Closed minds in a wide-open tournament

What to make of the image of Japanese players that are blonder than the Dutch? Globalization has disrupted categories of race and place. The World Cup is a theatre of transformative geographies, where national identities are preformed in concert with global capitalism.

While our geographic imaginations are limited, on the pitch everything is wide open. As far as I can tell, with half of the teams having finished the second phase of group play, all the teams have a theoretical shot of qualifying for the next round, the Round of 16. Some of the teams have only a ‘long shot’---such as RSA (for South Africa to advance they would have to beat France by multiple goals, and Mexico would have to beat Uruguay. Could happen). Argentina and The Netherlands will go through to the Round of 16, although in the top or second spot in the group is to be determined on June 23rd.

Much of the discussion concerning Friday’s fall of the favorites (Germany, US and England all under-performed) was centered on gripping about the referee in the US/Slovenia match. Sadly, certain critics seemed to imply that Koman Coulibaly’s nationality (Malian) and even worse the continent on which he was born (Africa) seemed to have something to do with his alleged competence. How can a continent have anything to do with an individual’s competence? Do the sand and the soil impart qualities on one’s judgment, more than training and experience? Why am I watching ESPN anyway?

Other critics focused on how the poor USA was robbed of its rightful victory. Both of these narratives ---the incompetent African and the presumptive greatness of the USA---are two sides of the same coin, or both aspects of the same ideologies.

Personally I found the referee in the first match (Germany/Serbia) more questionable. Spanish referee Alberto Undiano handed out nine yellow cards, and ejected one of the German players (second yellow card = red), leaving Germany playing short for two-thirds of the game.

Stop whining US and act like professions! As for the commentators, watch your tongues when you resort to geographical essentialisms and racism to make your point.