If a baseball, basketball, football, hockey, rugby or cricket player tried to do this, they would have been laughed out of the league!!
Video proof that the italians are flying wimps.
YouTube - Italian Soccer Team A thrilling World Cup is still one big flop / American kids getting schooled in bad habits by world's elite players
C.W. Nevius
San Francisco Chronicle
Saturday, July 1, 2006
Millions of Americans are watching World Cup soccer this year. But what are they seeing from some of the best players in the world?
Flopping, diving and yelling at the referee.
Is this really what we wanted our young soccer players to learn?
"I think it is inevitable,'' says Mike Connelly, club administrator for the elite San Francisco United youth soccer program. "The kids see the shoes the players are wearing, and they want the shoes. They see how the player acts, and they want to act like him. They see someone get bumped, and he goes down like a sniper shot him.''
And if you've been watching the World Cup games, you know what Connelly means. On Monday, Italy and Australia battled through a thrilling match for some 95 minutes. Just as the game was about to go to overtime, an Italian player stumbled in the box -- the area around the goal -- and executed a world-class flop, going down as if he'd stepped on a high-voltage wire. A penalty kick was awarded, Italy converted the shot, and the Australians lost 1-0.
For the uninitiated, "flopping" has become the hot topic of this year's World Cup. The idea is to exaggerate minor contact in the hope of drawing a foul, yellow card or penalty kick.
The outrage over the Italian player's swan dive -- and especially the fact that the referee bought it -- swept the globe. This year, for once, American sports fans could join the debate. But a lot of them were put off by the signature example of the art of flopping.
"Italy is No. 1 in the world at flopping,'' said Philippe Blin, a former semiprofessional player in France who is now director of the nationally ranked Pleasanton Rage women's soccer team. "We keep saying soccer would be good for this country. Then people see that and they say, 'What are you talking about?' ''
Of course, we are not here to debate Italy's credentials as world-class floppers (although we will point out that there is a video on YouTube.com purportedly showing Italian players being instructed in how to flop during games).
"It won them a game, didn't it?'' says Fred Wilson, club trainer for the topflight Mustang Soccer program in Danville and the Contra Costa Times' 2005 High School Boys Soccer Coach of the Year. "Personally, I would never want to win a game that way. But are kids going to take that and try to win games? Absolutely.''
"I thought that was a horrible call by the ref,'' says 13-year-old Jack Peterson, who plays for the Mustang Reds. "But kids see that and they might tell their friends, 'Maybe we should try that.' ''
"You're starting to see it more in the youth games,'' says Joe Owen, a Mustang Soccer coach and former international player. "Watching the games on TV is creating smarter players, but not if they are picking up a bad habit. It's slowing the game down, and it is frustrating.''
As far as Peterson is concerned, there's already too much flopping.
"I was in a situation very similar to Australia,'' he says. "It was a free kick, and I'm matched up against this kid who is, like, a foot taller than me. The ball goes over our heads, he falls down, the ref calls a foul, and they get a penalty kick to win.''
But he's probably forgotten all about that, right?
"Sort of,'' Peterson says glumly.
It must be said that the game has always had divers and floppers. Connelly says German coach Juergen Klinsmann used to be known as "Flying Klinsmann'' in his playing days -- and "it wasn't because he was fast.''
But the TiVo generation is changing everything. Peterson, who attends San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, says his dad has TiVo'd every game.
"I'm going to watch every game again,'' Peterson says. "I am learning so much about foot skills, where to place corner kicks, and if there is a free kick to go quick.''
All good. But those students of the TV games are also learning how to work the referees.
"The game has definitely changed as far as that goes,'' says Patrick Uriz, a former Sonoma State player who earned a living in professional soccer in the United States for five years and is now a coach for Mustang Blast, an under-17 team.
Uriz said some youth players watch games over and over on TV. "They will mimic things straight off the TV. You will see them go down and roll five times.''
Another concern is referee-baiting. After every controversial call in the World Cup, there is a TV shot of the coach, who reacts with outrage. That is not a helpful image, especially for parents new to the game. They are bad enough on the sidelines already.
"It is much worse at the youth level,'' says Wilson, who has threatened to secretly bring a video camera to games, tape the antics and put together an informal TV show called "Parents Say the Darndest Things.'' "Some of the things I have heard are absolutely awful. Unbelievable.''
Rich Fern, president of the San Francisco Soccer Referee Association, has been a referee for 14 years. "What they don't show is that after the cameras are off, that (World Cup) coach goes over to the bench and sits down,'' Fern says. "It is a bad message. It makes youth soccer refereeing harder.''
But then, what are you going to do? Flopping and berating the referee are part of the game at the highest level. Now that Americans are tuned in to the World Cup, it is inevitable that we will be influenced. No one, it seems, is immune.
Connelly says he was at a game recently where an official tagged several players with yellow cards, just like in the recent TV matches.
"Jeez," Connelly quoted the ref as saying as he walked off the field. "I think I've been watching too many World Cup games.''
To those in that club. 
Thats a great engineering-achievement, and also a very great achievement by the drivers - Can you imagine coming out of a corner with that diesel engine ?? And despite this Tom Kristensen in his Audi #7 managed to take the lap record.
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