UEFA’s decision to ban Eduardo for two games for his dive against Celtic in the Champions League playoffs has really polarised opinion, and some people seem to be under the impression UEFA are making up the rules as they go along here. But that isn’t the case.

In fact, back in 2006 UEFA announced players who deceive the referee will be banned for two games after video review, if there has been an “obvious error” by the on-field referee during the game.

This seems to apply in the Eduardo case, and it’s not the first time UEFA have applied this rule. In fact — and little remembered — UEFA did set a precedent for this two years ago with their ban of Lithuania’s Saulius Mikoliunas for two games for diving against Scotland (what is it with that country and diving?) after considering video evidence.

One problem, though, is the brevity of the announcement from UEFA. Their release simply says that:

The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body today examined the case of the Arsenal FC player Eduardo “for deceiving the referee” during the UEFA Champions League play-off second leg match on 26 August against Celtic FC, and has suspended the player for two UEFA club competition matches.

There’s no explanation why Eduardo was targeted for this action in terms of a mention of UEFA’s standing rule and previous action they have taken, leaving many to simply conclude UEFA only took this action due to the outcry in the media about Eduardo’s blatant dive and not because they were following their own precedent.

Moreover, as players regularly dive in UEFA competions, it seems curious that there’s no explanation of why this particular incident has led to a video review when countless others haven’t in the past. As ever, consistency is the issue.

So UEFA aren’t treating Eduardo differently or apart from their own rules; the problem is, they’ve not done a very good job of explaining that themselves.

Big Story

Oh, the irony. Just days after Eduardo’s blatant dive for Arsenal against Celtic went unnoticed by the referee, Celtic’s Aiden McGeady received a second yellow of his own for diving as his team beat Hibernian 1-0. Celtic manager Tony Mowbray rather weakly blamed “tiredness” for McGready’s fall, and pinned the reasoning for the referee’s action on the events of the past week.

“He has skipped past the first tackle, he has carried on and skipped past the second tackle, and then he sees another tackle coming. Is it a dive? Never in a million years,” Mowbray claimed. “A dive is when you try to influence the referee and throw your arms up. If the Eduardo situation had not blown up nationally, then 99 times out of 100, or even 100 times out of a 100, never would a yellow card have been shown.”

Worldwide

• “Oops! EPL refs apologize for sending Wenger off,” headlines Sports Illustrated. Except they haven’t, though it is true the League Managers Association have said they spoke to referees’ boss Keith Hackett, who apparently said they would. “I’ve spoken to Keith Hackett and he fully recognizes the situation was an error and an apology will follow to Arsene Wenger,” League Managers Association chief executive Richard Bevan said yesterday.
• Meanwhile, Wenger stirred further controversy by implying Manchester United’s Darren Fletcher was only on the pitch to disrupt Arsenal’s play with deliberate fouls. “I have seen a player who plays only on the pitch to make repeated fouls,” Wenger said.
• The Global Game has a must-read piece on the tragic death of South African women’s international Eudy Simelane, with further coverage from Jennifer Doyle at From A Left Wing calling for greater activism from the sport’s governing bodies to raise awareness about homophobia in the sport.
• Two Hundred Percent looks at the financial mismanagement of Bournemouth, and argues for tighter regulation in the Football League.

North America

• The inaugural WPS season closed with an exciting all-star game, as the best of WPS downed Umea IK 4-2 in St. Louis. Look for Chicago Red Stars President and CEO Peter Wilt to offer his report card on WPS’ season here on Pitch Invasion later this week.
• The New England Revolution revealed their fifteenth anniversary logo this week. While that’s a nice idea, surely they could have put more time into it than letting their latest intern have a go at it on their lunchbreak armed with a copy of MS Paint?
• EPL Talk looks at the rebirth of World Soccer Daily as the subscription and internet only service World Football Daily. I’ve been avoiding this controversy recently as there’s more than enough out there on Steven Cohen’s comments about Hillsborough and the campaign by Liverpool supporters to get him off the airwaves, but to reduce this to a matter of media interest for a moment, it will be interesting to see if the venture succeeds.

The Sweeper appears daily. For more rambling and links throughout the day every day, follow your editor Tom Dunmore @pitchinvasion on Twitter.

Big Story

You might have seen the rather outrageous dive by Arsenal’s Eduardo which gave the Londoners the lead from the penalty spot against Celtic in the Champions League yesterday. What’s unusual is that UEFA have commented publically on it: “We are reviewing the match to see whether a disciplinary investigation should be launched,” a UEFA official said.

Perhaps more interesting for the future is the belief of Michel Platini that the further introduction of an assistant referee behind each goalline could have a critical deterrent effect on diving — most discussion of the trial run of extra referees has focused on goalline calls, but Platini believes the impact on simulation would be severe. “One day players will give up simulating because referees will see them,” he said. “For years players have cheated because the referees were not of a good enough quality. I am convinced if you have referees close by that will prevent players from simulating and players will take the right decision. I have always said better to have more referees than a multiplication of disciplinary procedures.”

But would video evidence be the better route? Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith urged the use of more technology instead. Which, if either, is the right route to cut out such blatant cheating?

Worldwide

• UEFA boss Michel Platini has been talking tough about his concerns over the level of debt many top European teams are carrying, but it looks as if he’s actually prepared to put some sting to it: he wants new financial rules in place by 2012 stopping clubs from spending more on buying players and salaries than they generate in soccer-related income. UEFA’s executive committee is to consider the new rules at its meeting next month. It’s hard to see this ever happening, however: surely such action would be the perfect catalyst for a breakaway European Super League.
• There is of course a mountain of press about the West Ham and Millwall trouble from Tuesday to contemplate, but of all the articles out there, it’s no surprise that David Conn offers the most balanced take. He has a very interesting quote from a home office source debunking one of the most common pieces of commentary about hooliganism: “”We don’t subscribe to the idea that hooligans are not genuine fans, because that isn’t true,” the Home Office source told Conn. “These people do not want to be banned from the football experience, which is an important part of their lives. The exclusion of those who do cause trouble helps to stop people around them, who might become involved, crossing that line.”
• Portsmouth’s protracted takeover saga was finally resolved yesterday, with Sulaiman al-Fahim completing his purchase of the club. This came as a considerable surprise to the club’s chief executive Peter Storrie, as his own consortium had been expecting to complete the deal instead. al-Fahim has taken his time to get this deal done, and fans will be wondering if that’s a sign of his commitment to the deal or a warning that a smoother road does not lie ahead.
• Sid Lowe has his usual excellent preview for the La Liga season in the Guardian.
• Fifa.com has a piece on Morocco’s upcoming new season. No, I’ve never read about the big three in Moroccan football either, but get acquainted!

North America

• It was a terrible night for Major League Soccer in continental competition last night. The Columbus Crew were humiliated 5-0 to Cruz Azul to give them what US Soccer Players kindly calls a “decidedly negative goal differential” heading into the second leg. Meanwhile, DC United are apparently not headed for another trophy as they crashed to a 3-1 defeat at home to Toluca, while Houston did have a half-decent result with a 1-1 draw with Aribe Unido at the Estadio Armando Dely Valde in a game that ended up as nine versus eight. Again, just not good enough from MLS in the Champions League.
• Nice to see a piece on the thriving Portland Timbers in the USA Today, looking at their 23 game unbeaten streak in USL and continued strong support.
• Footiebusiness looks at Houston’s stadium project, which has been in the works since the franchise was moved there from San Jose. MLS should never move a club in the first place, but doing so without a firm stadium plan nailed down remains mysterious.

The Sweeper appears daily. For more rambling and links throughout the day every day, follow your editor Tom Dunmore @pitchinvasion on Twitter.