Absolute shit yellow card on Findley. So refreshing to hear an announcer call something idiotic and ridiculous when it is idiotic and ridiculous.
And now it is 2-0.
Game over.
*** Update ***
I could have called a better game than that shite ref. In fact, if you ask Lily, I did.
TR
Godfuckingdammit.
cmorenc
Not quite game over, but 2-0 is a deep, deep hole to come back from. A draw doesn’t really help the US unless England beats Slovenia in the 3rd game.
edmund dantes
The U.S. is down 2-0 because of their own play, but the Yellow card was complete and utter bullshit. Totally uncalled for and it loses the U.S. the player for the next game.
Whammer
And it goes downhill from there……
cmorenc
The US turns a 2nd World Cup in a row into shit.
mcd410x
This is what I was worried about. Our defense is questionable on a good day.
And this is not a good day.
Tom65
So much for “Project 2010”
r€nato
USA should have gotten at least one goal out of that first half.
Weak.
wengler
I am more interested in how Slovenia comes out for the second half than how the US does. 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in this sport and can easily be erased after the first one goes in.
A simple parallel: The US had a 2-0 lead going into half against Brazil in the final of the Confederations’ Cup. The US attempted to lockdown and play ultra-defensively and ended up losing 3-2. The US is going to get chances, it is just a matter of finishing them.
magurakurin
I don’t know much about soccer/futbol but after watching that heroic performance by the Nigerian goalie last night, this American goalie looks like he should be playing in AAA and not the Majors.
John Cole
In 2014.
A Guest
You know what, put this schiesse below the fold, John Cole. Galldang it I was trying not to follow until I GOT HOME FROM WORK YOU WEASEL.
cmorenc
Serbia beating Germany, now THAT’S an upset.
Switzerland beating Spain, now THAT’S an upset.
Slovenia (a small alpine nation where skiing and ice hockey are bigger than soccer) beating the US…it seemed like it would have been an upset an hour ago, but right now it seems that Slovenia is actually the better team, and it’s not such an upset at all. NOW I’m worried the US may get humiliated by Algeria.
Steeplejack
@A Guest:
Pro tip: then don’t read a thread called “World Cup”!
Zifnab
@John Cole: I thought this was only the second game of three?
cmorenc
@magurakurin: Tim Howard is playing injured – he’s one of the best GKs in the world. Even so, the problem isn’t Howard, it’s that he’s been left completely exposed twice by poor defensive marking, both times Slovenia scored.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
@John Cole: For the Algeria game. Also, FIFA is reviewing cards. Cahill’s red got reduced after the fact. They could review the play and take the yellow away before the next game. We’ll see. Won’t matter much, since our chance of going through is so small if this score holds up. We really need at least 1 goal here.
Rommie
45 minutes to show some pride. They are wearing Charlie Brown shirts – make them feel like it.
Paul W.
The Nigerian goalie is not a fair comparison for goalies, that guy put on a superhuman performance. My biggest dissapointment for the world cup, aside from a Spain loss, is that I will not be able to see him play more. Seriously, that man is far and away the best I’ve seen in the decade I’ve watched soccer closely.
wengler
@magurakurin
Timmy didn’t have much of a shot on either one of those. You could argue he was out of position on the first one, but one the second one he had no shot. In a 1 v 1 with a striker, it’s simply an issue of trying to make yourself as big as possible defending high on the near side and sliding through low on the far side. A good finisher will always beat the goalie in that situation.
A Guest
@Steeplejack: On the front page, dude.
West of the Cascades
GOOOOOOOOOOL LANDON
handsmile
Yes, the yellow card on Findley may have been harsh. For some reason, ESPN is not providing different camera feed angles to assess the referee’s decision.
But don’t be too sad that Findley will be unavailable for the Algeria match. His performances here and against England have been absolutely atrocious. It’s as if he gives the opposing side a man advantage.
Davis X. Machina
4-3-3? Dempsey up front?
No reason not to?
wengler
DONOVANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Violet
YES!
wengler
Nice through pass to the Slovenian striker by Edu there.
John Cole
Wow.
TR
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!
Alright, let’s keep it up.
JenJen
What a gorgeous strike!! Wowie!! USA!!
Via Cliff Schecter on Twitter: “I hear Joe Barton just apologized to Slovenia for that goal”
wengler
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a goalie react like that to a ball before.
Zandar
Ahh, wounded pride. The greatest of motivators.
magurakurin
like I said, I don’t know much about football. That sucks if the guy is playing hurt. Must big a disappoint, like when an Olympic athlete gets hurt before the games. But, yeah, that show the Nigerian goalie put on last night was awesome. I sort felt the Greek guy who finally got one in there, really shouldn’t have celebrated as much as he did. After all they had an extra guy on the field and the Nigerian goal had just finished blocking like ten jillion blazing shots on goal. It was almost enough to make me like soccer ;)
Cat
I knew I should have just not visited all day. At least the 2nd half will be a nail biter.
ricky
I had such hope for a change in our fortunes. I need someone to blame.
Perhaps I will boycott a Diamondbacks game when they come to town. That will lift my spirits. Except my town doesn’t have a team.
Davis X. Machina
The old taidhg doing color for ESPN radio is worth the price of admission all by himself. Sounds like my Uncle Bart…
Tim
I’m amazed that the keeper flinched from the ball like that.
TR
I thought Jozy was going to send that one home. Nice challenge.
strandedvandal
Must be a sniper in the stands……
Zach
Wait was that another phantom handball? Need better ESPN3 resolution.
Not all that experienced watching spherical football, but the States was just robbed of a short free kick and maybe a penalty, right? What’s the usual course of action when two players mutually embrace in a bear hug and go to the ground?
MikeJ
I had no idea the US team was made up of teabaggers. Only stay in the cup five minutes.
Crusty Dem
I want to see Altidore and Findley out. Findley is painful and Altidore looks at least a step slow. At least Altidore is doing some things right, but he got caught so easily when he had the ball all by himself…
FlyingRodent
Your lot have the players to win this, and I guarantee you’re fitter than Slovenia. The Slovenes looked shattered at the end of their game against Algeria, so the last 10 minutes should hopefully be the Americans’.
That said, this looks like a lottery. The play is wide open and you can see goals at either end. I wouldn’t stake a fiver on the result, but come on, USA!
Steeplejack
@A Guest:
Ah. Point taken.
Morbo
Finally.
wengler
That was pretty close to a professional foul on Altidore.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
Time to change channels to either Univision or CBC. Jesus, why doesn’t John Harkes just pull out a vuvuzela and foam finger and start chanting “USA! USA!”. He’d make a perfect Republican.
Dave C
So close!
Crusty Dem
I’ll be surprised if the US doesn’t get a PK in the last 20. A lot of takedowns in the box (even a few that aren’t flops), I’m more concerned about losing 3-2 than 2-1.
Would a 2-2 tie be the worst possible result for England?
Martin
I can’t tell you how much more enjoyable this is to watch with the vuvuzuela audio filter running. Why the fuck ESPN isn’t at least toning them down considering the complaints is beyond me.
Martin
Jesus, at this rate the entire slovenia team is going to sit out the next game.
MikeJ
@Crusty Dem:
Are they playing PvP?
Zach
What’s the over/under on second-half bookings? There’s been a potential one one every other possession going both ways.
TR
Come on, sub in Hercules.
ETA: And done. Let’s go, boys.
Zach
@Martin: If they win, they’re through and the next match is nearly irrelevant. Playing as aggressively as possible without risking a red card is the best strategy, right?
chicago dyke
not really a futbal fan myself; i did track and volleyball and generally prefer those. still, i enjoy the political significance of soccer. it’s everything a sport should be. anyone can play, it doesn’t require expensive equip or playing fields, it’s gender neutral, has all the right “athletic values” as part of its practice. the culture is a little annoying, but hey, it’s sports. i love the concept of the world cup, in which it’s possible, however unlikely, that some politically oppressed nation can shine on the world stage for a minute. i can’t watch it tho. like hockey, baseball, or other low-scoring sports, it just doesn’t hold my attention. i always think that i could just watch the last few minutes of the game and get just as much out of it, as that’s when it all comes down. basketball is also like this to me, for all it’s a high scoring game.
Martin
America! Fuck yeah!
Dave C
HOLY SHIT! GGOOOOOOOAAAAALLLL!!!
Dr. Squid
Score! Nice header to set that up.
wengler
GOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Morbo
Wooooooooo
jwb
Wow.
TR
YES!
Violet
GOOOOOAAAALLLLL!
JenJen
USA! USA! USA!!
Martin
@Zach: True. That assumes they win, though.
Davis X. Machina
US were 2-1 ahead on shots on goal. Take ’em, they’ll eventually go in.
Zandar
Oh myyyyyyy
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@wengler: GGGooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:-)
Stroszek
Typical liberal defeatism! :)
TR
@Stroszek:
Ha!
Come on, boys. COME ON.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
I never knew Raiders fans were soccer fans too.
You Don't Say
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy!
Question from a neophyte: Why do they attempt goal kicks from so far away? Never seems to work.
And is Slovenia especially physical?
Martin
What the fuck?!
JenJen
WTF!! Goal disallowed?? WTF!!
We got hosed!! Booooo.
Violet
What the heck? What was that call?
TR
AREYOUFUCKINGKIDDINGME?
wengler
And the winning goal is ruled out on…nothing.
Good job ref.
sherifffruitfly
lol People will never learn.
Davis X. Machina
Jim Joyce, in black shorts.
jwb
Is this really the best FIFA has to offer in terms of refs? First, card a minute in the Germany-Serbia game, and now this.
Violet
Whoa. Go Tim Howard.
Stroszek
Was that call even explained?
Violet
Bad defending from the US.
Therese
This game is killing me!
wes g
goaaaalllllllll 2-2!
wengler
Yellow card on the Jabulani.
Rtd
Lol Dempsey
Violet
The US was so robbed with that disallowed goal. Good for them for getting the draw, but sheesh they’ve got to learn how to play early in games and also in first halves.
dirk
If you want to see the future, imagine a boot stamping on a Jabulani forever.
Crashman
We wuz robbed, yo.
strandedvandal
The referee has no business working another WC match.
bjacques
A reilef, but damn what a hole to get into in the first place. Was Altidore about to swing at one of the refs at the end?
Stroszek
We beat Algeria, England beats Slovenia, we still advance.
wengler
US wins 3-2.
Oh wait…goal disallowed for no reason.
2-2.
Sorry England.
Ron
That was a terrible call. The only foul I saw was by Slovenia. How can FIFA justify crap like that?
flotsam
@Stroszek:
Yeah because England looked like fuckin worldbeaters – I wouldn’t count on the brits for much at this point…
Comrade Darkness
People claim it’s the lack of ad time that kills this game in the u.s.. It isn’t, it’s that the refs decide any close game, if they so choose to.
Violet
@bjacques:
It sure looked like it. Another player was pulling him away from the refs. Smart move. Don’t want to antagonize them, even though that ref totally sucked.
MattR
Why did no one tell me there was another World Cup thread? I was wondering why no one was commenting in the other one. As I said there, “Well, while three pts would have been nice, that single point was crucial. Now the US is guaranteed to go through with a 2-0 win over Algeria regardless of all other games.”
@Comrade Darkness:
Unlike the NBA or NFL? If anything, American sports fans like to have one more thing to complain/argue about.
NobodySpecial
Hose job! Ref needs to stick to where his level, which is probably grade school.
Violet
So what would happen to this group if England loses or draws with Algeria. The way this WC is going, seems like anything is possible.
burnspbesq
Where the heck did FIFA find that referee?
Some immigrant guy
You guys were robbed. That disallowed goal was a shocker.
On the plus side though, a clear win over Algeria and you are through.
And on a personal level – Ellis Park, where this game was played – was my home stadium, having grown up in Johannesburg. I watched plenty of soccer and rugby there over the years, and the atmosphere today was as good as it has ever been. Good luck next match, don’t leave SA too soon!
Ash
I’m expecting this asshole ref to start construction on his palace in Mali shortly. :|
fbihop
I can’t get over this game.
I would have stuck around here and chatted, but as soon as I closed the tab in frustration in the 2nd half, the USA scored.
Being the superstitious individual that I am, when it comes to sports, I kept it closed the rest of the 2nd half.
Seriously, though, that was a fucking horrible job of refereeing. A lot of iffy yellow cards to Slovenia, and a lot of BS calls against the US, especially in the box.
Lysana
@Ron:
Ask Ireland.
fbihop
On the bright side, the USA has tied 3-2 and 0-1.
Stroszek
If England beats Algeria, we’ll get to play a totally deflated team in game 3, so put on your red and white.
It’ll be interesting if we end up with a 3-way 5 point tie in the group.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
So I watched most of the second half on the CBC, who have a single announcer who doesn’t openly root for one side. I switched back to ESPN only long enough to hear a couple of comments on the RedState/NRO Americans are the Perpetual Victims postgame show before I had to change channels again. Hey, Lalas, why don’t you go murder a wedding party with a drone, you’ll feel better. Poor, poor victimized America, so sad.
Lysana
By the by, I am grateful for these open threads. I don’t have cable, so the ESPN games are inaccessible. I’m getting a nice feel for how the games I care about go thanks to the discussions here.
MattR
Oh, and my guess is that we will find out the ref called a foul against Bocanegra on the disallowed goal. I think that was the only matchup that might have looked like a foul from where the ref was standing.
And am I the only one who thinks Onyewu needs to sit in the next game, not that I am sure who should replace him?
FlyingRodent
Yeah, beat Algeria and it’s looking good, assuming you don’t get the Germans. Provided the team remember to actually play in the first half, you should go through.
burnspbesq
The Guardian live-blogger gets it exactly right:
Culture of Truth
you posted that just to jinx Slovenia didn’t you?
Comrade Darkness
@MattR: This is why coaches can call for replay check in the booth when it matters in NFL. Rewind this game and let the American coach do that. (I’ll point out I like the NCAA football replay rule a lot better than the NFL one. Works more smoothly.) I don’t watch NBA, I’ll confess, so I can’t comment to that, except to point out that most games aren’t so blasted close given that scoring 100 is normal. This sport, especially world cup with its funky little fast ball, keeps most games within a goal or two.
For sports, Americans just like to know who the better team is before having one advance in a championship. That’s why Hockey and NBA play best of freaking 7. For exactly that reason. Too much random chance in any given match. Soccer is too capricious for a mainstream American audience.
ChrisZ
We can guarantee ourselves to go through if we win by two next game.
burnspbesq
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.):
Fuck you. We were victimized.
edmund dantes
The weird part is no one seems to know what the Ref called to disallow it. Either the players are lying or the Ref never explained it to them. Bradley didn’t seem to have gotten an explanation either.
At minimum, it should have been advantage goal allowed. At worst you could have called 4 separate Slovenians for outright tackling players in the penalty area. I realize they call Soccer Footbal in other countries, but it doesn’t mean you get to play American Football tackling rules when playing the U.S.. Jeebus.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
@MattR:
I can’t decide which is America’s favorite hobby, invading defenseless countries or complaining about officiating.
Truly, it’s sad that the U.S. is only approximately as good at this sport as a country 1/150th its size, but deal with it.
Ash
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.):
Pretty much the one thing I can guarantee that Americans share with the rest of the world is that we ALL like to complain about refs.
Lab Partner
Has Joe Barton apologized to the ref yet?
Slim Tyranny
That was a terrible non-foul call. It’s a bad sign when the announcers replay the event a few times and still cannot ID the foul.
fbihop
Don’t feed the troll, guys.
Landon Donovan said on ESPN after the game, “I don’t know how they stole that third goal from us.” And he said that the ref wouldn’t even tell them what the call was.
wengler
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
Go troll somewhere else.
Ron
@fbihop: Oh, bullshit. The goal against England was a misplay by their goalie. Not the same thing as the ref making a phantom call to take away a goal.
Tim
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.): Good reasoning. Then China should be the best, and India second best?
Comrade Darkness
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.): You’re suggesting we take up an official policy of assassinating our players and coaches when they screw up like the rest of the world does?
JenJen
@fbihop: Yep. Donovan went on to say “I feel a little gutted, the ref wouldn’t tell us what his call was, it was his first World Cup and maybe he got a little caught up in the moment, but I don’t see how you take that third goal away from us.”
Word.
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.): Ummm, wow. Bitching about nationalism during the World freaking Cup? Seriously?
Slim Tyranny
Responding to Bruce is giving him the hard-on he so desperately wants from his attention-whoring trollage. Don’t give him his perverse satisfaction.
Andy
I suspect the Germans might be a little bit more pissed off tonight with the ref than the Americans are. I suspect Serbia’s hopes to join the EU have suffered a set back!
The USA lives to fight another day and they have Algeria next which will be a walk over.
At the end of the day the USA should have played the first half like they played the second half and there would have been no doubt.
MattR
@Comrade Darkness: But you can’t review a holding penalty or pass interference in the NFL. I do think the best of 7 argument is valid as is the lack of scoring (plus the American dislike of ties)
strandedvandal
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.): Just because you have a tiny, tiny penis, and BB’s for balls doesn’t mean you have to be so angry. Look at it this way, For a chipmunk, you are HUNG! Have a great weekend.
amorphous
@Lysana: Jeebus -channelsurfing.net people. Or myp2p.eu.
flotsam
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.):
Really? GFY – you want to come and shit all over a fucking soccer thread??? diaf jagoff.
J.W. Hamner
While it was an outrageous call (as well as the non-red card), I honestly don’t feel that bad about it since we made a comeback I never would have dreamed possible… plus getting really lucky against England. At least we’re still in it (and in a pretty strong position)… a thing I would have bet heavily against at the end of the first half.
MattR
And in defense of Bruce, ESPN’s coverage and analysis does suck.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Lab Partner:
FTW!
fbihop
@Ron:
It was just a joke.
Stroszek
@Comrade Darkness: You mean a *real* American audience, Sarah?
amorphous
And I broke the thread. Why is everything crossed out?
Dr. Squid
What are the chances that Spain, France AND Germany don’t go through?
liza
@Lysana: espn3.com is streaming every match live.
stuckinred
@Andy:
Shheeeet, this SHOULD be the land of the free and the home of the brave too.
Comrade Darkness
@burnspbesq: This is the part we come to with every World Cup. The world whines that the U.S. doesn’t love their “beautiful game”. The U.S. enters a team with this delusion that there is good faith involved. Then reality sets in. You either accept that the outcome is random and involves demonstrating superior acting skills, or don’t bother. Europeans revel in this unfairness and use it to fuel the next round’s revenge and riots. American’s get pissed off and walk away. The disconnect is huge.
More than one Italian has told me that this is how the game is supposed to be played. The refs are there to steer the outcome “as it was supposed to be”. Of course, in Italy’s leagues, Futbol is just a full scale version of facebook’s mafia wars. So I’m not sure how that “supposed to be” translates really.
Paula
FUCKKKKKK YOUUUU REF.
Zach
@liza: “espn3.com is streaming every match live.” FYI, except for the ones broadcast on ABC, at least where I am. Wasn’t aware of this and got caught working on the weekend sans football.
fbihop
@liza @Lysana:
Also, http://futbol.univision.com/fifacopamundial/partidos-en-vivo/ if ESPN3 isn’t available with your internet provider.
PanAmerican
It was the refs first World Cup match. In the absence of evidence I’ll go with in over his head vs. paying off gambling debts. Horrible place for a noob ref to choke on his whistle.
stormhit
@Comrade Darkness:
Your argument is ridiculous. Every sport hinges on officiating, and there’s frequently a feeling of unfairness involved. Ask the Celtics.
And yeah, the American need for multi-game playoff series must be why the NCAA tournament is such a colossal failure.
Violet
According to this Maurice Edu’s dad is from Nigeria. I don’t suppose there’s a little West African rivalry going on there, from the Malian ref with that disallowed goal against Edu?
The geopolitics of football are fascinating.
Lawnguylander
Now I know how those Hillary Clinton supporters felt after I helped rig the Texas caucuses. Wow. I have a feeling this new found guilt is going to be tough to live with.
Paula
@Violet:
That’s a stretch. Bottom line: The Yanks are always receiving bullshit calls against them. And we remember the worst of them, obv. I think Sam’s Army have the name Larrionda tattooed in their brains from 2006.
MikeR
Assuming England beat Algeria today, we don’t actually need England to beat Slovenia next week. If England win, a USA victory over Algeria puts us on 5 points, Slovenia on 4, and we go through. If England and Slovenia draw, then (assuming England beat Algeria), and the USA beat Algeria, then three teams (England, USA, Slovenia) would all have 5 points. At that point, it comes down to goal differential. Slovenia beat Algeria by 1 goal, so a USA win by 2 goals or more puts us through. If Slovenia beat England, and the USA win, then Slovenia would have 7 points, the USA 5, and England 4. So, there are a lot of outs here; we can advance regardless of the result of the England/Slovenia game. If we beat Algeria by 2 or more goals, I’d say it’s pretty much guaranteed, although I haven’t actually done the math on it.
Of course, if Algeria beat England, I’ll have to go back to the drawing board.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
My goodness, so many poopy diapers, so few attendants to change them.
Watching on the CBC as I did, sans a perpetual victimhood color announcer like they have on ESPN/RedState, the lone announcer noted that the ref blew his whistle almost simultaneously with Donovan’s free kick. Whatever he saw, whether legitimate or not, he didn’t wait until the ball was in the net to screw poor, victimized America. To those of you who are blinded by chauvinism, puny little push-pull fouls on the offensive side in the box get called about a dozen times a game. Also, for those of you blinded by chauvinism, the ref gave a foul to put the U.S. in this prime scoring spot in the first place. Also, for those of you blinded by chauvinism, if the ref wanted to throw the game he could have saved himself a lot of trouble by simply red-carding an American in the first half instead of giving the U.S. a bunch of free kicks not too far away from the box in the second.
But by all means, keep puling about the officiating, it’s bound to improve the country’s reputation in places like Slovenia.
Stroszek
@Comrade Darkness: Blah blah blah.
Ratings for 2006 World Cup final (between two foreign countries at 2 in the afternoon): 16.9
Ratings for the 2006 March Madness final: 17.5
Average Rating for the 2006 World Series: 17.1
Average Rating for the 2006 NBA Finals: 13
Highest Rating for a 2006 Stanley Cup Match: 3.3
Cut the “I speak for mainstream America” punditisms. The World Cup’s U.S. popularity is comparable to that of any other championship event other than the Olympics and the Superbowl.
MattR
@MikeR:
This is all that needs to happen for the US to advance.
jwb
@MikeR: What does the math look like if England, US, and Slovenia all end up beating Algeria 1-0 and England and Slovenia tie?
Davis X. Machina
@jwb: There is, at the end of all the tie-breaks, provision for a coin-toss.
I feel sick just raising the topic.
MattR
@jwb: It depends on the score of the England-Slovakia tie. If it is 0-0 or 1-1, England gets eliminated on total goals. If it is 3-3 or greater, the United States gets elminataed on total goals. If it is 2-2, then it comes down to a drawing of lots to see if England or the US is eliminated.
Hawes
I think Comrade Darkness is on to something.
Compare Jim Joyce with Mali-Ref. Joyce manned up, apologized tearfully, Armando Galaragga was 100% class.
Then you look at the diving and arbitrary decisions. (and Klose’s red card was almost as bad as Edu’s non-goal).
Soccer always verges on becoming figure skating….
I still love it, but the first round of games were SO clean by the officials and this round has gone to pooh.
handsmile
Oh Lordy, what will the 101st Chairborne Division do? Wingnut cranial matter must be spewing over computer screens throughout the land.
Team USA-USA-USA wuz robbed [apparently true] by a black African referee in the World Cups of Soccer. Of course, last week, commanders of the Fighting Keyboarders had denounced the tournament as merely the sports wing of the despised United Nations.
And now, advancement to the next round for our boys in RedWhiteandBlue depends on a match with a Sunni Muslim nation!!!
Well, at least we can take comfort in the knowledge of what team Jesus would root for.
Ash
@handsmile: Are you high? Or are you just like normally?
Comrade Darkness
@Stroszek: 17 million, that’s all? That’s well under half the U.S.’s foreign born population, which would be the main audience. Toss in a few million curious native-borns and apparently we have corrupted a good 2/3 of immigrants to find something else to do during the world cup freaking final? Seriously.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
@Comrade Darkness:
Ah. So the ref steered a U.S. comeback from a seemingly insurmountable deficit because it was supposed to be a tie all along. You’d think the people here would be grateful.
Blue Neponset
In the future can you guys refrain from posting scores in the post?
My wife and I were looking forward to watching the game later today. Now I have to pretend I shit my pants for some other reason.
JenJen
@Stroszek: Those Stanley Cup ratings are a little surprising, but they’ve picked up a bit since the lockout.
All that being said, the audition portion of “So You Think You Can Dance” still kicked the ass of Game Six 2010. :-(
@Blue Neponset: Good luck with that. :-)
cmorenc
@Bruce:
I say this as a competitive-level soccer referee in my 14th year and umpteen-hundredth match of experience (albeit not at a World Cup or international level):
LET’S COMPLETELY SET ASIDE FROM DISCUSSION FOR A MOMENT center referee Koman Coulibaly’s most controversial call that cancelled the apparent third US goal…because aside from that, a good case can be made that his refereeing decisions did not really affect the outcome of the match.
EVEN WITH THAT ASSUMPTION however, his performance was very poor, especially for this high a level. It’s a safe bet that he won’t get another assignment this World Cup (nor any really important match outside of his local area for quite awhile).
The intense postgame assessment that ALL World Cup referee crews undergo after every game from a team of very experienced referee-assessors in person with the crew will likely be very uncomfortable, perhaps even brutally critical for Mr. Coulibaly, and none of them will be partisans for any side.
Mike E
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.): Why do you hate freedom?
Srsly, the US side had no heart in the 1st half, Slovenia did a good job jumping the ball at midfield and basically out-hustled those blue dogs. Why does it take a punch in the nose (or two) to wake them up? If I see the defense start on its heels against Algeria I’m gonna invade Canada or something.
jwb
@MattR: Ick. Thanks! Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that!
Comrade Darkness
@Hawes: The first round was *exceptionally* refereed. I think that lulled me in.
@Davis X. Machina: A coin toss? Not a free kick thing? Or a Hackysacking the soccer ball competition, even?
Stroszek
@Comrade Darkness: LOL!
“Those can’t be REAL Americans!”
Thanks for confirming my assumptions, but even if your spin were true, it speaks quite poorly for the popularity of basketball and baseball. I guess they’re not mainstream either.
American football must be the only real ‘merikin sport. Yeehaw!
Anyway, soccer’s relative lack of popularity has nothing to do with something special about the American ethos. All your arguments could be applied to some mix of football, basketball, etc. This urge to take the state of soccer as some evidence of American exceptionalism is simply Glenn Beck lunacy.
Soccer is relatively unpopular because:
(1) There are tons of popular sports in the US.
2) There are no preexisting social motivators to play soccer given (1).
demo woman
@Blue Neponset: After a well deserved chewing out for posting a score on an thread, I am fairly careful.. unless the thread is designated as a sports thread. Since this is the World Cup thread, one could imagine that scoring would be mentioned.
Good luck tonight.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Comrade Darkness:
You are forgetting all the people who watch on Univision and on the internet.
burnspbesq
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.):
To those of you who are blinded by blindness AND chauvanism (reflexive anti-Americanism is just as chauvanistic as reflexive pro-Americanism), explain how you failed to see two Americans taken down in the box on tackles that would have been borderline in rugby.
The ref fucked up, and it cost us two points. You know that. Why is it so painful for you to admit it?
burnspbesq
@cmorenc:
This guy refereed the final of the African Cup of Nations, which presumably means he is considered the best referee in Africa?
Jeez.
I will never bitch about MLS refs again.
Patrick
FIFA takes a ref from every country, they don’t just take the best refs. Every world cup, there are problems with horrible calls. Not only did the ref call a non-foul on the Edu goal, he called non-fouls on every 2nd half set play by the U.S.
The ref in the Germany game was unbelievably atrocious. How can you call ticky tack fouls as yellows? Germany and Serbia might have trouble fielding 11 in the quarters with all the yellows they have.
It probably has happened that the best refs worked Game 1s. But the next tier are working these 2nd round games. And as I said, these are not the next best 12 refs in the world, but the refs from the next 12 countries. Today’s two referees would probably never get near a Champions League game.
Patrick
@burns He did, but was roundly criticized for his performance. Referees are not in the WC because they are the best. I believe they are sent there by their confederations.
MattR
@burnspbesq: Outside of Egypt and Ghana (and potentially others who would be considered biased against one of those two finalists). The refereeing has been disappointing the past few days, but I don’t think it has been any better or worse than usual overall. It is just the clustering of bad calls after such a surprisingly good start that makes it appear otherwise.
(EDIT: The above comment is pretty much moot after reading Patrick’s post.)
@Patrick:
Any idea the logic behind this?
cmorenc
@burnspbesq: Yes, I know that’s (African Cup final) one of the main credentials by which he was selected to be a referee in the World Cup.
Nonetheless, this was an enormously substandard performance by him today, even assuming he is capable of much better. Every ref has his less-than-stellar quality days, but how unfortunate that this ref had one of his worst today.
fbihop
@burnspbesq: don’t feed the troll…
matoko_chan
Take that BOOOSH!
;)
get real, soccer fanboiz.
the rest of the world is going to throw shoes for a long, long, time.
don’t we deserve it?
eventually soccer will become popular…..one of the little kids playing today is going to become a superstar, and then americans will care.
Stroszek
I would add that Nielsen ratings significantly underepresent non-citizens, even before you consider undocumented immigrants.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
@cmorenc:
Who cares? I’m taking issue with the bratty little children who insist that the U.S. wuz robbed! Take your complaint to FIFA. If the ref was poor but the result was fair then that’s a different issue.
@Mike E:
I hereby pledge to admit that the U.S. was jobbed against Slovenia just as soon as John Cole admits that the Seattle Seahawks were the real winners of Super Bowl XL. Ball’s in his court.
Martin
@MattR: What does the math look like if BP opens a well mid-pitch in the final England match, US invades Algeria during their match, and Sarah Palin tweets from Slovenia: “In Slovenia 2 c the soçialism and can’t find Barry COLB anywhere!”?
MikeR
Thanks, MattR. I figured the second tie-breaker would be total goals scored, but hadn’t had time to check.
Steeplejack
@amorphous:
WordPress takes an unaccompanied hyphen before a word as a command to strike through the following text. If it’s at the end of your comment, it can farkle the thread. Apparently it was fixed by a front-pager.
dadanarchist
Or that Michael Bradley was literally being hugged by the defender on the same play where Edu’s goal was called back.
That was atrocious – even my friend who was rooting for Slovenia agreed it was awful.
dadanarchist
You are, essentially, correct. Bad calls by the refs are part of the game and every World Cup, and even though the bad call on Edu’s goal was egregious, that doesn’t make up for the fact that the US should never have conceded that first goal so easily. That shit was ugly.
Still, it stings a lot – would have been one of the great comebacks – and I think folks are just working out their anger.
burnspbesq
OK. It’s over. Nothing to be done, except to bury Algeria.
One last “Fuck you, ref, you suck,” and time to move on.
David in NY
@MattR:
Um, this is why it is sometimes embarrasing to be an American.
Slovenia, dammit.
JenJen
@Patrick: The German match was just beyond the pale in terms of outrageous reffing. Every possible little teeny foul was a yellow. And now Germany has to do without Klose next match as well. :-(
Patrick
FIFA is a lot like the USOC. Old guys, with a lot of perks, and too much job security. I’m not sure of the dynamics of how they get their positions, but I think they are beholden to individual soccer federations in every country. So, the old guys with lots of perks and too much job security in every national federation, like to hand out tickets and per diems to a ref from their country. Everyone is happy, but it is not the best refereeing that is possible. That is because the best refs make their living in European leagues. But England can only send one ref, Italy one, Germany one, etc. The best ref in Ghana is probably the 25th best in England.
dadanarchist
Also, in the annals of bad reffing, I’m not sure anything will ever beat Graham Poll’s atrocious fucking performance in the Croatia v. Australia game in the 2006 World Cup.
Bill Murray
1. on the disallowed goal, immediately on the whistle there was a graphic in the upper right hand corner that indicated offside. Bradley was sort of in an offside position — his body was slightly ahead of the body of the Slovenian holding him. I never saw a replay angle that showed the assistant referee to see if he signaled.
2. Coulibaly the referee did blow for quite a few phantom fouls on free kicks and corners, mostly against the US. He also refereed the final of 2010 African Cup of Nations, so is probably the best African referee not from Ghana or Egypt (the finals competitors). The yellow card when Altidore was fouled on his diagonal run by the last defender was correct — the current directives are clear that moving away from goal as Jozy was is not a goal scoring chance.
3. It’s good that Bradley scored since he was mostly responsible (along with Gooch) for the first Slovene goal and a little responsible (I think) for the second Slovene goal.
fbihop
@Bill Murray:
The official word is that it was a foul on Edu. Which is ridiculous, if you watch the replay.
frankdawg
@JenJen:
And American -Idiot- Idol outdraws them all. You would think that America’s love of bland, pointless ‘entertainment’ would incline us to love futbol. Sorry, gratuitous shot designed to raise blood pressure! :)
I actually came here to see if someone in the tread could tell me what the hell the call was. If you want to point to a reason why soccer is not wildly popular in the US I will present myself as exhibit A. I know a little (admittedly very little) about the game having watched 3 kids play a combined 15 years of it. I want to care but I watch the games & crap like this happens and I can’t even argue ‘We wuz robbed’ because I have no idea what the hell is actually a penalty in this game.
Baseball is very easy(except for the balls & strikes)
Football has it floppers & divers but still in replay if not real time it is fouls are obvious.
Basketball sucks plain & simple, give up. traveling depends on who you are & so do some of the physical calls but at least it is still possible to see them.
Hockey has too many divers & too many rotten humans, it is played at a speed no human can call 100% of the time but you can still decide if you were robbed.
Patrick
To put the final bow on this, the ref is from Mali. Not many world class games played in Mali. This guy echews the monetary rewards of ref-ing in the EPL or La Liga to stay in Mali? Or, is he in Mali because he is not good enough even for all the second tier leagues out there?
I thought when Italy was robbed by a horrible ref decision in 2002, that FIFA would change and just take the best refs regardless of geography. It is all fun and games until a big European side is victimized. But they didn’t. Germany has now been victimized. The USA in particular seem to be racking up strange calls since we’ve become a competitive second tier team (starting with Frings hand ball and through this blown call).
Mike Lamb
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.): What bullshit commentary. Calling an obvious foul in one instance is not balanced by a dodgy foul call in the second. The idea that there is some type of equality in the situations is nonsense. The only fouls occurring in the box (I could give a crap when he blew his whistle) was Bradley being tackled from behind. The ref blew the call and was terrible all game long. Do I think he had it “in for” the US? Absolutely not. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that the US got hosed.
JenJen
@frankdawg: So you’re saying you’re not much of a sports fan? ;-)
@Mike Lamb: Well done!
Patrick
@Frank When you post on a thread about something, you must have some interest in it. I think you are a soccer fan now.
But, arguing Americans like football because it is called well is silly. There are 1-3 bad pass interference calls a game that are not reviewable and lead to game changing field positions.
Bad officiating is rampant. It probably always has been. It is just that TV technology is so good now, it exposes all these errors. FIFA and MLB both are resisting replay and seem to defer to their officials too much and don’t take the best refs or umps to the biggest games. World Series games are umped by the most senior umps in the union, not the best. A ball landed 10 feet fair last year, 5 feet in front of an ump, in the world series, and he called it foul. Not to mention Jim Joyce.
Comrade Darkness
@dadanarchist: Was that the one where the yellow card issuing turned into a drinking game? In the end that turned out pretty fun. As well as I can recall, anyway.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
@Mike Lamb:
Uh, I said absolutely nothing about “balanced” calls. Since you didn’t get the point, here it is again: there have been several inferences in this thread that the ref was deliberately making calls (or “steering the game”) against the U.S. I merely pointed out some cogent reasons why this might not be so.
Assuming he did, do you think he did it on purpose?
snarkypsice
@Comrade Darkness:
Whoa! The whole world does that?
Comrade Darkness
@Stroszek: What the hell does mainstream mean anyway? You’ve never been anywhere near a big American city when the world cup final ends. The streets are filled with immigrants and first generation kids, and you are twisting that into my saying something is anti-melting pot or something? Fuck it, I give up.
scav
A) Isn’t abusing the Ref/Ump the only part of all sports that everyone everywhere can always agree on, no matter any expertise or background in the sport whatsoever?
B) They really are sort of the magically appearing sand-trap 12-sided random event die in every game, provided so that everybody can jump up and down and hyper-ventilate. If they didn’t exist, most arm-chair sports fans wouldn’t get a cardio-vascular workout often enough.
J.W. Hamner
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.):
Dude, you’re moving the goal posts… more proof that you are simply trolling, and not serious.
While there may have been somebody in this thread who said that he was deliberately screwing the US for some nefarious purpose (I didn’t see it)… everyone else is just saying it was a terrible call that cost the US 2 points.
I’m perfectly willing to chalk that up to pure incompetence.
snarkypsice
I’ve never noticed the world caring what the US thinks actually.
Lawnguylander
@Patrick:
Actually, it used to be that seniority ruled but now the Commissioner’s office decides which umpires will work playoff and World Series games. Theoretically based on competency. Anyway, the fix was in for the Yankees in that series just like it was with the paid off ref from Mali today so whatever.
Stroszek
@Comrade Darkness: I don’t know, man, you used the term.
Anyway, I reject the notion that soccer is too random or more random than other games. If that were true, we wouldn’t see the same teams winning the cup over and over again.
Brian
Still a bad call no matter when the whistle was blown… show me the foul and I’ll believe it… Bad officials should not be allowed to officiate important games… (see Germany Serbia game). Is it too much to ask to have the best officiate the best… not some shit show from some shitty country in the name of world comderay.
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.):
Paula
Jesus, what are these fucking politics trolls doing in this thread.
Kim Jong-Il is a loathsome twat, but we don’t dump that shit onto DPRK, who are representing themselves and team even if they themselves say every goal they score is for Dear Leader. Grow the fuck up.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
@J.W. Hamner:
Dude, Landon Donovan said the ref “stole” a goal, and has been quoted approvingly here. Comrade Darkness suggested the ref was “steering” the outcome. There have been comments alluding to payoffs for the ref. Get with the program.
Of course, many are just indulging in garden variety bitching, and to them I repeat my offer that I will admit that the U.S. got jobbed just as soon as John Cole admits that the Seattle Seahawks were the real winners of Super Bowl XL.
dadanarchist
He sent off two players with double yellows, and then gave one Croatian player *three* yellow cards before finally sending him off. That was just the yelllow cards. There were 46 other fouls.
It was a miracle either team was able to get into enough of a groove to score; then again, Croatia’s first goal came at 2′ and the Aussies has one on a penalty kick.
mcd410x
I’m just proud we have 216 comments on a soccer post! Woohoo!
Paula
STOP FEEDING THE TROLL.
ThresherK
Set aside everything from the first Slovenia goal onward.
My alarm went off about this ref when the phantom handball turned into a real yellow card to the US attacker (Finley?) very early in.
I’ve watched more than my share of soccer. I don’t remember a handball get so wrongly called on an attacker in the box not swarmed by players.
And even if the ref blinks and imagines something, does this often become a yellow card? When the flow of play after that results in something that’s not even a seeming goal?
Coulibaly, thanks for reffing today, but you don’t get to advance to the next round. Here’s some Rice-A-Roni. Hope you had fun.
J
I’m very late to the party, but I’d like to make the point that regardless of the ref’s quality (which clearly wasn’t top notch), the commentators on ESPN were UNBEARABLY biased. Clean tackles by Slovenes were supposedly worthy of a booking, fouls by US players in the Slovene box, should have been penalty kicks for the US, etc., etc.
Also, when, immediately after the match, Donovan was asked about the officiating, he ONLY complained about the disallowed goal (which was a bad call indeed). The rest of the officiating he deemed more or less fair.
Donovan called it better than the commentators.
Jim in Chicago
@Lab Partner: Has Joe Barton apologized to the ref yet?
Comment of the thread! Thank you Lab Partner. ;D
fbihop
@J:
Welcome to sports. Former athletes are usually the color commentators (in this case, former USA national team captain John Harkes) in all sports (Troy Aikman doing Cowboys games for Fox nearly every week?). Of course they’re biased. But the play-by-play guy is from England.
Of course, it happens all around the world.
Try watching Univision when it’s Mexico-USA.
Lysana
@liza:
Thank Jeebus for that.
dadanarchist
Yes, yes he has.
Requires some clicking.
frankdawg
@Patrick:
I would never argue that football is well called – but fans can see a bad call. In futbol I can’t tell what the heck a penalty is half the time.
When a D-back grabs a receivers jersey & the ref ignores it I know who got hosed & about how much. I’m sure part of it is my lack of experience with soccer but then I read this thread and nobody know what the heck was called so maybe the US got hosed but maybe not.
Do they have a ‘phantom double-play’ in soccer?
frankdawg
@Comrade Darkness:
Actually that would make all sports more interesting again. I’m tired of seeing multi-millionaire, spoiled rotten, anatomical freaks whine about fans, playing conditions, reporters, their income, officials and every other dang thing while they enrich both the bank accounts & egos of multi-billionaire owners, usually with taxpayer subsidies.
Like the old Inca game where the losers were beheaded on the field in a post-game celebration! ;)
J
@fbihop: Sure, but in this case it wasn’t even serious anymore. I mean, some chauvinism is only to be expected when it comes to WC matches, but this was getting ugly.
Mike Lamb
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.): Your comment was that the ref essentially put the US in the position to serve the ball into the box off a free kick. The implication, to me, was that the ref’s call was in some way unwarranted, therefore there wasn’t a particular problem with the second call.
Of course I don’t think he did it on purpose. Which of course is a total red herring, as the only question is whether the call was correct and its corresponding impact on the game.
Finally, you can say someone “stole” a goal (which the ref did), without taking it to a conspiracy theory level.
Wait–one more finally–the fact that Donovan didn’t mention any other instances of poor officiating (see e.g., Findley’s yellow card) should not be taken as any type of tacit admission as to the quality of the officiating for the remainder of the game. It’s far more likely that Donovan only remembered the egregious foul call because of its impact and the fact that it came in the last 5ish minutes of the game.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
@Mike Lamb:
No, there is no such implication. Try to follow along.
If the ref was crooked why did he set up the U.S. for that kick (and several others) in the first place?
If the ref was not crooked but merely biased why did he set up the U.S. for that kick (and several others) in the first place?
If the ref was not crooked or biased but merely incompetent then everything he called all day, including calls that favored the U.S., is called into question.
Good, then you can get in line at the Complaint Department behind the dozens of sports teams that got a bad call. And my offer still stands; I’ll admit that the U.S. got hosed just as soon as John Cole admits that the real winners of Super Bowl XL were the Seattle Seahawks.