After the Suarez incident last week where numerous fans and pundits were calling for him to be banned for life for his violent conduct, I'd like to see where people stand on Arjen Robben cheating numerous times AGAIN on the world stage and succeeding in gaining a competitive advantage for himself and his team.
Suarez' violent behaviour is only shooting himself and his team-mates in the foot, whereas Robben has cheated his team through to the next round again at the expense of another nation. Suarez has been rightly vilified in the press, but will Robben get the same flak? I doubt it somewhat.
The situations aren't exactly similar in their nature but I would say that the Robbens of this world are having a far greater impact on tarnishing the reputation of football and having a negative impact on youngsters that play the game. For example, I think a kid is probably more likely to dive, knowing that he can win a game for his side if he does it well enough, rather than bite an opponent, screw their team over and be thought of as a complete nutcase.
Every time Robben got the ball today he was looking to catch someone's leg and go down, just as he does in the Champions League/Bundesliga, and once again he has prevailed. He has proven that cheats do in fact prosper if they're good enough to do it without officials noticing.
Is it time for FIFA to finally take action against the divers, either during the match with assistance or at least with retrospective action (which would open up a completely different can of worms of course), or should we just embrace the sorry fact that 'simulation' is now so deeply ingrained in the sport that it has become a tactic?
He has already come out and admitted diving in the first-half, but said nothing of the dive that he actually won the penalty from:
"I want to apologise. In the first half I took a dive. Sometimes you expect a kick, but I should not do this. Truly awful stupid.”
Link to the .gif of today's dive: http://worldsoccertalk.com/2014/06/...rlands-a-late-penalty-win-against-mexico-gif/
Past examples: