Man of the Match: USA vs. Slovenia

You know, in the first half, Slovenes didn't play like that. USA even had more fouls in the game as a whole. But if the referee has such a high bar for fouls, you have to adapt, I guess. I admit there were some fouls being comitted by Slovenes during the 3rd US goal, but we got 15 fouls with 4 yellow cards, USA got 18 fouls and 1 yellow card, leaving Slovenia with 2 injured players (one with a broken ankle) who won't play against England, and US with none. Think af it as you may, I still think the 3rd US goal was legit, but I also still believe the judge was just stupid for the both sides, and if anyone else would be the judge, we just might have had the best show in the tournament so far. Still, it was a great game by both teams.

And Šuler was the one who was falling (and is injured), Cesar was the one hugging, while Brečko was the flank defender who stopped just about anyone who came along without foul, and was our only defender who finished the match without the yellow card ...

I still say I'd go for Birsa or Donovan, though. With Altidore and Brečko being behind them.

 

You judge the whole game by the gif of the 3rd goal, which lasted for about 5 seconds. Rewatch the game, and see what was going on in both boxes at every long pass, free kick or a corner. There were many fouls by both teams, and I blame the judge for letting the game go as it did.

I've never seen that many unpunished fouls by our players, but I don't remember the last time our guys were fouled by someone so often, or being on the floor that much. That said, I don't remember this team getting 2 injured players in one match before.

 

Brecko was probably the best Slovenian player. And in my mind you give MOTM to the the best player on the winning team.

But if a match is a tie, IMO it would go to the best player on the team that got the superior result from a neutral perspective. Thus, Brecko would get it since his team got the superior result.

However, it is amusing that the revisionist historians are already at work on the match.

 

No I don't. I judge it by watching the game.

In the second half the Slovenes were clutching and grabbing at Altidore repeatedly. He earned a yellow card, but the ref refused to follow through and put his stamp on the match and let the Slovenes know that he would not allow this. The Slovenes kept fouling (beyond what is normally acceptable in a game like this) with impunity.

Anytime a Slovene player got knocked down or slightly injured he stayed on the ground for a long time (after the 2-0 score). At first I was concerned about the player (I don't want anyone to get hurt) but then it became a pattern and you realized that they were trying to draw out the clock and waste time.

Two people got injured on non maliscious plays. It happens. Thankfully the one time that Dempsey did act stupidly the player was not injured. Dempsey deserved a yellow at least.

The Slovenes avoided two penalties (well plays that easily could have been called as penalties).

I don't blame the Slovenes that much for the way they were playing, although I think apparent time wasting like that is sad and pathetic and poor sportsmanship.

The grabbing and holding was because the ref couldn't control the game and let them get away with too much. This in turn upped the physical nature of the match and meant the USA players had to go into challenges harder and faster, which is probably why two Slovenes were injured. You see this all the time in soccer, even at the amature level. If the ref lets too much crap go by, then everyone has to adjust and people get hurt.

Dempsey said so himself.

 

Whose revisioning what now?

Slovenia has some good players. I think they will probably get a result against England and advance, and if you read some of my previous posts you would know I picked Slovenia and the USA to advance.

Yet, even in a very tough physcial, close match between England and the USA, there was significantly less grabbing and holding and almost none like the kind the Slovenes were pulling. It is unfortunate because it spoiled a great match, whether it was a win or tie.

I am sure that Brecko played really well, I was impressed with the Slovenes skill and ability. They had a few guys who really stood out.

But none of that changes the fact of how they chose to act in certain situations on the field.

 

you must have missed altidore and dempsey stepping up the physical side of that match then. the game wasn't very physical until probably mid way through the second half, when altidore and dempsey started throwing their weight, and the slovenians, about. THAT is when the ref needed to step in and take control.

 

Can we get back to the thread topic please?

 

Words of wisdom. Respect.

Best player was Brecko.

 

But I am not making those claims against England who are usually a lot more physical, rugged, and tough. They played clean (within the bounds).

Its one thing to be physical. The Ivory Coast plays hard and physical, as do Ghana, England.... lots of teams. Its another thing to consistently hold and grab players (which of course I pointed out that the ref let them get away). As I said, that doesn't bother me that much, because its a ref issue, but it is anti-futbol.

The lieing on the ground like a wuss for 5 minutes to waste time is another issue. And certainly Slovenia isn't the only nation to do this, nor perfect it.

You won't ever see American players do that, nor English.

 

Nothing wrong with playing physical. Altidore is a physical player and uses his body well to create space and throw defenders off their mark. Heskey does the same thing, and many many more.

The Slovenes reacted by holding and grabbing, which the ref allowed them to do with impunity leading to two missed penalty calls at best, and at worst the reality of a called back goal.

As I said, previously, the holding and grabbing falls mainly on the head of the ref for not taking responsibility for it.

In any game, there is a fair amount of shirt pulling, holding, grabbing and the like. For the most part, its allowed as long as it does not impede a clear advantage, or gives the defender a greater advantage than he would have had prior to the use of force. Usually a team can get away with a few of these, and usually a team will get a few calls on this and even a few cards, and then the problem tends to go away, unless you are playing against Guatemala or El Salvador in Guatemala and El Salvador. I feel that the Slovenes certainly were over the line on numerous occasions, especially as they struggled to contain Altidore. The ref gave a few cards, but he refused to take the necessary actions to really get the game under control. And in the end he chose to give the benefit of the doubt to the defenders.

 

And I do agree here with you, the ref needed to take control earlier. Obviously giving Dempsey a yellow card in the early minutes would have allowed him to do that.

 

Stop whining about holding and grabbing, it honestly wasn't that bad, at all....

Man of the match was Donovan. Most of what he did was threatening, he got the US back on track with his great goal following a smart run that forced a pass, he put the perfect ball in that led to the 2nd goal, and he put in some nice balls during set pieces and didn't stop working in the 2nd half.

 

Yeah I think you misunderstood. When I mentioned "revisionist historians," I'm talking about the people trying to justify the outcome for Slovenia and say the US played dirty.

Something which was not really argued by neutral fans during the match.

 

Ok, Gotcha.

I think neutral fans pretty much side with the US on this one.

 

[*]cough, cough [/*]

 

Yeah, we wouldn't want to have an interesting conversation or anything.

Do you guys want us to post and get page views or not?

The discussion is clearly germane to the topic in that players actions may disqualify them from MOTM consideration.