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Forgive and forget?

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Ben James Ben James | 12:22 UK time, Monday, 5 July 2010

Brazil's Felipe Melo is escorted by police after arriving back in Rio de Janeiro - REUTERS/Bruno DomingosThere's a lot of emotion around a nation's trials and tribulations at a World Cup.

All but four teams have now been sent home and the circumstances of defeat have created the latest rogues' gallery of footballing villains.

From hand strikers, to fumbling goalkeepers, to unsighted referees and reckless tacklers - will the initial anger ever give way to forgiveness and redemption?

What will Felipe Melo have to do to win back the public in Brazil? And why has teammate Julio Cesar against the Netherlands?

That situation contradicts who thinks it's much more difficult for a goalkeeper to gain forgiveness.

Maybe you just need to be fortunate that other people have sinned more than you in the fans' eyes ... The Uruguayan handball against Ghana certainly seems to have drawn the sting of criticism who went on to miss the resulting penalty.

Does it really matter anyway? Will a player and team by affected by a continuing grudge? Does a player need to plead forgiveness when he's made a mistake? (seems to think so.)

David Beckham and Diego Maradona are two players who transgressed in very different ways: could their transgressions in some way have boosted their subsequent success and / or their status in the game?

Whose mistakes will you forgive from this World Cup? Who can you never forgive?

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