Time it next time this happens. Barring injury a game does not frequently stop for a full 30 seconds, even when contentious decisions happen. And in cases where it does I wouldn't want to see it stopped even longer.

One of the attractions of the game is that the referee is the law; he makes a decision on his best judgement and that is the game.

I see your point; and it has merit. But I think it really detracts from the spirit, the flow and the attraction of the game :)

Cheating (especially diving) already detracts from the game. On top of that you have refs given god-like powers to determine a game with their human shortcomings.

Already, I can't take the world cup seriously. 2006, it was the Italians diving to get free penalty kicks. Now, I can't even trust the refs to make honest calls. I'll continue to watch the games until something better comes along.

For me the ubiquitous level of diving is one of the huge detractions for the sport, and no I don't subscribe to the school of thought that diving is part of the game. In my dream world there would be a 12 month ban on any player caught diving. After each game, the refs go through all the footage of the game's fouls, and any player that even looks like he's diving gets banned. If you didn't break a bone or tear a ligament, pick yourself up and stop fucking whining.

>Now, I can't even trust the refs to make honest calls.

Are you talking about a particular incident of dishonesty? Refs tend to be impartial as they benefit from being impartial (wages, honour) whilst would lose by being noticeably partial (lost license to ref, no more wages).

Have you been asleep for the last week?!

The ref for the Slovenia/US game was banned from refing any future Worldcup matches and is being investigated by FIFA.

Nope, I just can't afford TV or newspapers and don't find this sort of news reported on places I look on the web, thanks for the info.