When a Soccer Star Falls, It May Be Great Acting

By JEFFREY MARCUS
NYT

JOHANNESBURG — The Ivory Coast forward cried out in apparent agony, covered his face with his hands and dropped to the turf with a thud in the waning minutes of his team’s 3-1 loss to Brazil on Sunday at the World Cup.

The forward, Abdul Kader Keïta, was not hit with the ball or slapped across the face or punched, just bumped by the Brazilian star Kaká, who did little more than shrug, sticking his right elbow into Keïta’s chest.

That was all it took for Keïta to fall to the turf as if he had been doused with pepper spray.

The referee punished Kaká with a yellow card, his second of the game, forcing his ejection and leaving his team a man down for the rest of the game.

(More here.)