I’m sad to see the World Cup come to an end.
I’ve probably watched part of, or all of, at least 90 of the 104 matches.
However, if there’s one thing I won’t miss, it is the blatant flopping that has become the most meme-worthy part of this World Cup.
Seriously! A guy gets kicked in the shin — which is protected by a shin guard — and he rolls around on the ground like he’s just been slashed with a Samurai Sword.
Imagine seeing legendary running back Derrick Henry — all 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds of him — rolling around on the ground like that after a tackle.
You’d have to wedge his shin in between passes of the Large Hadron Collider to get him to roll around on the ground like some of these soccer players.
Obviously, dramatics are nothing new to men’s soccer, especially on the world stage.
During soccer’s biggest showcase, which only comes around every four years, these players have to show they are worthy of an Oscar nomination.
In fact, on top of the Golden Boot and the Golden Glove, FIFA needs to hand out — the Golden Flop! You can only win it if the gullible, WWE-style referees believe your performance.
One of the great examples of justice I’ve seen in sports occurred in one of this year’s quarterfinals between Switzerland and Argentina when Breel Embolo put in his best Golden Flop performance by leaping forward and flopping as if he had just been hit by a Studebaker. Argentina’s Leandro Paredes was given the yellow card, but then he pulled his Uno reverse card, and Embolo was punished.
The referee went to the VAR, and the check revealed there was no contact and Embolo had “simulated” the sequence. The referee rescinded Paredes’ yellow card and gave it to Embolo. Because Embolo had already received a yellow card in the first half, the second one resulted in a red card and an ejection.
Many people in the Twitter-verse lost their minds, they said the game was fixed, it was a travesty, FIFA wants Messi to win, etc…
But the parent in me celebrated: if you punish these guys enough, maybe they’ll stop doing it. It’s a harsh lesson to learn.
I’m looking forward to the Women’s World Cup in 2027, where this overdramatization is done at a much smaller clip.
There’s proof.
Studies show: men dive or simulate injuries at nearly double the rate of women.
One Wake Forest study from 2011 showed that men’s soccer matches average 11.26 injuries per match with only 7.2 percent of them being actual injuries.
The women averaged 5.74 injuries per match with 13.7 percent being actual injuries.
A German institute, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, studied 56 men’s and women’s games and found that “men seem to enjoy their time ‘on stage’ during interruptions.”
It stated, when being substituted, men take almost 10 seconds longer to get off the field than women. After scoring a goal, women celebrate for an average of 30 seconds while men carry on for almost a full minute. At their dramatic best, when rolling on the ground with an injury (or feigning one), men stay down 30 seconds longer than women.
I’m hoping someone does a study of this year’s World Cup.
Moral of the story: male soccer players have a much larger flair for the dramatics than the ladies.
I know it won’t change, but it’s worth a conversation.
It takes away from the beautiful game.
Come on, guys, do better.
Walters is Sports Editor for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville and FLORIDA TODAY in Melbourne. He can be reached at twalters@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: I’ll miss the World Cup, but I won’t miss the dramatic flopping
Reporting by Tim Walters, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tim Walters, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
