By the way, Sabbi's first touch is horrible. Calling up Sargent is a very good decision by Tab Ramos. For this U20 cycle (97'/98'), can't we find any other decent foward?
Let's be fair, now. His 2nd and 3rd aren't any better in the event he catches up to the ball after his first one. Dude was in on goal and just lost the ball to no one today. He's terrible. No need to ever speak of him again. His career is never going to happen.
There is a contingent, but either they weren't available or Tab didn't rate them. I'm talking about the likes of Haji Wright, Kai Koreniuk, Brandon Vazquez, and Isaiah Young. A sleeper who I like is Andrija Novakovich. Just don't think he's gotten a fair shot with Reading yet, after impressive work in their u-23's. But he just missed the cut-off. I don't think calling up Sargent to start (especially given his play) is a reflection of the pool and what we'll have out the position going forward. It's pretty rosy.
It's bad when most of the talk revolves around a referee after a match. A ref has a good match when he isn't even thought about after a game.
Our last senior experience in Korea was similar. Had success but had to overcome a lot of unjust ref calls against us and ultimately of course we didn't even go as far as we should have. I can't really put a finger on it. May just be a coincidence. Doesn't seem like a place rife with corruption or antagonistic toward the States. The crowds have actually been oddly partisan in our favor.
Sure, but why does it happen to us so much in Korea. The first time around there were 3 games we got fleeced out of the 5. This year it's been 1-2 out of 3. Like I said, it's probably just a coincidence though. The Saudis surely are no strangers to bribes, but usually they go to Americans not against them.
It's pretty easy, until we learn to knock teams out with a 3 goal KO, we won't ever win anything. If we put 3 past Germany or Argentina all the red cards and bad calls wont matter. Until we knock the champs out, we can't rely on calls. Ever.
When extreme in one direction, refs can dictate outcomes, I don't care who you are. Giving a penalty or not and going down to 10 men in the 1st half, changes games, period. And I don't get why past success alters the rules of a game for a team. Even if it does sometimes, theoretically calls can be even against a world champion if the refs aren't on the take or are doing their job properly on that day.
Just finished watching the recording. We have seen this act before! Card happy ref decimates our team for a knockout game. Is this guy a CONCACAF refugee? But the coaching staff and players did a lousy job of adapting to the way the game was being called. And if this guy had a history of being card happy(I need to check in on the ref forum) I really question starting two guys with yellows.... That said, we played pretty well, and professionally closed out first place, and the easier draw.
Yes, that analysis on the second is precisely was alluding to. If that was cardable, then so was every aerial challenge and the game should have been called before halftime when both teams went below 7 men
Diego Haro is just a lousy ref. What he did to Venezuela when they faced Brazil in the Sudamericano Sub-20 qualifying for this WC is already well-known. He basically punished the Venezuelans for fouls committed against them. http://larepublica.pe/deportes/8460...a-por-actuacion-de-arbitro-peruano-diego-haro
The ref was horrible. To the point that I wonder if money changed hands. Especially given our opponent. That is most of what I took from this game.
As far as the actual play .... our players are good, but a little too one-dimensional. We're a little too reliant on Lennon's right foot. But we're doing OK going forward, and that's where a lot of the missing players would help. Our defense is rock solid and deep. We did a good job of protecting the lead. It took a really well executed corner kick to beat us. And I knew they'd be lucky to get even the leveler back.
Bladder once said in an interview: in my heart I want Mexico to defeat the united States. When he said that it dawned on me: Bladder fears the US. Two years later the FBI was on him. Actually I think this was the pig flu game where Davis scored and then we gave up two. Personal bias, ref grand standing and open dislike at all levels of FIFA mean the USA will never win anything unless we completely dominate.
I don't know. It happened to us in a different continent vs Slovenia. In Germany vs Ghana, in that same WC it happened to Australia.
Here's what I mean: based on the stretches of play at the beginning of the game before the ref went apeshit, and in the interstices after where you could get some sense of how the teams matched up, neither one seemed to me dominant. The first 20min or so are key in this respect. Other than the early Herrera card--one of the few I think was totally merited--the ref didn't start whistling like a traffic cop on speed until about the 23d minute, when it went downhill. Nothing in that time suggested to me the US was getting much the better of the play (or that Saudi was); it was pretty balanced, there were no clear chances, etc. Another key point is that when I said "fair outcome" I was speaking only about the final scoreline as a reflection of the play on the field, to the extent it's possible to make any assessment about that under the circumstances. The other things that are also "outcomes" in a broader sense--injuries, suspensions, etc.--strike me as totally unwarranted, as I said in my original post. I am, of course, aware of drawing too many conclusions about the fairness of the result in light of the ref's intervention and incompetence. That's why I wrote: "the ref messing with the outcome makes this game impossible to read as an indicator of where the teams would have stood on an equal playing field." Final point: I share the warranted criticism of this ref, but as I've said many times when we've been screwed by refs, the conspiracy theories are just kind of silly and unhelpful. I think this ref sucked because he is a sucky ref. That's it. No major anti-US conspiracy, no Saudi oil money bribe. I mean, it's possible that there's a big conspiracy afoot, but then again in some trivial foolish sense it's possible that the moon landing or Sandy Hook didn't happen. It sucked royally for us, but let's not forget the major times that we've been helped by bad calls, most notably the Hand of JOB in the 2002 WC R16 vs Mexico. That game remains one of the bright spots of my sports-watching life, but that could--probably should--have been called a penalty, yet wasn't. I suspect that if you looked back at US soccer games you'd find that good and bad calls basically evened out, as good and bad random events toend to geenrally (though we are hardwired to remember the bad ones so often we dont' perceive this as true).
Yes Haji Wright, Mukwelle Akale, Josh Perez, Nick Taitague, Christian Pulisic were all not called in for a number of reasons.
This angle I more buy because it helps their bottom line if the U.S. wins. It brings mostly a new, huge, and wealthy market to them. But I know a lot of "purists" don't want the U.S. to succeed in the sport because that's not what they grew up with, don't think we appreciate it, and it hurts their pride due to the U.S.' success in other sports. They don't want us to have everything in sports. We have our own some think we should stick to. Also, there's the political angle. That said, to be some sort of rule we're going to get screwed in a major competition, it would need to come from the top always. Maybe Blatter had his preferences, and we know he was corrupt, but I don't know that Infantino does. It would more likely be subject to the biases of individual refs, which would be far from absolute. So theoretically it's luck or unluckiness of the draw, we could overcome, independent of having to win by 3. We'll likely be playing the 2026 Cup at home, and I have a hard time seeing us getting screwed with the home fans behind us. That's our chance, with a stacked roster in tow.
It's becoming increasingly obvious that FIFA officiating is biased against the US. How else can you explain some of the bizarre officiating against us that has occurred during World Cup matches? Totally agree. The rest of the world doesn't want the USA to win the Men's World Cup. They're going to do everything in their power to prevent it.