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The closer you are, of course, the harder it is to step back and see the overall pattern. After Internazionale, cautious and canny and playing within themselves, had won the European Cup, and after a World Cup of a miserable lack of adventure, there seemed a possibility that football might be entering a new age of caution.
In an end-of-season international friendly, with one side leading 4-0, why on earth would the referee want to add on a heap of stoppage time? Surely the best advice would be to blow up and let everyone go home. But that is not what Ibrahim Chaibou did last Wednesday when he was in charge of the match between Nigeria and Argentina in Abuja. He added on five extra minutes. True, there had been plenty of second-half substitutions but it was hard to see why five extra minutes were necessary or desirable.
But then it got stranger. Five minutes came and went. Then six. Then seven. And then he awarded Argentina an absurd penalty for a non-existent handball. Mauro Boselli converted it to make the final score 4-1 to the home side.
With an alleged splurge of bets on a late goal, it is little wonder that Fifa is opening an investigation into the events.
Controversy aside, there is another question that emerges from Nigeria's crushing and thoroughly deserved victory: why on earth would Argentina put their prestige on the line by fielding such a team?
Sepp Blatter has been accused of turning FIFA into a soap opera, which may be why he has asked tenor Placido Domingo to ‘join the family’.
The 23-year-old, part of his country's 2010 World Cup squad, spent the second half of last season on loan at Villa from Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Villa had an option to buy the player at the end of the campaign under the terms of the initial agreement, but the German club have allowed them to wait until a replacement for Gérard Houllier is in place before making a final decision.
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