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Kaka, karma and the Hand of God

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Ben James Ben James | 07:10 UK time, Monday, 21 June 2010

Rivaldo performs at the 2002 World Cup

We discussed this on World Cup Have Your Say on Mon 21 June. You can listen to the programme  - apologies to those who had problems listening live on the radio

There was a spiritual dimension to (you may have heard the prayer for a miracle for Bafana Bafana at the end of the show!).

And now a couple more big World Cup stories have got people hinting at higher forces at work on the pitch in South Africa 2010.

Eight years ago Brazilian Rivaldo was famously punished which got a Turkish player sent off.

After Kaka was arguably on the receiving end of a similar performance against Ivory Coast last night,Ìýthe word  is all over the blogs (, and , for example.)

And is the woeful form and mutiny of the French squad something to do with a certain striker's left hand and what it did to the Irish? thinks so:

Maybe the French implosion is karma. If is was not for the "Hand of Henry" France would not be playing in the World Cup. It would be Republic of Ireland. So maybe this is simply the football gods are getting their revenge!

Players make gestures to the heavens all the time - and if you're an England or an Argentina fan, you'll certainly remember  (even if it is 24 years ago!). 

Do you believe bad sportsmanship somehow comes back to haunt a team? Do you believe that mysterious football cliché that "luck balances itself out"? Or are "higher forces" a convenient excuse for underperforming players?

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