And the USA is off to a great start at this Copa got the rest of the group right where we want them /s
The argument against the handball is judging natural vs unnatural position. An extended arm isn't necessarily unnatural. For example if you're running and pumping your arms in a regular motion and the ball hits the arm while extended and the player doesn't have time to adjust, that's not handling. What we have here is a player leaping to deflect a cross. Arms extendup while leaping. He exercised due care to keep his ball side arm down, kind of like two players exercising due care to keep their elbows in while going up for a contested header. His goal side arm came up (quite naturally for a leaping athlete) and he turned to protect himself and his arm from the ball. He tried to tuck his hand back into his body to further shield the ball from hitting the hand/arm. He just wasn't quick enough. A red would need to apply that logic in realtime to arrive at no call being made. Judged in that light, it would not be handling. The problem is the entire approach to blocking the cross was a bit unconventional (leap+back turn) and it looked awkward. In the run of play, I was 100% sure it was a handball. On replay, it looked much less obvious. Depending upon a refs interpretation/view, I could see it not being called 3 times in 10. I don't think a call either way would have been unjust.
basically, I was spot on. I thought the US were very poor though, honestly expected more. Bradley was terrible. We never really left first gear either.
It was good defensive tactics by Colombia. They kept the lines very compact leaving no space to play on the ground. Usually the way to beat a compact defense is to mix it up and try some diagonal balls over the top to try and get behind the defense with the speed of Zardes and Wood. I know Colombia's defense is very fast, but the US never even challenged them. Colombia's defenders were good individually too with a big save from Ospina, a clearance off the line and of course Zapata scores. If their defense stays strong, I can see them being successful in this tournament
our defense is so strange sometimes. They seem so fragile in certain games and in different points of the year but in then they have games like this where I even forget that we even had defensive problems to being with. Zapata actually played very well, I was caught off guard by that nice volley of his. Although I am annoyed a bit that Bacca missed that clear one on one. Really should have been 3-0.
wtf is Klinsmann on. http://soccer.nbcsports.com/2016/06...-pleased-as-usmnt-totally-even-with-colombia/
He's on the same slow drip of minimize and redirect every coach who should be canned is on. I was hoping for better from us but I wasn't expecting it given a year's worth of piss poor play.
Lol. Its a handball and should always be called as such, especially in an international tourney. This isn't high school, these are pros that should and do know better. Don't need a dissertation to to justify such an obvious call.
Yeah even though Colombia won, I think they played poorly. I expected more from their attack, maybe they need to get into rhythm.
So glad you are a world class referee. This was NOT that easy. There are loads of equally valid opinions out there that this was not a PK. But then clearly the only valid opinion is yours.
Go back and read what I said in earlier posts. I would have called it. Even after reviewing in slow mo, I sill would have called it, but it was easier to understand how it might not get called. But I've seen cases where something similar isn't called that was defended by the refs after the match. The LOG aren't always that specific, nor are the infallible to conflicting interpretations. No one can really take issue with the call, no matter the judgment there. I don't see what you're so upset about. The better team won the game.
nah we played pretty well. Never even left first gear. We were more focused on being tactically disciplined than just attacking for the sake of it. Everyone played very well.