Today, LiveSoccerTV.com invites you to watch (once again, perhaps) what caught the eye of many spectators and incited hilarity or irritation among soccer followers. It's not about Frank Lampard's disallowed goal against Germany, or Carlos Tevez's offside goal against Mexico. It's neither about David Villa's offside goal against Portugal, or about Kaka's red card against Ivory Coast. As mentionned earlier, the focus is on the 2010 FIFA World Cup's top 5 dives.
Daniele De Rossi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres, Jozy Altidore, and Joan Capdevila complete the list of the top five dives that were effected between Match-day One and the last fixture of the Round of 16 matches.
1) Daniele De Rossi's Dive – Italy 1-1 Paraguay ; June 14, 2010
What really caused Daniele De Rossi to fall on the ground this way and scream to both the referee and the Paraguayan players in protest?
2) Cristiano Ronaldo's Dive – Cote d’Ivoire 0-0 Portugal; June 15, 2010
We will have to admit that Cristiano Ronaldo clearly got fouled a few number of times against Cote d’Ivoire. But surely, not this time.
Maybe the Portuguese captain wanted to repay the Ivoirians for the free-kick that never was awarded when Demel fouled him before the incident led to a controversial booking for both Demel and Ronaldo.
3) Fernando Torres' Dive – Chile 1-2 Spain; June 25, 2010
That’s one theatrical jump that would have put a young wannabe actor into the world of movies in Hollywood. Torres seemed dead for a while lying on the ground… he actually managed to escape death as the referee decided to sentence Chile’s Estrada with his second yellow card of the game and thus the red card penalty.
4) Jozy Altidore's Dive – USA 1-2 Ghana; June 26, 2010
It’s unfortunate that there isn’t a video to illustrate Jozy Altidore’s dive against Ghana. But these two pictures should be enough to let you remember how the American dramatically fell to the ground like a stone. Ghana’s Dede Ayew received his second booking of the tournament, meaning that he won’t feature for his country against Uruguay. Replays indicated that there was absolutely no contact. Not even the slightest of touches.
5) Joan Capdevila's Dive – Spain 1-0 Portugal; June 29
David Villa’s offside goal wasn’t the only controversy in the Spain vs Portugal Round of 16 encounter. Spain’s Joan Capdevila even had time to show off his acting skills. Can you see Ricardo Costa (who was then flashed a straight red card) elbowing Capdevila’s face? Well, perhaps players at the 2010 World Cup are Hand-of-Ghost victims and not Hollywood actors, so football fans may be wrong to see them as cheats!