Iconic Moments in Football No.65
This week’s ‘Iconic Moment’ comes from the 2002 World Cup and was surely one of the most shameful moments of Brazilian Rivaldo’s career.
The 2002 World Cup was the first to be held in two different countries; Japan and South Korea with ten stadiums from each country being used as venues. Japan’s national stadium in Yokohama was chosen as the venue for the final.
Brazil were considered the favourites to win the tournament, despite losing in the final to hosts France four years earlier. They had a fantastic squad littered with world-class players and were widely expected to go one better this time around.
Rivaldo was one part of fearsome attacking trio with Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. The front line were known as ‘The Three R’s’ and Rivaldo went on to score in Brazil’s first five games of the tournament.
Sadly for Rivaldo, his involvement in the tournament will be remembered by many for an act of simulation in Brazil’s opening match against Turkey.
Brazil were winning 2-1 deep in injury time at the end of the game. Rivaldo had scored a penalty in the 87th minute to give Brazil the lead and he and his team mates were wasting as much time as possible, to encourage the referee to blow the final whistle.
Brazil won a corner and Rivaldo slowly trudged towards the corner flag to take the kick. As he stood near the corner flag waiting for the ball to be passed over to him, Rivaldo leant forwards with his hands resting on his knees. He was clearly just trying to waste as much time as possible as he made no attempt in walking the ten yards to fetch the ball himself.
Turkish midfielder Hakan Unsal let his frustrations get the better of him, walked over and belted the ball towards Rivaldo. It was clearly just a way of showing the Brazilian that enough was enough and he just wanted the game to be over.
The ball flew at Rivaldo and smashed against his right knee. In an instant, Rivaldo grabbed his face and fell to the floor and rolled around covering his face.
South Korean referee Kim Young-joo rightly gave Unsal a second yellow card for kicking the ball at his opponent but the rather pathetic acting from Rivaldo was broadcast across the world.
Everyone had an opinion on the dive. Rather annoyingly for me, non-football fans were able to point at the incident and say how footballers are just cheats who dive around on the floor faking injuries. It not only made Rivaldo look bad, but it also made the sport look bad too.
When you type ‘Rivaldo’ into Google, the first thing that pops up is this terrible dive. It is so sad that this incident is what people tend to think of first when looking back on the Brazilian’s career. Sadly for him, he has no one to blame but himself.
About Author
