Step Up

By now, most soccer fans have seen Didier Zokora's shameful dive against Portsmouth, which was such a disgraceful act that it blighted an otherwise fantastic weekend. Robin van Persie gave us all a reminder of why we watch the game against Charlton, but that high quickly dissipated in light of Zokora's theatrics.
The Zokora incident speaks to a much larger problem in the game, and that is the inability of the powers running the sport to solve any of the problems associated with professional soccer. Racism, corruption and cheating are the game's three plagues, and in combination they threaten the game's popularity and possibly even survival. Have FIFA, UEFA or even any association done anything to clean up the game? It appears not.
The problem is one of accountability. FIFA says it needs the support of its confederations to enforce regulations, but it never carries out any of its threats. UEFA, swayed by powerful clubs as it is, won't lift a finger if it means endaging FC Barcelona, Ajax, Manchester United or even Porto. Meanwhile, the FA's choose to look for FIFA and UEFA to make their decisions for them, meaning that resolution is hard to come by. It is time for at least one of these factions to take a stand and carry out real solutions to what ails the game; you would never see the NFL sitting on its hands on matters of blatant cheating.