I may be spineless and making excuses, but, there is no denying that Brazil always gets the benefit of the refs calls (if not the refs actually throwing the game for them), especially when playing against the Yanquis del Norte because, like I pointed out before, the world won't stand for the evil US beating the Brazilians at "the beautiful game". After watching the first few minutes of the game and seeing how inept the ref was, I knew it was going to come down to the ref calling the game for Brazil if the US was able to keep it close. Although the refs non-calls benefitted both teams, when push came to shove and the US came back and tied the game (something that was not supposed to happen), the ref showed his true colors and handed the game to Brazil.
I will respectfully disagree with your statement. (except the part about being spineless ) Was the ref bad? Yes, he was. However, Onyewu's own goal, mixed with a ********y willow defensive presence in the box that allowed a sweet header from Lucio, and a crumbled bricks and mortar US wall is what led to the loss. Just take off those shiny stars and stripes glasses, wipe them off, put 'em back on and look a bit harder at this match. Brazil was the better team, and they proved it with hustle, grit, determination and finesse. Using the ref as an excuse sounds to, well, RSL-ish to me. I wanted the US to upset the Samba Boys in this friendly. But they just don't have what it takes to beat a club like Brazil.
My rep spreader needs repairs. I admit that referees at every level botch calls but I do not blame them when my team loses. The way I look at it is that if I blame the ref then I am implicitly giving my team permission to play the same (and lose) the next game. If it's the ref's fault then it's not the team's fault--so why change? IMO, people who blame a ref for a loss have no right to complain about the team's performance.
I disagree. The better team was the US. According to FIFA, Brazil is ranked #1 and the US is ranked #17 (funny, the US is ranked #15 worldwide in rugby. Go figure). Since Brazil is #1, they should have had their way with the US like a drunk fratboy does with an ugly sorority girl, but nobody told the US that. Brazil wanted to play their jogo bonito game, but most of the time, the US shut them down. If I was Brazil, instead of cheering their great victory, I would be much more concerned that it took an own-goal by the US and a penalty non-call before the half to keep them in the game to the point where the ref could throw the game their way. The US was supposed to loose and loose big time. Unfortunately, we scored two goals against the "vaunted" Brazilian defense and pretty well held them to two actual goals (the own goal and penalty in the dying minutes don't really count). Brazil came to the US with their A-team, looking to humiliate the US. Unfortunately, although the US lost, Brazil was the team who had to rely on dubious calls by the ref to give them a win. If I was the USSF, I would try to schedule Brazil every year because you can see what playing so much against Mexico has done for the US team. Let's take it up a notch and play more against Brazil. Pretty soon, we'll start owning them the same way that we own Mexico.
I am sure the "own"ership of Brazil is safe for quite some time. Although I agree that USA played well against Brazil, which is great news for Team USA, but hardly a reason to start getting all arrogant on the world stage. USA has a long, long way to go and they are certainly moving in the right direction. I don't believe that USA was beaten by the refs. Brazil played poorly by Brazilian standards and USA played well by US standards. nothing more. It was an entertaining match. I hope we get to play them again in the future. Maybe when it actually means something.
I got to thinking about the US playing Brazil on a somewhat regular basis and suddently, I had an epiphany. I thought that we needed something to link the two teams so that there would be some reason for them to come here and play and then it hit me. What does Brazil and the US have in common? No, not samba dancers or ethanol. We have Pele in common. He played in soccer in Brazil and he also came to the US and played soccer. Knowing how Pele loves to promote his FIFA soccer ambassadorship, the USSF could get him to sponsor a yearly tournament between Brazil and the US and call it the "Pele Cup". That way, all the Brazil supporters get to see their team every year and the US can get better by playing the best team on the planet. After a few years, maybe we will be more like the Argies who don't seem to have too many problems when they play the BRazilians. Man, I should rep myself for such an idea.
Reverse angle of the "foul" that led to Ronaldinho's goal; I think you'll agree that this goes far beyond exaggerating a bump: [youtube]kXT5PqY-4xE[/youtube] Nice free kick, though.
that type of dive has no place in soccer, god that makes me sick to see. the only amount of disrespect i have towards brazilian soccer stems from this pathetic crap, why a team that is so technically talented, so gifted in footy, has to pull this crap is completely beyond me. the fact that the ref was so easily swayed by his yelling after he flopped to the ground also shows me that the ref was not actively involved in the play, he was watching something entirely else on the field to not see that. even those who say he was out of position support this assertation as well.
OK, I'll take your bait. I understand your frustration. But USMNT fans really have no business lecturing anyone--let alone these players--about ugly, cynical football. I'm sorry. How are the alleged flops you decry ANY less "pathetic" (your word) than the common but annoying US soccer trait: badly-beaten back linesmen desperately waiving hands above head to appeal for non-exisitant offside violations. Why are you not similarly outraged by this "crap"? Watch example below... [youtube]9Ani9Wkx-TE[/youtube] As for the above referenced tin-foil-hat claims of an international "Juventus Curse" in favor of Brazil...I don't buy it. If anyone has a valid claim it's probably the Canadian fans who travelled to the USA for that Gold Cup semifinal. It was never going to be anything other than US-Mexico in the Sunday final (or so Canada must now feel).
RSLFM and UP, I think you are talking about the same thing. However, UPinSLC, you should realize that Brazil aren't the only recipients of such treatment, and it even often applies to those we cheer. Yeah, refs can favor whom they want (or whom they are pressured) to win. But I don't think these refs are getting bought. Maybe instead of getting outraged by it, we should work on becoming the next Brazil and get those favorable calls.
You know, that's exactly what the Juve fans used to say when people complained that it seemed that Juve was being helped by the refs. Unfortunately for Juve, we all know now that the refs were doing exactly what everyone suspected them of doing, so you draw your own parallels.
That was one of the strangest calls I've ever seen in a game. The Brazilian player didn't take a dive or seek to draw the call (though she did a good job reminding the referee that Boxx already had a yellow card!). No Brazilian player was asking for the foul. Just as strange a call as I have ever seen.
Tough tough call. Referee misjudged the play, but the problem was that Boxx already had a yellow and could arguably have received a second yellow on a hard foul a few minutes ago. On the previous foul, I had thought "they better get her off the pitch because she's had her last chance at this point". As soon as the second yellow came out I knew that the US was doomed, (probably had a slim chance of coming back anyway, but losing a player was the death blow). It's one thing to lose a player and try to bunker down and defend a lead or a tie (hoping to get to penalties) but to come from 2 goals down against a team who is playing a great game is too much to ask. I was watching the match in the afternoon (taped as I couldn't watch it live due to work) and my wife arrived home right after the red card. I lamented to her that the US had just had an 'unfortunate call'.
I didn't watch the game but from the scoreline, the US didn't show up to play. Whether the refs did anything that could be construed as helping the Brazilians, it probably doesn't matter at this point in time. A 4-0 loss indicates that there is a major problem with the team somewhere.
Start with the head coach and I think your search for the problem will be incredibly brief... That guy totally lost the plot! If you don't believe me you can read this... The red card was bizarre but USA was already down 2 by the time that happened.
I didn't see the game, but I don't think you can necessarily make that much of a judgment based only on the scoreline. In tournament games, if a team gets an early lead, the other team gets desperate immediately and lets the winning team play a lot of the game without facing much defense. In league games teams tend to keep their cool a little better; they continue to play their game, hope for the best, and then make changes in the second half. In elimination games, conceding a goal makes you go crazy, as can scoring a goal. Based on the personalities of the teams involved, elimination games with an early goal tend to either really open up or completely die. This one probably opened up, as Brazilians are not known for bunkering. Not saying they weren't considerably better because I don't know, I didn't watch. Just that scorelines can be misleading, particularly in elimination games.
I did watch the game and the US didn't show up to play. Except for one dangerous attack off the opening kickoff, the US was out of sync, out of touch, on its heals and otherwise totally outclassed by Brazil at every point on the field. The 4-0 score line underestimates the degree of discrepancy between the two teams that day. Any questions?
I watched as well, and perhaps the US didn't show up, but I think it was more of Brazil putting on a clinic - especially Marta! That was something to watch her play - even when man-marked during the second half by one of our fastest defenders! That was embarrassing for the U.S. team, but was brilliant for the Brazillian team. I hope they get more support back in Brazil after this year's run. Although, that could put an end to our relative dominance of the sport in the women's realm.