What a game! The best match of the World Cup so far. Day 8 has brought the tournament to life and England v Algeria still have to play. But even though the second half should give the US team a great deal of confidence, a truly bizarre refereeing decision kept this game at a draw and leaves the US plenty of work to do against Algeria on Wednesday. After the US had stormed back to draw level, the Malian referee somehow saw an infraction on one of the American players just before half-time sub Maurice Edu slotted home from Landon Donovan's perfect free kick. It has to rank as one of the most egregious mistakes in World Cup play as it was error of commission rather than omission, he saw a foul that wasn't there rather than missing a call. The US has been victim to poor and extremely consequential decisions in each of the last three World Cups - tough to view all of this as a coincidence.
For the neutral, this eighth day of the World Cup must have been amazing. For the partisan, the nerves are jangling. After watching German fall flat against Serbia - helped along by some strange officiating in that game too - opening up the second round possibilities for the two teams that advance out of Group C, the US team began play as if they had never seen each other or a soccer ball before. The Slovenes had acres of space and scored two goals from what can only be described as shocking defending. But it set up a dramatic fight back by the US in a pulsating second half that saw two goals for the US but more chances for both teams. Michael Bradley poking home from Altidore's knock down set up a remarkable finish with the US on the front foot but still looking vulnerable in defense.
And then the goal came for everyone watching except the referee. ESPN flashed that the ruling was offside. Replays not only showed no offside, the slow motion indicated that at least three Slovenean defenders had their arms wrapped around Americans as the line moved forward. If there was a foul to call it was on them not us! Unbelievable. The Everton Manager David Moyes said on BBC, "I've just seen that disallowed goal for the US again - and not only was there no foul by a US player, there are probably two penalty-kick offences being committed by the Slovenian defenders. Shocking decision."
It wasn't the first time in this game that there were odd calls - all going against the US - in and around the Slovenan box. One play Dempsey was wrestled to the ground in the box, no call. On another, he was body check as Altidore got off a snap shot. Altidore was blocked off just outside the box by the last defender that only drew a yellow card. One earlier decision saw Altidore thrown down this time near the midway line only to find the infraction whistled on the American. You might think the ref just plain didn't like the United States.
Its not as if this is the first time this has happened to the US team in a World Cup. We all remember the truly shocking no call in the 2002 quarterfinal against Germany when Torsten Frings made a brilliant save with his left hand. The only problem is that Torsten Frings is a midfielder, the German goalie was cleanly beaten. Penalty and red card. Except not that time. Flash forward four years to the final group game for the US against Ghana when we needed a win to go through. After another slow start the US had equalized when a poor clearance from Bocanegra at left back towards the top of the box. Gooch and a Ghanaian attacker go for the ball, the Ghanaian player goes down, penalty. Ghana covert, go up 2-1 and that is that.
The pattern of poor refereeing against the US needs to be reversed, and we can do something about it. Bob Bradley needs to complain, and complain loudly. The USSF needs to make some noise. Elevate this into a controversy so that everyone knows that the US team feels aggrieved. Not only will that help the psyche of the team - 'us against the world' - it will put the match officials on notice that we are watching, perhaps shading it a bit in advance of the next game. A rather successful
manager for some team in Manchester has made a career out of it. We were robbed.
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Oliver Haydock: USA Vs. Slovenia: What to Watch For
Against England, the US enjoyed an advantage over the Brits at one position: Goalkeeper. Against Slovenia, the US will not enjoy a similar advantage.
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Spanish fans with a sense of history might in fact do well to thank the nation that bequeathed them Wednesday's pain.
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Brazil scored with an arm and nothing happened, the goal counted and no red card.
Watching the France-Mexico game, I thought that one had the worst refereeing of any soccer game I have ever seen.
There is no conspiracy against the US - you have been on the end of the some high-profile decisions, but so have Italy, Spain, England, Australia and loads of other countries. Believe it or not, but there are fans in all of those countries who believe there is a worldwide conspiracy against their team. It's nothing new or different.
We'll take out our frustration on Algeria.
But
The ref did call a foul for the time "Dempsey was wrestled to the ground in the box"
against Dempsey, which, given that he put a face/stranglehold on the defender seemed right to me, this and the fact that this guy wanted a red card instead of a yellow for the tackle on altador earlier, makes no mention of Dempsey lying about the elbow he threw, and did not get called on shows he does not actually watch the games, and just makes stuff up to play the USA political victim card which is popular for americans who do not follow soccer.
the USA team keeps getting better every year, but if this attitude becomes the norm as the team gains in popularity, its going to be tough to be a fan,
Willy-nilly goofy refereeing decisions are a part of the game and many times they benefit the US-even against Slovenia, and I agree that the goal was unjustly disallowed, the US got away with escaping a clear Red Card and a penalty before... Bad referee, I agree... but beyond that?
I can't help but think back to the last WC when we were called for obstruction during the Italy match when we were just defending.
I am also a MUFC fan and Sir Alex is a maetsro at not only making sure the ref is on point that protests will be made if any funny business goes on, but I have also seen him negotiating added time. With all of the corruption problems with refereeing, Italy and more recently Germany, I am surprised the comments on here seem to be weighted against US interests! I for one, am on a lifetime ban of buying any products from Mali since I am helpless to do anything else.
For those of you shouting "whiner" I wish you would shout USA and support our Team USA who worked so hard in the 2nd half and won that match!!
I think making our(USA's) point known, i.e., we were robbed and are stating that in public on the world stage is a good idea. FIFA needs to deal with this issue as well as players from nations declaring their affiliation with a completely different nation simply because they cannot qualify for their own nation's squad. At this rate, there will be 5 or 6 Brazilians for every WC squad in the world soon.
btw, who is your club?
Then again, Italy benefitted TWICE from shocking decisions in that tournament. In the 81st minute against Germany, Podolski was fouled INSIDE THE BOX, which is a clear penalty. Not only did the ref keep the foul call, he moved the spot of the kick OUTSIDE THE BOX, when replays CLEARLY showed the foul occurred inside. To be fair, it was a ticky tack foul, but if called, it had to be a penalty. I can't believe the DFB didn't scream bloody murder about the change of the spot of the foul.
USA gets hosed by bad decisions. Germany gets hosed by bad decisions (this WC, too). Italy benefit from bad decisions (like the same ticky tack foul that led to their penalty against New Zealand...same kind of foul that should have resulted in a penalty for Germany four years ago)
I firmly believe he was anticipating a foul and blew his whistle in error and wouldn't retract it.
2. I'm an American and this whiner is embarrassing me. No, the refs aren't picking on us. Watch a few other games, nitwit. And stop blowing on that vuvuzela -- hyperventilation is making you dizzy.
so yellow card for crying wolf.