The Benefits Of Not Being A "Win At Any Cost" Sorta Person

I just had a weird little few minutes. So, I'm watching the Ghana v. Uruguay match, and I'm generally rooting for Ghana. It was a nail biting match with Ghana taking the lead, Uruguay fighting back, and a see-saw battle taking up the rest of regulation and much of extra time. However, in the dying seconds of extra time a Ghanaian player took a dive. It was a terrible play. If they were allowed to give a straight red for a dive this would have merited it. It was dishonest, it was cynical, it was the very worst thing one can see in soccer, and (of course) the refs gave the foul against Uruguay. I went immediately from rooting for Ghana and wanting them to win, to hoping they didn't benefit from their bout of cheating. And, damn it all, they nearly did. A ball was sent in which took a couple of bounces, was cleared off the line once, and then was sent back on goal again only to be punched out by an Uruguayan not wearing a goalie shirt. Red card. Penalty kick. The red card and spot kick were very obviously the right call, but Ghana shouldn't have been given the free kick that led to the red card in the first place.

"Crap," I said to myself. "Ghana is going to be rewarded for cheating."

They weren't. One missed PK, a loss in the shootout later, and Ghana is going home.

It's too bad, as Ghana making the semis would have been a great story, but it would have ruined it for me if they had gotten their that way. I would have been okay with Ghana winning the shootout, but that never really looked likely.

Karma, it turns out, is indeed a bitch.

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