Ali Gerba is a big, strong guy. So it was a bit surprising to see the ease with which he went down in the 49th minute of Saturday's match against Guadeloupe. The ensuing penalty kick was dubbed "controversial", "questionable", "soft" and all sorts of other euphemisms often used to gloss over the insinuation that the player cheated.
They flopped. They simulated. They took a dive.
None of us knows what was in Gerba's mind, or whether he was cynically attempting to win a penalty kick. But one way or another, he got it -- and the resulting goal ended up being the difference between a win and a soul-crushing loss for his Canadian side.
As despicable as many find it to be, the sad reality is that diving -- with troublesome frequency -- actually works. So as the Gold Cup churns along and World Cup qualifying against CONCACAF opponents comes closer, fans of the Canadian team once again find themselves confronting an existential quandary:
Should our players dive?
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Anyone who's watched Canada play for any amount of time doesn't need to be told that our squad has, on more occasions than we'd care to recall, been on the receiving end of controversial/questionable/soft calls, borne out of an opponent's unabashed willingness to hit the ground as if they were shot at the slightest contact. Hell, our entire World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign took a serious hit when Patrice Bernier got sent off against Honduras following a flop by Amado Guevara.
We lost the game 2-1, and our chances of making South Africa were pretty much shot to hell. As for Guevara, I'm sure he slept soundly, knowing full well that no matter how "virtuous" (or not) his actions were, they helped get the exact result he and his countrymen wanted: A win.
Do Canadians need to stop being the nice guys? Do we need to take a more hardened, win-at-all-costs attitude?
If one's mindset is that qualifying for the World Cup is not only the most important thing, it's the only thing, then it's tough to argue against a tactic that is demonstrably effective, whether it's good sportsmanship or not. History has shown that CONCACAF referees will seemingly bite on a wide variety of simulation tactics. If our goal -- our only goal -- is to defeat other teams that unapologetically employ those tactics, one could argue that it would be preposterous for us to handicap ourselves for the sake of abstract concepts such as "fair play".
Then again, if we believe that sport has some societal meaning and worth beyond hoping that the team we support has the chance to clutch a trophy, or reach a specific point in their competitive existence, then a refusal to "play down to one's opponents" when it comes to diving certainly brings with it a sense of virtue. There are plenty of people who fervently believe that it's better to lose with honour than to win without it.
Surely all can agree that, in an ideal world, this wouldn't be an issue, and Canada could trash its opponents without needing to resort to deceiving the referees and tapdancing around the periphery of what's good and righteous on the field.
But at this juncture, that's not the reality. Our CONCACAF opponents will do whatever it takes to get to the World Cup.
Will we?
Or, more importantly, should we?