Play on

Those are the two greatest words one can hear from a soccer referee. Loosely translated, they mean, "Quit your whining and get up."

Fouls are part of soccer. Players are aggressive and physical on both sides of the ball. There's contact, and inevitably, players will take theatrical dives that give Paul Pierce and Manu Ginobli some new ideas to try out next NBA season.

But it seems that, as the World Cup progresses, fewer and fewer fouls are called. Contact comes without a whistle or yellow card. Players push and shove and jostle for position, and if one or both of them goes down, as long as they're playing the ball, they play on.

This style of officiating is a welcome change to the everything-is-a-foul school of thought. Obviously any action that endangers another player can't be tolerated. But the ticky-tack foul calls seem to have lessened now that the knockout rounds are underway.

So the refs are getting that part of the game right. If only they could consistently make the right call when a goal is scored.