Oh, the wall concept is interesting, but that is not what happened in this case. The Haitian player was alone, and not within touching distance of any other player.
ignore if already discussed, but... ...was lloyd's goal scored with her upper arm? ... that's what it looked like to me. ... and maybe the reason for her subdued celebration?
Could they protest? Sure they can but I VERY strongly doubt they will and even more I doubt any protest would be upheld. I think, strongly, second place will come down to the head to head of Hatti vs Costa Rica as I doubt it will be a tie and I think Panama is not really a factor. Hatti will play Panama last and their (Panama's) motivation will be low and Hatti's will be high and I think Hatti is a little better than Costa Rica. So I strongly doubt that goal differential will play much of a part unless Hatti and Costa Rica tie their match. The match on Friday between Costa Rica and Hatti will be what places one or the other in second place. BTW: I think their poor performance in their first match will make the US angry and I would expect them to wallop Panama by 8 - 10 goals on Friday or maybe even more and that will put the US in an unreachable position to win the group regardless of what, within reason, happens Monday.
Not a foul-- but she was blocking Naeher's view, and Naeher was clearly complaining about it. I just invented the wall concept as a way of taking physical interference out of the example, because I agree, I didn't see any. But I did see Naeher looking around at the official and pointing both palms at the Haitian as if to ask "you gonna allow this?" And again, I have always understood that it is not about the keeper having a right to see the ball the whole way; it is about the keeper having a right to know when the kick has taken place-- and it sure didn't seem like Naeher did...
There are strange high school and college rules in the US. Possibly, this is one. Usually the GK is taller than the field players, which makes this very difficult. Either way, it wasn't a wall. If the call was that Naeher had to go around the Haitian player, that would still be wrong as it is legal to stand or move to the ball. Either way, the officials would have signaled different. I think the nutty way the USA set up confused the poorly trained AR; who made a clear mistake. Why the CR did not simply ignore her and award the goal, is the real problem. One of the two of them should have known such a basic rule. The more I think of the play, the more kudos to whichever American quickly booted the ball way upfield. No time to let the 4th official or other AR or the Haitian coach to point out the error. To recognize that such a bad mistake was made it might be changed and to give the ref no time to do so, was very clever. If you remember, the 2nd USA goal was basically Williams standing right in front of the Haitian keeper. What was different about that play (and Williams is taller than the Haitian GK)? What could they have called that wasn't going on in that play? Was the exact same AR too. The only difference was a Haitian defender making Williams in front of the last two defenders. So, "onside" for the AR.
We found out in the post-match press conference, that Heath is getting over a slight injury. She should be ready by the 2nd or 3rd group stage match.
There is nothing in the laws that requires the GK to have a view of the CK. Just to emphasize, if anything like that happened, it would not have been the AR that called it. Clearly, it is the AR signaling offside. The only other possibilty, which TV makes look impossible, is that the AR is signalling the ball went over the end line and was out of bounds before being headed. Any interference would be a foul and would have been a call by the center ref or a different type of signal from the AR.
I was taught as a goalkeeper that you had to slightly adjust your position or lean a little to gain the vision of the kick. It takes time, quite a lot actually, for the ball to move from the corner to a shooting position so a small adjustment of position in no may makes it harder to react. One thing that has not really been covered is that Naeher played that corner about as badly as a goalkeeper can. She was horrible and did not even place herself in position to make a save on about the only way a goal could be scored. If it is true she was unsighted then it was her fault the ball went into the net. She should have saved or at least touched the ball if she was even making a decent play at all.
You see players stand in front of the keeper on pretty much every corner kick, and its perfectly legal as long as they are not fouling the goalkeeper. Interfering with a goalkeeper's line of vision is part of determining offside position. And you cannot be offside on a corner kick.
It did not go out of bounds. It was an in in-swinger, and at first looked like an Olympico, except then you could see the player in question get a slight touch with her head.
Knowing that no referee, especially one in charge of such a match, could possibly call offsides off a corner kick, I was looking for the reason like many. My thought was possibly some kind of double hit by the CK taker. The AR is there and hears it and or sees it, and calls it. Of course, then the free kick would have been in the corner, not where it was taken. The enormity of the mistake makes it interesting. But in the end, it was simply a mistake you will not see again probably. Not even in a U8 rec game.
I haven't had another look at it, but I think it came off her chest. EDIT to add: I think the subdued celebration was her frustration with her play throughout the night.
Interesting-- I don't, so that game will give me a chance to gauge my observations against yours... FWTW.
There's nothing in the laws that say a goalkeeper has the right to a clear view of the CK (and I just went back to look at the laws because you keep bringing it up). A keeper would obviously like to have it, and may move to get it, but its not a infringement to screen the goalkeeper on a corner kick. Again, interfering with an opponent, or in this case a goalkeeper's line of vision, has to do with offside position, and there is no offside on a corner.
I think the AR just got too zoned in on offside, and the R just had a brain fart at the same time. Its the easiest thing to believe here, and its not like the referee covered herself in the glory throughout the rest of the match.
Your hopes are dashed. Heath is recovering from injury. Pinoe sparked a moribund offense with an assist to Williams five minutes after she stepped on the pitch and an assist to Horan five minutes after that to put the game away.
Now we can blame a Jillian for not developing players in the next cycle to replace the ones rapidly nearing their use-by dates.
Time will tell if Heath still has the wheels against good teams. I will agree that "Pinoe" had a good game and seemed to lift the team when she came on. My sub out for her would have been Williams not Press. As I said in another post, Williams crosses and passes were mostly substandard but she did have a goal and an assist on the plus side. Maybe she should be up top??? Lloyd looked 98% bad
Vlatko's assessment at the post-match press conference pretty much sums it up: "We were trying to regroup and figure out a way to break the block that (Haiti) set. I think we did a better job in the second half, at least we were able to create some more opportunities, some more chances to score goals. It was better than the first half, but still not as good as this team can play." I would have loved to be a bug on the wall during today's video session.
To me, this was about the worst performance since the failed 3-back in She Believes several years ago. I was philosophical back then, given where the team was in the World Cup cycle, so I'll be the same now. It seems to me that posters back then were being a lot more critical of Jill than they are now of Vlatko.
Fire Vlatko!!!! No, but seriously, Jill was already coaching the team for how many years by then and had put her fingerprints on that roster and style. Vlatko just walked through the door; give it another year or two before comparing how critical fans are/were of each. Or you can also look at it another way; how did fans treated Jill in her first 6 months versus how fans treat Vlatko now.
Except there were a few posters who didn't like Jill even at the beginning of her USWNT tenure based on UCLA coaching. In contrast, I think Vlatko is generally respected by all based on his NWSL coaching.