USA Foul? Controversial World Cup Call Clouds Comeback (VIDEO)

The United States overcame a daunting two-goal deficit to force a draw against Slovenia on Friday, but the Americans may have deserved to win outright. Shortly after tying the game in the 81st minute, the U.S. had a free kick near the Slovenian goal.

Landon Donovan, who scored the first U.S. goal of the game, lobbed the ball towards the goal and teammate Maurice Edu knocked it in. A referee called the goal off, apparently because he thought the American committed a foul.

Replays suggest that the call may have been ill-advised -- and if anything, Slovenian defenders should have been flagged. Numerous observers criticized the official's decision. "Where is it? There's no offsides," one commentator said upon viewing the replay.

After the game, Donovan spoke about the referee's controversial call. "It was the guy's first World Cup game so maybe he got a little caught up in the moment," he said. Scroll down to watch. Was the call correct?

Quick Poll Did the referee make the correct call? No. He stole a goal -- and the win -- from the United States. Yes. The goal should not have counted. Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

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United States players celebrate after scoring a goal during the World Cup group C soccer match between Slovenia and the United States at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, June 18, 2010. The match ended in a 2-2 draw. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

South Africa Soccer WCup Slovenia USA

United States players celebrate after scoring a goal during the World Cup group C soccer match between Slovenia and the United States at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, June 18, 2010. The match ended in a 2-2 draw. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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Comments

[Warren Davidson]

12:45 AM on 07/12/2010

You've also got the call against Dempsey during US vs Algeria. What could technology do to prevent such bad calls in the future? I think microchips in balls.
http://www.cocision/cocision.php?cocisionId=447

[Christophe]

12:01 PM on 06/25/2010

To all outraged people out there.
As yourself: Has Instant Replay had made NFL games error free?
NO.

[Dwells75]

09:26 AM on 06/22/2010

We had one disallowed goal, giving us a draw instead of a win. Our future is still in our own hands.

Ireland wasn't crying about adding Instant Replay, and they failed to qualify thanks to a ridiculous error by the referee. Let's keep perspective, my fellow Americans.

[Christophe]

11:57 AM on 06/25/2010

So right.

[bhuddaDoc]

01:07 PM on 06/21/2010

Can you say "Instant Replay."

Having watched the replay from a million different angles thanks to the networks, this was the WORST refereeing error in any sport anywhere that I have seen. That it was the World Cup in soccer makes it even worse.

FIFA should do what the NHL does and allow limited instant replay for potential goal scoring calls that are judged by the league office. It works well and does not delay games significantly

[CateManhattan]

04:25 AM on 06/22/2010

Those of us who play soccer do not want a technical team with video to rule our game. We play on the field, and our game has three teams: ours, the opposition, and the refs. We all make mistakes, and generally the mistakes even out over the game. Not that we don't get a little hot about it for a few minutes, but then we are back in the game.

Those who are remaining outraged probably haven't played much soccer, or haven't played at all.

[Christophe]

11:58 AM on 06/25/2010

Great comment.

[chocolato]

06:10 AM on 06/22/2010

You can't have watched much sport then... the guy blew his whistle before the goal was even scored! There have been occasions where the ball has actually crossed the line and a goal wasn't given and occasions when it didn't cross the line and goal has been given. The problem here is that too many of you have no feel for the sport... you don't understand it. In football the referee makes the big calls... mostly they get them right but occasionally they don't... And you can't just introduce replays for goal mouth incidents only... What happens when a foul in midfield leads directly to a goal? Isn't that an injustice too?? Football doesn't need anything other than goal line technology... I tell a lie, it does need less whiney fans .

In any event the disallowed US goal isn't the worst football decision... nor the worst sporting decision ever. It's not even close.

[PhobiaPhobia]

01:03 PM on 06/21/2010

A terrible call. It is part of the game, has happened to other teams and will continue to happen until. It is just sad to see a game decided by the referee. Like the silly redcard in today's game bewteen the Swiss and Chile. Cost the Swiss the game.

[natx]

11:59 AM on 06/21/2010

there are two sides to this whole deal that have been annoying. on the one hand, americans who suddenly care and have opinions about soccer now only because they were victims of a bad call. equally annoying, are those who discount american opinions on this because - well americans can't have opinions on soccer.

this notion that "bad calls just happen" or that "controversey is part of the game" is just plain stupid. Of course these things happen and debate is part of any sport is ruined when you end up debating referees more than the game, the plays and players.

The overriding mission in ANY sport is that want the team that deserves to win or earns a win, to actually win - or at the very least that play is fair. Contrary to what many "true" soccer fans think, americans understand just as well as anyone what tradition means to a sport (i.e. baseball) and that you don't want to implement changes that ruin the spirit of the game - but that is NO excuse to not want to get things right.

So i don't know what the solution are or if there is even one, but to me it seems like goals are such momentous occasions in these games that i would think that you would want to do what you can to ensure that they are well deserved (or not deserved)

[Greenman7]

11:37 AM on 06/21/2010

Uh, graphic department, the Slovenian guarding # 17 for USA -- your arrow seems to indicate that his penis is committing a foul of some kind.

May have to slow the video down a bit more.

[politicalgenius]

11:21 AM on 06/21/2010

What's with all the bad referee(ing) apologists? First it was the blown call of the perfect game and the baseball-is-a-religion-fanatics apologized for the call, downplayed the significance of the blown even after the ump admitted to getting the call wrong and sided with Selig on not overturning a blatant screwup. Now, the soccer purists - whatever the h#ll that means, are calling offsides, it was a makeup for the free kick, etc. Why can't people just admit when someone screws up? It's really pathetic. So what that the U.S. played terribly - at best - in the 1st half, they came in 2nd Half as the aggressors and the apologists are justifying the p!ss poor call.

At this rate, soccer will be on par with all the controversies surrounding Int'l/Olympic Figure Skating

[RAMstein]

11:10 AM on 06/21/2010

Refereeing has not exactly been exemplary. Yesterday the ref missed not one, but 2 ! , separate -and obvious- hand balls on the same scoring play in the Brazil-Ivory Coast match.

[Darkswan]

09:42 PM on 06/21/2010

There is a difference between making a phantom call vs missing a call.

Missing a call is human, conjuring up a call is perceived as bias.

[bowlinggreen]

10:51 AM on 06/21/2010

That ref was blowing calls all game. Thankfully the US team was able to overcome the deficit anyway, but it should have been a win.

[omegan]

10:43 AM on 06/21/2010

How to know if he made a correct call if we don't know what he called? And citing a tweet? that's a first.

Either way, the US blew that game with their sorry first half.

[EinChicago]

10:14 AM on 06/21/2010

What blown cal. The US player was off side.

Stop whining.

[bobbyperu]

12:53 PM on 06/21/2010

What match werer you watching?

[EinChicago]

03:43 PM on 06/21/2010

The one where the US were clearly offside. Let's face it. 99% of US fans are whiners who think the ref is biased against them because he didn't order the opposing side to hop on one leg teh entire game.

[Fernaggio]

12:58 PM on 06/21/2010

You're mad, if you think a U.S. player was offside when that ball was served.

[olivertotheandalusianone]

10:13 AM on 06/21/2010

It was a make-up call (he realized he shouldn't have called the free kick in the first place). It's how refereeing works in practice in many sports. People need to put their tinfoil hats back in the closet.

[ccheney1970]

08:12 AM on 06/21/2010

There are only four sets of eyes on 22 players at the world cup level. Only one set is free to move around the field and watch all/any of the players. So a lot of things that happen on a soccer field go unseen by the referees.
The third US goal, however, seems to be a case where something that didn't happen was seen. It was wrong and game changing. The good news is that thanks to Algeria playing above expectations while England played below, the call was not a devastating blow to the US team's objective. We can still advance.

[Mike Mulvaney]

08:50 AM on 06/21/2010

Put another ref on the field then.

[lib4life19]

09:38 AM on 06/21/2010

Nah, you get too many calls then and that ruins the game. Bad calls are part of it. It sucks, I hate we ended up in tie, but, them's the breaks.

[Lordsuhn]

06:19 AM on 06/21/2010

Darn, and I was hoping that I could like this sport. I guess I will add to the list along with the NBA as sports run by the officials.