I don't know if anyone has seen this yet, but it's a reverse angle shot of the foul call that lead to Ronaldinho's free-kick goal. ESPN never showed this because it's from Brazilian TV. Not only was the call criminal, it's also one of the worst dives I've ever seen: [youtube]kXT5PqY-4xE[/youtube]
Wow, what a horse sh1t call. They never showed a good replay on ESPN, but you could tell that Boca was suprised and REALLY upset. That ref was lost during the whole game.
I can understand sometimes an exaggeration of a foul but that was a blatant flop. To be hardly touched if at all and to hit the ground like you have been run over by a freight train is simply unacceptable. Brasil is good enough to score without that kind of play it is pointless. To make this even worse is the yellow card Bocanegra received. Absolutely riduculous. A player should never get away with a silly dive like that.
to be fair...this is the same ref that took back canada's goal in the dying moments of the gold cup semi-final (also at soldier field) with the phantom offside call. the guy is absolute rubbish. i dunno where they yellow comes in. i really wish they had video replay afterward so they could give a yellow to that diving little ***** on Brazil and rescind Boca's.
Wow, that's amazing. What was that people were writing about how Brazilians have class, don't dive, and so forth? That was as blatant a cheat as you will ever come across.
I think the yellow card on Boca was for dissent. He immediately went up to the referee and yelled something right in his face - probably something that would get most people banned from this message board. Two wrongs don't make a right; CONCACAF firing this guy would though
Wow, after seeing this replay, can you blame Boca if he got into the ref's face and said "**** you, **** your mother" and "I prefer the whore that is your sister," all while giving the ref a two-fisted flip off?
He's had a terrible year, but that's certainly not gonna happen. He reffed the WC semifinal between Germany and Italy last year and did a good enough job for the official world cup documentary to go out of its way to commend him on his performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_E_alvXqUw&mode=related&search= (seven minutes into this clip)
IIRC correctly, he reffed very well in the WC in not going yellow card happy while still losing control of a game like in that Netherlands/Portugal match. The foul looks like one of those cases where the ref's focus followed the ball after being passed, but caught the brazilian falling out of the corner of his eye--and he went with the call.
well he did get the yellow on robinho for diving right, so i can't completely bash him...but he really missed on this one and the wolff PK so basically he cost us the game. Whatever it happens
Whatever. First I 'd like to say the US did a far better job then I expected but if you watch the Video What the Fu*K is a Brazilian doing in the wall? Blame the ref... Might as well Blame it on Hoffa. I learned in grade school to oust opponents from the wall. Watch the video yourself. Who's head did the ball go over? That is a Naive mistake.
First of all thank you much for the great coverage. Do you think that games should be officially reviewed for flopping? Being from the USA this is the biggest critisism I hear about the game. At least if refs were carding, or taking back cards after games I could say that things are being done.
That's just f*cking ridiculous. FIFA should ban that player for at least 10 games for that kind of shit. Seriously, is that the kind of message you want to send to people? No wonder why diving is such a problem in the world. I can handle a miss call like the Wolff debacle, but when a player blatantly cheats like that makes you understand why some people bash soccer! and it's because of that shit right there. Holy f*cking shit! that just drives me mad. FIFA really needs to take note from the NFL were they can stop the clock and review the play. Brazil. you suck. you have no class, no honor, and no integrity. i'm sorry that you had to CHEAT to beat us. best in the world my ass. you f_cking cheaters. i'd rather lose every game then cheat like that.
I knew we were in trouble when I found out it was Archundia, but I didn't know it would be that bad. Archundia shouldn't be allowed to referee anymore big games and by that I mean anything more than Caribbean friendlies. Game should have been 3-3.
I can't quite decide which call is worse- that one, or Josh Wolff getting pushed down without a penalty call.
I haven't seen anyone mention this, but the shove on Wolff, properly called, would have resulted in both a PK and red card to Lucio, and thus changed the entire dynamic of the game from that point on.
A RED card? Uh, why? No one on earth would call that a red on Lucio, even if this were the WC final, let alone a friendly. Yellow, maybe... Yeah it's a bad call on the free kick, though. Oh well.
The replay doesn't show it too well, and the play of action is too distant, but it SORT OF looks like Boca used his elbow near the player's face, and THAT is why he got carded. That is the ONLY reason I can think of for the card, and consequent FK. No lower body contact, no body contact, but it looks like Boca's upper arm is up. And Convey is indeed a little bastard for ducking. Idiot.