Didn't get to watch, but I recorded it. Might watch later. I did see the highlights and CCV 2nd yellow. Looks like CCV just outmatched the SA player physically. Because he's so muscular and physical for a player his age it looked worse than it was. The SA player sold it and CCV was sent off. Good thing it's New Zealand because we're hurting with 3 suspensions. Our depth isn't great.
Reading through after watching the game (baby and I are both sick with the flu, so couldn't stay up to watch), and I have to admit, I haven't been this enraged by ref work since the string of horror show epic d-baggery that was the five game stretch of World Cup matches circa 2006-2010 (Screw job PK vs Ghana, Screw Job vs Slovenia, screw job multiple goals waived off against Algeria), just a series of incompetent decisions which systematically punished us and awarded Saudi Arabia. The worst was the announcing team agreeing with the lack of a call on the potential PK for Sargent, as if its a good thing that the guy only seemed to render correct decisions on difficult calls when it came to 50/50 chances for our side, but systematically made wtf?!?! calls on nonexistent fouls for them. We were OWED a penalty there period. You can toss a player out of a match for two non-fouls that were obvious non-fouls, then turn around and make a near impossible to see correct call on a 50/50 play in the box w/o people rightfully wondering if there's some bag money from an oil sheik in a certain South Korean Hotel room. Just beyond a screw job. EPIC screw job, and Ecuador inexplicably goes home while these losers move on thanks to a paid off ref (I hope), because if he wasn't paid off, how in hell was a ref so incompetent that had no business referring an U-6 summer rec ball game, awarded a group stage match at the U-20 World Cup?
Yeah, big muscular players often tend to get the short end of the stick on these calls. The PK call against Onyewu in the Ghana game of the 2006 WC comes to mind.
I've gotta say, with EPB's contract up in the winter, I think there's about a 95% chance he gets sold in the summer. He's been absolutely immaculate in this tournament, and I'm sure that there are a multitude of teams willing to pay a good amount for him. SKC isn't going to want to lose a couple million just to keep a player at Swope Park Rangers. I wouldn't be surprised if he makes team of the tournament even if we get knocked out in the quarters.
I have never understood why they can't simply design the match calendar properly to avoid issues that drastic. 48 hours more rest is beyond absurd, 24 is bad enough, 48 is freaking criminal, and that is true for any squad. It's just absurd.
Tab is not a good enough coach to drill our players to play such a dramatically different formations. I guarantee he hasn't even considered it.
It wasn't that, it was the pair of beyond idiotic yellows for twin phantom fouls. That was just beyond criminal. And yes, the resulting double yellow red ruined the game, there was no point in watching for any reason other than praying we could hold up the ball well enough that we'd keep the scoreline at 1-0 and that the resulting exhaustion wouldn't cost us big in the round of 16 which it still might. So frustrating to watch. Colossal moron. And no it doesn't reach the level of Coulabaly (spelling?) in the Slovenia game, as that was a series of stupidities reaching a crescendo in a call were he was either paid off, or mixed up naming the guilty squad (as post-game photographs showed, there were literally 6 or 7 separate PK worthy fouls by Slovenia on the goal, and zero fouls on the US-which always made me wonder if he made the correct foul call, but pulled a Phil Lockett, and referenced the team (or coin side) wrong, and wouldn't correct his mistake.
Just saw the first half, what a complete shit show by the ref, definitely influenced the game the first 46 mins. CCV should not have been red carded. Again, nice to see the US onto the Round of 16 but losing CCV and Jones was a huge letdown.
How is it a fair outcome? We had to play the game a man down. Had a red card worthy foul given a yellow, had a call for a PK denied, and had two phantom non-existent fouls turned into a double-yellow red, forcing us to play the entire 2nd half down a man. There is no way to know how we would have played the game if we had been playing with 11, there is no way to have known how we would have played if the Saudi's had properly gotten that red in the second half, there is no way to have known how thoroughly we would have kicked their heads in if the idiotic red on Vickers wasn't called, and the 50/50 non-call on the PK had been called instead other than that it probably would have been a beat down. Nothing about this game was remotely a fair outcome. It was a gift handed to the Saudi Arabia side courtesy of incompetent or bribe based ref work. Nearly as bad, we come out of this match with 3 players carded out of our R16 match, and tired as hell after having playing 50 minutes down a man for no justifiable reason.
My initial reaction is to agree with you. I have been impressed with Tab Ramos as a coach for the u20s in the last 2 u20 world cups. I havent always agreed with his call ups. I think the teams have been prepared pretty well. I think an unbalanced 442 or a 352 could be effective. This way we can flood the midfield and use Lennon for width. The only way NZ will beat us, is if we allow them to play direct and physical.
FIFA's official match report shows one yellow and one second yellow for the US, while 4 yellows for the Saudis. They can't get anything right:
Agree with all about the ref. Worst I've seen in a while and I just knew he'd stop calling stuff the second half. All horrible ref's do that. Jones was my MOTM for his interceptions and his ability to ride off tackles and draw fouls. EPB and CCV were right behind. Adams was sort of invisible for me. He was ok when he had the ball but just didn't get in very often while Jones was everywhere. DelaTorre and Lennon were pretty good while I thought other than the first 10 minutes Sargent was pretty good for the few times they got the ball to him. He made that goal with the way he was so calm in the box. Our usual forwards would have taken bad touches or shot it into the moon. Herrera was horrible the first thirty minutes then became ok the rest of the way. I would go with Glad and Redding as center backs with EPB into midfield for the next game which is what the team did in qualifying. Not sure who plays right back maybe Trusty or switch him and Acosta if he's a lefty.
A terrible indictment of logic not knowing that 6 of our best offensive players weren't named to this roster.
I thought the reffing was pretty spot on--where he messed up was in his judgment, or lack thereof, of issuing cards. It was almost as if he had a predesignated mindset that he would take control of the game...The problem is the game didn't need to be taken control of by the ref--there wasn't any scrappy, aggressive play and there wasn't any back talk from the players. Some of the fouls he called were light, but they were nonetheless fouls. You could see the disbelief from both teams when the ref would reach into his pocket, like, "Did that guy just pull out a card? Is he serious?" The fouls that were committed were soft, but he would instantly go into his pocket--it was the most odd decision-making I've ever seen from a ref. The breaking point was the second soft yellow on Carter-Vickers. You can tell either an official or one of his assistants gave him a "Hey brother, you do realize you're ruining this game with the cards, right?" Take that ref's card away from him and he was actually pretty legit.
On the first: Doubtful the overruling committee will come up with the novel idea that soccer is played with the hands. The second should not have been a yellow and is very marginally a foul. CCV is allowed his space and protecting both players from a clash of heads with the benign use of an elbow positioning shouldn't be discouraged. Is his body invading the opponent's rightful space in a manner of playing the man not the ball? LIke I said, way too marginal.
I could make an exception for EPB based on excelling for the top team in the Portugese 2nd division, their big club a-team probably only not picking him up due to debt, looking like he belonged in his limited opportunities w/ SKC, Vermes' unreasonableness, and elite play in multiple u-20 tournaments. First he was the player of the tourney in CONCACAF and now he's been dominant in the World Cup. Maybe he makes player of the tournament. That was about my standard for him given what else he's done as aforementioned. Not to mention we need a destroyer outside of Cameron (if he's even ever played there) in the senior World Cup. I could take one of these players to the Gold Cup. CCV would be the other consideration. He'd be cap-tied, but it might benefit him to battle for a spot w/ Spurs in preseason, he's not as versatile as EPB, and capable of playing d-mid as far as I know. The competition for integration is fierce at cb. Not a battle for spots 19-23 on the roster by any means, just because they haven't been called up until now. See Cameron, Holden, and Besler. And many of these prospects have been higher rated along the way and maybe had less time to make the senior team. I could see a number of those players being starter caliber for the US 1st team. Let's not conflate this with suggestions of promoting Sargent, Jones, and Adams. That's a wackadoo mindset. The first isn't in a pro setup anywhere and the last two are inferior to about 100 American players in MLS right now. Yeah, let's better deal Roldan just because he's a year or two older than these guys, even though he's been far superior to these guys at the same level and been proving it for much longer. You could fill Gold Cup with half guys who are viable future starting candidates, others precious depth in qualifying/WC which people are doing mental gymnastics about not being important, and necessary sprinkling of vets. Grass is always greener mentality, always looking to the future, and pushing agendas to suggest we make this a youth tournament. Outside of possibly CCV and EPB, I don't see how any of these players help us make the 2018 Cup, thrive in it, and make a run in 2022 or 2026. Has no impact on Sargent's, Adams', and Jones' career trajectories, and those are flyers anyhow. Mr. Flyer is how we got buried in WC qualifying in the first place. Ya know, making the WC this cycle does sort of matter. I think this nation's football program has a great future and have been on the train they are contender to win in 2026. Only a fraction need to pan out given the depth we've cultivated. But we can be a little patient to see them in the spotlight already.
I thought there were a lot of performances to like. epb, jones, others. Adams, to me, was immense. Not only did his run and lovely pass set up the goal, his tireless and purposeful running and pressure created so many turnovers. Time and again in both halves he was applying the unheralded pressure that leads to the rushed pass that results in a turnover. He also got forward quite a bit and created space for others.
My apologies, offensive of course is the same thing as striker? Forward? As far as I can count we can field a really glamorous combo of false 9s but only two were strikers.
I see what you are saying. I very much think that if Palmer-Brown or Carter-Vickers (more so Palmer-Brown) were playing regularly, they'd be among our best CB's. So, I do see what you mean. For the most part, I'm against it. Regardless, I hope we can get those two playing time because I think they could hope at the World Cup.
Worst ref I've seen in any match since the Copa final. There should be a public investigation into games like this to see if the match was fixed. If it was or wasn't, the ref should be fired and never allowed to work international games again. I'm not as big on the idea of guys getting fired as most sports fans. For lot of these guys, this is their life and they depend on these games. But this guy either was paid off or didn't know what a foul was. There was a stretch in the second half where he just wouldn't blow his whistle. He doesn't deserve to ever ref another international game. The problem is, soccer doesn't make a big enough deal about things like this. We will whine about it and nothing will ever change. FIFA will just ignore us and the same thing will happen next time. So at the very least let's remember the name of the shitty ass ref. It's Diego Haro