Yeah. With or without the flop, that was a foul.
I don't think so, but I also am convinced that the ref was reacting to the reaction, not to the incidental toe-to-toe contact. Robben had run up a blind alley and lost the ball to the encircling Mexican defenders; flinging himself to the ground was - in his cheat-minded brain - the only option. You can see him setting it up and already in mid-fling before the defender's foot makes contact.
There has been a debate brewing - outside of the ranks of FIFA, of course - to eliminate the "foul in the box is a penalty" rule. This is combined with fixing the three-pronged punishment that results from a foul in the box on a player while trying to score; being a penalty, a red card* and a suspension. Basically, the idea is that a foul while trying to score or breaking away to be in on goal - regardless of where it occurs on the pitch - is a penalty and a yellow card. Any other foul is a foul and a free kick from the spot of the foul, even if it's in the box like Robben's pirouette yesterday. Why do they get a penalty for that, while the same "foul" outside the box - but on a player streaking in to score - is not?
* The red card is for
preventing an "obvious goal-scoring opportunity", but the offended team is also given a penalty, which is an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, so the offending player didn't prevent anything, yet is still sent to the showers. Should be red if no pen but yellow only if a pen is given.
In the England-Uruguay game, for example, the Uruguayan captain, Godin, perpetrated two fouls that completely cock-blocked goal scoring opportunities for England. The first was a blatant use of the hands that stopped the ball getting slipped past him and to the feet of an England player (can't remember which) who would have been clean in on goal. It was outside the box, so it was a yellow and a free kick from which no goal came. Minutes later , Godin clotheslined Sterling as he blew by him just outside the box. In this case, a straight red was warranted but, while the foul was whistled, Godin got away without any further sanction (probably because the ref knew he'd booked him moments ago and didn't want to send him off this early in the game - bastard!).
Ignoring the refereeing inconsistencies, both of those infractions were far more injurious to the attacking side's opportunity to score than what happened to Robben. A change of rule, that simply ignores the 18-yard box as the be-all, end-all definition of when a penalty can be awarded, ends this arbitrary practice of awarding penalties for fouls in non-threatening situations - like when a player is turning away from goal, as Robben was - and not for infractions that kill a goal-scoring opportunity before it gets into the box. Even without a penalty award for a foul in the box, you still end up with a free kick in a very dangerous position, but one that is not so heavily weighted in favour of the attacking side when, prior to the foul/dive, no equivalent clear goal scoring opportunity existed.
In case you haven;t figured it out, I am a big fan of this proposal. It is unlikely, of course, that I will see it in my lifetime.
