For the duration of the World Cup,
Slate
will highlight the greatest dives by the world’s greatest players. We’ll score each dive in three categories:
level of actual contact
(1 if there’s no contact at all, 10 for a huge collision),
level of simulated contact
(1 for a stoic response, 10 for acting as if you’ve been shot), and
dive duration
(the time from first contact to when the player gets off the ground).
Mesut Özil
almost became a hero. Moments before halftime of Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal between
Germany
and Spain, the 21-year-old midfielder looked ready to strike. He dribbled into the box with Spain’s Sergio Ramos on his tail. Özil may have tripped over his own feet—or Ramos’ feet; it’s unclear—but he fell to the ground hard. Özil, who has a reputation for diving, then raised his arms in protest, hoping the referee would award Germany a penalty. Alas, karma was not on Özil’s side. No foul was called and
Spain prevailed, 1-0
.
Level of actual contact:
5
Level of simulated contact:
5
Dive duration:
About 5 seconds
If you see a particularly egregious dive in a World Cup match, please e-mail diveoftheday@gmail.com . Make sure to include the names of the players involved and the time of the game when the dive occurred.