For those have you that watched the game this evening, you will have seen that it took several replays to decipher that Raul Ruidiaz did in fact hit the ball into the goal with his arm. It had shades of Maradona’s so called “Hand of God”. This was the only goal of the game and it resulted in Peru advancing and Brazil being eliminated from the Copa America at the group stage.

To add further insult Ruidiaz had the audacity to claim that the Ball Hit him in the thigh – this is clearly a lie!

“I am very happy with regard to reaching the quarterfinals,” Ruidiaz said. “The goal was a v fast play. The ball hit me in the thigh.”

Raul Ruidiaz

So we as coaches are presented with lessons that we can take forward in our coaching;

Lesson 1 – Referee’s (even at the highest level) make mistakes.

Lesson 2 – All the complaining in the world will not change a decision.

Lesson 3 – We either accept these occurrences or we look at alternative ways to govern the game during controversial decisions like this. How will this effect the youth game, if at all?

Lesson 4 – Players are role models and have a duty to educate the players of the future. To blatantly lie on goes to reinforce a behavior that is clearly against the rules of the sport. Our job as coaches is to develop honest players.

Lesson 5 – The game itself can change in a moment and every game must played with the up most respect for both the opposition and the integrity of the sport itself.