You're pretty new to the sport then. I thought this was dirty pool also watching it live, but having watched on tape I'm less inclined to complain. First, Pu Wei put the ball as far upfield as she could while putting it out, which is dodgy fair play as well. Atlanta did pressure the pass back into the Freedom backfield a bit more than normal for fair play, but Hooper wasn't all over Zimny and Zimny made her daily bonehead play with a horrible touch straight to Hooper. Can't say I expected Charmin to throw it away. Seemed like both sides tried to get away with as much as they could yet still claim to be sporting, which I see plenty of in these situations. Of course, I was also certain that the ball an A twin knocked off the line early in the second half was actually cleared from inside the goal, and TV proved me wrong there too (A was well inside the net, but got the foot out to toe-poke it right off the line).
Ron, That was a well thought out post that was unbiased and did not attack anyone or anything. You do realize that this is BigSoccer and we don't tolerate that sort of thing, right?
Adam is right- it's a principle not a rule. It appears nowhere in FIFA rules. Phats is right, there was an (inappropriate?) long forward serve out by Washinton. Everybody is right, Atlanta served the ball way up the line. I also think that the ball was served to Washington, who flubbed it. It was not the most sportsmanlike play in the history of WUSA, but it was not illegal on either side, and (in my opinion as a Beat fan) the lack of sportsmanship was not unilateral.
However, you do realize that if we didn't win I would have a completely different view of the matter and be blaming Atlanta for everything from WorldCom to terrorism. One other note - Bai Jie appeared to get plowed from behind in the box around 35' (nothing called) and I wanted to see the replay on tape later. Of course, none of you know what I'm talking about because THEY NEVER SHOWED IT! They had a pointless replay on and never replayed the apparent foul, just showed Bai Jie on the ground for two seconds. Late in the match, they missed a lot of action in Atlanta's box because they were showing the 'Play of the Game'. The TV production of these games still suck!
You'd have to get in line for that one. I agree completely about the suckiness of broadcasts. I've seen that happen about a million times this season. I think last year's may have been better in that regard. I remember Bai Jie being taken down and the resulting booing of the ref -- I was actually there for this game, since we came up for the MLS game on Saturday anyway.
They never showed it on the broadcast? That was a huge play. I was even a bit surprised they didn't show a replay of it at the stadium. All in all though, it was a great game to watch any way you look at it.
Quite all of this whining. We have a game to play and to win a playoff spot. The Washington game is old hat now. I hope we can catch them in the finals. Now that would be great. We can be polite then. What a waste of keystrokes.