From Soccernet: Guatemala coach Ramon Maradiaga was angry at referee Enrico Wijngaarde of Suriname, whose foul call when Ruiz kicked Howard nullified Guillermo Rodriguez putting the ball in the net. "They annulled a goal that was ours, and that happens because they name referees that lack the preparation to direct a game of this level. But that is what FIFA does. Their decisions are unappealable," said Maradiaga, whose team was whistled for 23 fouls. "The referee today expelled Gustavo Cabrera as a way to level the game after expelling Cherundolo." Thoughts?
Guatemalean storyline: We were robbed by the referee . . . . Another classic scene from Wednesday night was the post-game press conference with Bob Bradley where the first four question were from Guatemalan reporters who were clearly going with the 'Guatemala robbed by the referee' storyline: "Coach, what do you think of a big team like the United States needing the referee to help it win a game against Guatemala?" "Do you think the result was fair?" "What did you think of Guatemala's red card, which was obviously a make-up call for the USA red card?" "How much did the United States pay the referee?" Okay, so that last one was made up, but the others were actually asked. To his credit, Bradley answered them with bland answers that didn't provoke much reaction. I couldn't help but imagine Bruce Arena facing those same questions and delivering a wity retort like, "Well, if Cabrera did that in the United States he'd probably get arrested. Here they'll probably give him a medal." per soccer by Ives.
Really?!?! That goal was deserved? Ruiz should have - at least - been given a yellow on the play. Leave it up to a dirty-assed, third-world country to bitch about the officials when they aren't GIVEN the game by the refs. Unfortunately, we'll probably have to go through that shithole country again in the next round.
If Carlos Ruiz took a machete to Pearces head would he A- Get a warning B- no call C- Pearce gets a yellow D- Ref calls the game and forfiets the US The only thing they should be unhappy with is that despite the refs best effortts to help them, they were still unable to get a result.
Claiming that goal should have counted is patently ridiculous. Howard dropped the ball intentionally after he got cleated and the foul was called. How is there any legitimacy to that claim? The ref was a little off both ways, but I thought it was a relatively fairly called game and both red cards were fully deserved. Maybe their coach should spend more time working with four defenders not to allow a ridiculously free header from five yards out.
I thought the ref was pretty good actually. The Guats played their usual scrappy game, a few cheap shots (Ruiz on Howard a prime example) but not a major epidemic of fouls, I thought we showed good composure for the most part. The red to Dolo was deserved, what he was thinking while carrying a yellow is beyond me. The red to Cabrera was absolutely deserved, that was one of the worst fouls I've seen in a while, he made no play on the ball and came in high with an elbow, horrible challenge, Lewis could have been very seriously hurt. The Ruiz challenge to Howard was a clear foul, when the keeper has control of the ball, you can not touch him, end of story, crying for a goal there is beyond ridiculous.
Holy cow!!! I was sure he was going to be bitching about the red his team got, which to a Guatemalan, probably looked like a makeup call that should have been a yellow. Or maybe the non-handball call on Pearce. Pearce's arm was pretty far away from his body, and sometimes that is called, especially for a home team. (In my view, it was an excellent no-call because Pearce's arm was out due to him landing.) But to argue about THAT?!?!?! Good Lord, man, Howard had the ball wrapped up until Ruiz knocked it loose by any means necessary. Weird.
I didn't hear a whistle or anything but I can't imagine Howard would have released the ball like that unless play were already dead. Was that the case? Guatemala's coach would have more weight to his argument if he were complaining about the handball on Pearce in the box, which I thought was incidental contact but have seen that called many times. Cherundolo's second yellow was stupid and he deserved the card for what he did, but I can't believe the foul wasn't called on the Guatemalan who pushed him down from behind several times in order to win the ball.
Adu was yellow carded in the Olympics for a similar challenge excpet that the keeper didn't have the ball yet when Adu left his feet and Adu kicked the Keeper's hand. Ruiz kick Timmy in the head well after Timmy had wrapped up the ball. No card. That's crap.
Any surprise that a coach who lets his team play like that is also a bitch? Read the quotes from the Guatemalan reporters. Also bitches. I hate to hold a bias against any nation, but there is a reason the Mexicans call the place Guatepeor.
In Belize they say: "There's a reason Guatemala has "mal" in it." Then again, the maps of Guatemala that you see in the country show Belize as part of Guatemala, so there's a little animosity there.
Guatemala did get screwed, but not for the reasons Maradiaga mentioned. Those were all actually defensible calls. The bad ones were... 1) No handball called on Pearce (maybe not intentional, but his arm was way out there--I think those are called more often than not) 2) Ref failing to give advantage when one of the Guatemalans got fouled at midfield but the ball ended up ballooning forward and sending Loco Rodriguez in alone on Howard 3) Linesman incorrectly putting the flag up for offside on a through ball that sent one of the Guatemalans in alone on goal from the left wing--this happened about midway through the second half, and it wasn't even close Anyway, whatever. Makes up for the last two decades of WWE-level officiating that the US has had to put up with in qualifying.
Rodriguez would not have been 1v1 with Howard. Pearce was stride for stride with him with inside position and definitely would have factored in that play.
Complaining about the dissallowed goal is bizarre, since that was an obvious foul, and Ruiz was lucky not to get carded. The Pearce hand ball wasn't a call that was a maybe, that was a handball. He blocked a shot with his arm. There was a blown offside call that should have resulted in a 1v1 on the keeper as well. Guatemala does have some things to complain about, but the red card and the kick on Howard by Ruiz were not among them.
Rodriguez was only in alone because the U.S. defender pulled up on hearing the whistle. I do think that Wijngaarde could have let the play run for another second or so to see if Rodriguez beat Pearce to it, but it was a contested ball.
This is bullshit. He was in alone on Howard because our entire defense stopped as soon as the whistle blew. Edit: I'm too lazy to read 3 more posts before posting.
I thought the Ref also did a pretty good job. I thought the same linesman who missed the Guatemalan offside also missed one by the US in the first half (though that was closer). On the advantage play that wasn't allowed; it looked to me that the ref thought the initial foul was more dangerous than it was and that the Guatemalan player may have needed attention immediately.
you are completely wrong. The foul would have to be for an intentional handball. The Guat headed the ball onto Pearce from 2 feet away. There was clearly no intent. No foul.
Just to pile on, the complaining about the non-advantage card is wrong. Pearce pulled up. That's not the rule. Go to the referee's forum. Pearce obviously didn't move his arm intentionally to block the ball. So the only way the ref could give the PK there was if Pearce's arm was in an unnatural position, like (arguably) Frings. If you watch the play again, you'll see the ref made the right call.
OK, didn't notice that. It was still a ************ call, and I'd have been pissed if it had happened to us.
When a ref has done a really bad job, both teams end up pissed. I disagree with those that said last night's ref was decent. Rewatching the game, Ruiz started his hackfest from the very first minute. He had bitch slapped Pearce by minute 5. But he pulled his, "I'm so sorry can we be friends and I'll pull this shit again in 2 minutes" routine, and the ref bought it. That set the tone. Ruiz should have been yellow carded early. Dissent should have been warned and then carded early. And this game would have been a completely different animal.