USA ties as the Refs Steal a Goal from Team USA

[GHook93]

United States stages dramatic World Cup rally against Slovenia to stay alive in South Africa - World Cup News - FOX Sports on MSN
United States substitute Maurice Edu volleyed Donovan's free kick into the net in the 86th but the goal was disallowed as the referee called a foul on Edu.

"I still don't know why the goal was disallowed," Bradley said. "Nobody knows at this moment.

Donovan gave the Americans hope at the start of the second half. Picking up a long pass from Steve Cherundolo, he broke in from the right flank and blasted a right-footer into the top of the net from a tight angle. It was Donovan's 43rd goal for the United States.

"I'm a little gutted to be honest," Donovan said. "I don't know how they stole that last goal from us. ... I'm not sure what the call was. He (the referee) wouldn't tell us what the call was."

Team USA should have won the game and been in great position to move on. However, the Ref stole the game by making a BS call! Donovan doesn't know what it was, but most people do. The foul was being American and playing for Team America!

 

[B. Kidd]

Watched the game (what else to do with my coffee at PST?). The ref was from some nether region country between may balls and my ass. U.S. got ripped off. Maybe Glenn Beck's soccer rant was correct yesterday.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

The ref hates the USA more than Obama

 

[Epsilon Delta]

Sucks for you guys, but that's the way it is. This sort of thing happens all the time. You're really not that special.

Besides, you guys *just* have to beat Algeria to go through. And don't expect this ref to really be seen again after this blunder...

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Sucks for you guys, but that's the way it is. This sort of thing happens all the time. You're really not that special.

Besides, you guys *just* have to beat Algeria to go through. And don't expect this ref to really be seen again after this blunder...

We beat Slovenia, we kicked three past their keeper

 

[B. Kidd]

Sucks for you guys, but that's the way it is. This sort of thing happens all the time. You're really not that special.

Besides, you guys *just* have to beat Algeria to go through. And don't expect this ref to really be seen again after this blunder...

Too bad instant replay hasn't come to 'foosball' and Central America. What, your infrastructure can't support it?
Oh well, I'll stick to americano football........Go Eags!!!

 

[Baruch Menachem]

worst call I ever heard of by a soccer ref was when a player was given an infraction for falling down dead on the field.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Oh is there a kickball tournament going on somewhere?

 

[JWBooth]

 

[Epsilon Delta]

Sucks for you guys, but that's the way it is. This sort of thing happens all the time. You're really not that special.

Besides, you guys *just* have to beat Algeria to go through. And don't expect this ref to really be seen again after this blunder...

We beat Slovenia, we kicked three past their keeper

Not disputing that; it WAS a goal. But the goal wasn't disallowed because the ref "hates America," the goal was disallowed because you got a terrible ref. Happens all the time.

Too bad instant replay hasn't come to 'foosball' and Central America. What, your infrastructure can't support it?
Oh well, I'll stick to americano football........Go Eags!!!

No, there isn't instante replay in foosball, as far as I can tell. There IS however, instant replay in football (you know, the sport that you play with your foot), and believe it or not we DO get it here in Central America. In fact, I just saw an instant replay in the Japan-Netherlands game. Well, that could just be Costa Rica, but I assume you can watch it in the rest of the region, considering everyone gets the same feed. In other words, your LAME SWIPE DIDN'T WORK.

 

[xotoxi]

worst call I ever heard of by a soccer ref was when a player was given an infraction for falling down dead on the field.

A red card would be appropriate in that situation.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Did anybody in the "Soccer is so boring" contingent watch any of the game? It was one of the best comebacks and one of the most exciting games you'll ever see

 

[rightwinger]

Sucks for you guys, but that's the way it is. This sort of thing happens all the time. You're really not that special.

Besides, you guys *just* have to beat Algeria to go through. And don't expect this ref to really be seen again after this blunder...

As a non-soccer fan I understand bad calls are made in every sport. What I can't understand is why he doesn't have to explain what he called and on whom?

Is there any accountability for refs?

 

[Epsilon Delta]

Sucks for you guys, but that's the way it is. This sort of thing happens all the time. You're really not that special.

Besides, you guys *just* have to beat Algeria to go through. And don't expect this ref to really be seen again after this blunder...

As a non-soccer fan I understand bad calls are made in every sport. What I can't understand is why he doesn't have to explain what he called and on whom?

Is there any accountability for refs?

The short answer would be... no. =\ Refs' decisions are final and nobody can do fuck-all about it.

Basically refs are The Law in soccer, and there doesn't seem to have been much of an effort to change that, though I'm sure people want to. There's no "challenging" of the call or anything like that, which can lead to all sorts of crazy calls going through like this one here. According to FIFA:

Players, coaches and referees all make mistakes. It's part of the game. It's what I would call the "first match". What you see after the fact on video simply doesn't come into it; that's the "second match", if you like. Video evidence is useful for disciplinary sanctions, but that's all. As we've always emphasised at FIFA, football's human element must be retained. It mirrors life itself and we have to protect it.

Sounds pretty flaky, no? I'm not entirely sure why FIFA refuses to adapt to technology, but that's just the way it is. I have heard many people say that they like the fact refs can make mistakes, or that teams would start abusing it and start challenging everything the ref does (obviously nobody says that after they've been robbed, but I dunno).

Personally, I think FIFA should have ref challenges when its about a penalty or a goal in a major international competition or top division tournaments, but well they're not gonna listen to me. OSOIDhSpdoiAHSdpOSIdpoi

On a funny sidenote, I learned just a few days ago that the World Cup is also sort of the "World Cup" for refs; the refs selected "play" three matches in the group stage and they're 'graded' by FIFA on their performance, and then the best refs move on to the round of 16, and the best to quarterfinals, then semis and supposedly the best ref in the tournament referees the final.

 

[Toro]

Sucks for you guys, but that's the way it is. This sort of thing happens all the time. You're really not that special.

Besides, you guys *just* have to beat Algeria to go through. And don't expect this ref to really be seen again after this blunder...

As a non-soccer fan I understand bad calls are made in every sport. What I can't understand is why he doesn't have to explain what he called and on whom?

Is there any accountability for refs?

Yes and no.

After every game, FIFA does an assessment of the match officials. If the assessors give the officials a poor grade, they can be dropped from the tournament.

The reason why officials don't have to give explanations for calls is because of this situation. The match official should give an explanation on the field, but if he realizes he has made a mistake, he can't give the US a goal and he cannot replay it. He also cannot say right there "Sorry, I fucked up, I shouldn't have made the call." He can say it after the match though, a few days later.

That happened in a match for World Cup qualification. The ref who made this non-call, which was a blatant handball by Thiery Henry of France v Ireland in a qualification match which saw France go to South Africa and Ireland stay home, is officiating at the World Cup.

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That's a problem with FIFA. Refs who make egregiously bad calls can come back and officiate in other tournaments.

The ref in the US match officiated the last African's Nations championship. He was supposed to be pretty good. But he made a bad mistake.