I'm not sure if there has been a thread started about this already and I simply can't be bothered looking but that free kick was a disgrace. It brought back memories of our game 4 years ago against Croatia that we should have won 3-2 if not 4-2. I realize that it's also a world cup for the ref's and that the occasion may get to them every now and then but how did they pluck a free kick to Slovenia out of that? Altidore was manhandled and the goal was onside. Anyway, I just thought it was a bit bewildering. :stern look.
We're Americans. We're used to it. We drink. We man up, and we win the next game. Refs can go f*ck themselves.
Which is odd because, at least from a financial point of view, if there was ever a country you would want to succeed in the world cup it's the USA. Anyway politics aside, it was a disgraceful decision and one the US fans have every right to be annoyed about and I hope, even though you'll just get the usual bullshit response, their management are looking for answers.
Yeah, we're totally used to this. In the last three world cups, we've gotten one memorable favorable call and at least five negative (these are well-documented). 2002 Poland: Donovan goal called back for no apparent reason. Poland scores while we argue the call. We lose 3-1 but advance with help. 2002 Mexico: The one favorable call, a handball in the box is not called. We win 2-0 and advance. 2002 Germany: Frings handball on the goal line is not called. We lose 1-0 and are eliminated. 2006 Italy: Very soft red to Mastro. We draw 1-1 playing 9 v. 10 and face a must win against Ghana. 2006 Ghana: Imaginary pk given to Ghana. We lose 2-1 and are eliminated. 2010 Slovenia: Well, you saw that. We now face a must win against Algeria. . . I think most of us chalk it up to anti-American bias, but we seem to get more than our fair share. I hope that this time we can finally do something about it, but it's not like we can change the result of the game, and I don't know that anything else worthwhile can be done. If it is anti-American bias, it's not surprising (as the sentiment is common), but it is, as you mentioned, in spite of financial motivations to the contrary, which means it's likely unconscious.
Can't make this list without Lalas's unjustly disallowed goal against Colombia in '94. C'mon folks. I hate Alexi as much as the next Metro, but let's not be total neophytes here.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6yq5O8GXUo"]YouTube- "Network" (1976) Howard Beale "Mad As Hell" Speech[/ame]
The thing about Lalas' goal is we won anyway, so it wasn't that big a deal from the US perspective. Though sadly, if it had been allowed, maybe Escobar has his life. Yes, we are angry, but we are far from the first nation to get jobbed by a bad call. See, Ireland 2010, Australia 2006 (flop PK v Itlay), Germany 2010 (BS 2nd yellow), Spain 2002 (all three goals disallowed to Korea?).
Agree with all of this (except Australia '06, that call could've gone either way I thought), but we do seem to have more than our fair share. Although perhaps we only know about them because we're US fans. US fans don't remember the poor Australia call against Croatia because they won anyways, so it wasn't made into a big deal.
Yup. Italy had FOUR goals pulled back during group play, but they still managed to get out of their group. Team just needs to man up now and pull out the victory next week.
QFT. The single most disgusting, corrupt, display of favouritism towards one country in the last century. Oh, not counting the Ruski's in the '72 Olympics.
What I wish for and it's almost impossible but that there was a competing governing body of international soccer. Now, back in the '80s, the USA boycotted an Olympics in the USSR and the USSR boycotted a USA Olympics, so Ted Turner came in and set up the Goodwill games. From time to time, we've seen competing American football leagues, USFL was one, AFL came out to compete against the NFL. The AFL instituted some of its own rules the way the ABA, American Basketball League had some of its own rules to improve or make the game more exciting. Because it is obvious, that there is no remedy to bad calls in Fifa. I don't know why it is that way, we can watch the MLS and other leagues and we see bad calls but not on the scale of what seems routine in the World Cup. I won't discuss Results of games, but we definitely all saw a game this World Cup where the referee was in a bit of a ticket giving frenzy that saw a man sent off and then barely if any cards were issued in the 2nd half, he must have been talked to. Seems kind of rash and we've had other incidences but of course, the best example is the Thierry Henry hand ball against Ireland last November. Though it is not clear what the outcome of that game might have been, the hand ball assisted goal determined right away who would go and you see a whole country of very good fans denied. Also, as opposed to the World Cup tournaments, I wish we had "meaningful" one-on-one types of series like in the NHL. Qualifications are suppose to be that way but we'll never face teams like say Denmark in a significant game outside of the World Cup. I just wish it could be done better. Knockouts like the NCAA basketball tournament or NFL postseason seems to work out but for some reason when it is in the World Cup, it's different. Anti-Americanism, I lean to some but all in all, it seems we the USA are liked down in South Africa from what I can tell. Fifa was actually started, what 1903 or something though the World Cup did not come until 1930. There really could be some improvements made in International Soccer. The (R) rule confuses me sometimes, so be warned, here is an article on the game today with some observations on Fifa that I agree with: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/18/SPRH1E1KK8.DTL
maybe. maaaybe. but i'm not convinced. we've also had some pretty good luck in WCs. 1994 vs. Colombia -- Escobar own goal 2002 vs. Portugal -- deflected own goal (credited to Donovan) 2006 vs. Italy -- own goal 2010 vs. England -- Green howler, as good as an own goal You can argue that own goals are the result of attacking pressure, but those are four GIFTED goals we've gotten over the years. Has any other country gotten that? As soon as we scored the one against England I turned to my GF and was like, "we get one of those EVERY WC now!!" Just my gut reaction. And looking at the stats, we pretty much do. Not to mention the incredible good fortune we got in 2002, when Korea Rep. inexplicably pushed for a goal when both they and Portugal were through. We've had our share of good fortune, too. That's all I'm pointing out. I think it's easy to get down and feel sorry for ourselves under some guise of, "the world soccer community is conspiring against us." but let's be honest: they're not. if anything, WC refs (and refs in general) tend to favor the aggressor, the team with the upper hand, the team with the pedigree .... and more often than not, we're the underdog, and we're the team playing tentative. Tentative, "new kids on the block" teams generally don't get any calls IN ANY SPORT. again, not denying that we've gotten the shaft from time to time, just trying to pick up my fellow American. there is no conspiracy.
Mastroeni's red card was questionable but not outrageous. The more significant mistake was buying the dive that produced the free kick that Italy scored on. In this game, though, Conrad committed a pretty blatant late PK foul that wasn't called. Also, I seem to remember a couple Italian breakaways that were whistled off for nonexistent offsides. And Totti was given a yellow on what looked like a Dempsey dive (and later had to be subbed out early). The US has suffered from plenty of bad calls in their recent World Cup campaigns, but I think that (unintentional) selective memory also contributes somewhat to the sense of persecution.
He said bias, and own goals aren't bias. Own goals are about equal to defense lapses such as Gerrard's goal when no one picked him up or Claudio's give away against Ghana.
Just like the interference call on McBride, I have watched atleast 1000 matches since then many many more before and have never seen that called.
umm ... nice blanket statement. own goals can still be lucky as shit. like the one against Portugal in 02. and the one against England last week. the bottom line is, this shit happens. you could argue that it evens out over the long run. no one can prove bias by any of the refs against the US. over the years, we've had some bad misfortune at the WC, but we've also had plenty of good luck too.