felt they were cheated.

Hosts England won the game 1-0 through a 78th minute Geoff Hurst goal, but not before Argentina had had captain Antonio Rattin controversially sent off in the 35th minute for arguing with the referee. Rattin initially refused to leave the field, believing that the ref wanted England to win, and when he did finally walk the 29-year-old insulted the Queen.

Three Lions manager Sir Alf Ramsey let rip at the opposition with comments that were viewed as racist in Argentina. “We have still to produce our best, and this is not possible until we meet the right sort of opponents, and that is a team that comes out to play football and not act as animals,” sniped Ramsey.

Post match statistics showed that Argentina had committed only 19 fouls in the game, to England’s 33, while the referee spoke no Spanish so could not have understood what Rattin said to him. Back in Argentina, it was pointed out that the referee in the England game was German, while the official in Germany’s quarter final was English.

4) Rudi Voller’s dive – West Germany vs Argentina 1990

For many it was poetic justice after a painfully negative Argentina side had somehow scraped through all the way to the final, winning two penalty shootouts along the way.

In the Rome showpiece against West Germany, the holders had again ridden their luck in arguably the dullest final of all time. But they were then undone by the referee in the closing stages. First Pedro Monzon became the first player in history to be red carded in a World Cup final after a clear dive by Jurgen Klinsmann on his challenge. Then, with five minutes remaining, the Germans were awarded a penalty when Rudi Voller went down far too easily in the box. Andreas Brehme converted the spot-kick and Germany were champions. Argentina cried foul, claiming that no one wanted them to win after they had knocked out hosts Italy in the semis.

3) Korea 2002 – Italy, Spain & Portugal cry conspiracy

The 2002 World Cup has gone down in infamy due to the huge number of refereeing mistakes that helped eliminate a string of top nations, and also ensured that co-hosts Korea made it all the way to the semi-finals.

During their final two group games against Croatia and Mexico, Italy had four perfectly good goals disallowed, but somehow managed to scrape through to the second round where they met South Korea. Against Guus Hiddink’s men, Italy again had a valid goal chalked off, a golden goal from Damiano Tomassi which would have taken them to the next round. Francesco Totti was sent off for diving when replays showed he had lost his footing, while the Koreans were awarded a controversial penalty for a Christian Panucci tugging offense. Italy eventually lost after Ahn Jung-Hwan’s golden winner, but the match and Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno have gone down in Italian football notoriety.

The Italian nation cried that there had been a conspiracy against them, and they were soon joined by the Spanish, who in the very next game against Korea had two perfectly good goals disallowed as they were eliminated on penalties. At the end of the game, Ivan Helguera had to be held back by team-mates as he attempted to attack the referee.

Italy and Spain were not the only team to be apparently wronged by Korea during the 2002 World Cup. In their final group game against Portugal, the co-hosts continually appeared to win favors from the referee as they won 1-0, thus eliminating the Europeans. Portugal had both Joao Pinto and Beto red carded, the latter after a clear dive from a Korean player, while the former was suspended for six months by FIFA after he hit official Angel Sanchez as he made his way off the pitch. Luis Figo also booted the ball straight into the crowd from the kick-off following Park Ji Sung’s winner to signal his disgust.

2) ‘Phantom Goal’ – Geoff Hurst vs West Germany 1966

Was it over the line or not? This is a question that raged for years around the world following England’s controversial third goal against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley. With the scores tied at 2-2 eight minutes into extra time, Geoff Hurst span in the area only to see his shot crash off the underside of the crossbar, bounce down on or over the line, before being cleared.

England players appealed for a goal, West Germans wagged their fingers, but the goal was eventually given after Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst had consulted with USSR linesman Tofik Bakhramov. England went onto win the game 4-2 and lift their one World Cup to date.

However, improvements in technology have recently proved that the ball did not cross the line. When asked on his deathbed why he told the referee that Hurst had scored, linesman Bakhramov is alleged to have replied, “Stalingrad”, referring to the infamous battle between the Soviets and the Nazis in World War II where more than two million people were killed or wounded – the bloodiest in the history of warfare.

1) ‘Hand of God’ – Diego Maradona vs England 1986

The most infamous goal in World Cup history occurred during the quarter final of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico between Argentina and England. With the score locked at 0-0 six minutes into the second half, Maradona chased a miss-hit clearance by England midfielder Steve Hodge, jumped above goalkeeper Peter Shilton before flicking it past the veteran with the outside of his left fist. The referee failed to spot the infringement and Argentina took a one-goal lead. Minutes later, Maradona would score the ‘Goal of the Century’ after dribbling past half of the England team – Argentina would win 2-1 and go on to lift the World Cup.

After the quarter final Maradona said that the goal had been scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God,” also saying it was revenge for the Falklands War between England and Argentina four years earlier. The current Albiceleste boss became enemy No.1 on English shores following this incident and 23 years on he is still very much a hated figure.

What are your views on this topic? What do you believe to be the most controversial game in World Cup history? Goal.com wants to know what YOU think…

Carlo Garganese, Goal.com