So much for those sore losers playing the victim card with that bombshell of a video in the 55th minute. As I type, Sinclair and Tancredi might be suspended for the bronze medal game. Serves them right, especially for that sad sack of shit coach calling US players dirty and his own players disreputable behavior after the game. I hate sore losers with passion.
When was the last time you ever saw a six-second violation called at this level? Wow, was that harsh. I would have let it go a couple of times (Abby Wambach said she counted over 10 about 15 times), then would have warned the keeper and would have shown yellow the next time she delayed the game on a goal kick. That would have sent the message much better than making this call at that point in time.
I'm going to respectfully disagree. To answer your first point -- I've NEVER seen that call made. Ever. (Although there was a Crew game where Tony Meola got called for a violation of this law's predecessor, the four-step rule.) But... The Canadian keeper herself has come out and said that she had been warned about slowing the game down more than once. Someone in the women's soccer forums did some legwork and recorded six times where Mccloud held onto the ball for more than twelve seconds, including three times where she went :17+! And that's before the one that was called. There comes a point where it just becomes ridiculous, and she reached it. Eventually you have to ask what the point of even having the rule on the books is if it's not going to be enforced in the face of such blatant violation. Especially after repeated warnings.
If you stop the game to show the keeper a yellow card for time wasting, the restart is an IFK for the other team. Only in the case of a dead ball like on a goal kick can you show the yellow card without having a restart for the other team.
ZipSix is exactly correct, showing yellow was not an option. McLeod was slow. Solo was also slow, going over 15 seconds once and over 17 seconds once. IFK was awarded based on lobbying, which is not a crime.
When this rule first went into place a long time ago, I can only remember it being called once, and that was in a World Cup match. I think it was a 2-1 game that turned into a 2-2 game, but this was about 1998, maybe 1994. Like the US game, it was about the 10th time it could have been called.
Are folks gathering somewhere in particular to watch the Gold Medal match today? I was probably headed to Fourth Street but want to go where there will be a good gathering of fans.
Just curious, because I have seen keepers shown yellow in MLS without there being a free kick awarded... are we dealing with different rules? or incompetent refs in MLS?
I think the interpretation is that if they are holding it for longer than six seconds, they are controlling it with their hands and the IFK is given for that. If they are time wasting, such as on a goal kick or other free kick, then it a caution for delaying the restart, but the restart would be the goal kick or free kick.
I think the interpretation is that if they are holding it for longer than six seconds, they are controlling it with their hands and the IFK is given for that. If they are time wasting, such as on a goal kick or other free kick, then it a caution for delaying the restart, but the restart would be the goal kick or free kick.
Thanks for clearing that up footy, now that I think about it, most of them have had the ball on the ground already when cautioned. My bad.
As I indicated in my post, the ref had ample time to give a yellow card on a goal kick. I would bet that the keeper would have punted the ball very close to the 6 seconds after that. To decide a game like this on a call like that, and the follow-up PK call on the girl protecting her face, was controversial. That, in light of the fact that Japan should have been given a PK on a blatant handball in the gold medal game; a handball that was much easier to call than the one the US got in the semifinal, makes it look even worse. And, one of the reasons I don't pay too much attention to the Olympics is because of the weird refereeing decisions in many of the sports. I just didn't expect such ineptitude in either of these two games. Think about some of the blatant misses against the USA; Wambach's black eye, Lloyd being stomped on. Some of these refs had no business being in London beyond being spectators.
First of all, if you let refereeing decide whether or not to watch the olympics, I feel bad for you. That's a sad statement about your values. Human beings are imperfect, and to not accept that seems like a waste of mental energy. For instance ,the woman who reffed the gold medal game is probably the best official in women's soccer. She made a split decision on a call in the box. It happens all the time in soccer. Have you ever refereed a game of soccer in your life? Ever taken a refereeing course? Try reffing soccer for a season and see if your perspective changes.
That's a reach. Holding onto the ball for too long is not a yellow card offense. To suggest that being carded on a goal kick would have an effect on a separate type of play that's not cardable is a stretch of the imagination. She held onto the ball for 18 seconds at a time because she assumed that there was no way in hell it would ever get called. Being carded for delaying a restart wouldn't have made her think it was more likely that an IFK in the box would be called later. Controversial does not equal incorrect. And the PK was spot-on the right call. I don't care if she was protecting her face -- you don't put your hands up inside your own penalty area. You're just begging for trouble. And considering that ball actually struck TWO Canadian arms -- I don't see the argument against the PK call. I have no idea how (was it Tobin Heath?) got away with her handball. Whooooooooboy.
Really? I'd say they're both advancing pretty close to the same rate these days. If the gap were actually closing, the US women wouldn't still lose regularly in scrimmages to U-17 boys' select teams.
Fid, the FIFA World Cup was also a FIFA event and some of the refs didn't have any business being there either. Those were some pathetic calls or non-calls. And, no I'm not saying because it was or wasn't the USA; I thought they were pretty bad for supposedly top caliber refereeing. Zip, that is one of the reasons I don't watch much of the Olympics. Tell me the vault performance by whatever her name is (McCauley) in the women's gymnastics team event wasn't near perfect. To lose 3/10th of a point on some phantom crap just doesn't make sense. You don't know me so to make a blatant statement about my values or whatever tells me a bit about you too. And, yes, I actually reffed for quite a few years. Had a pretty high score on my certification tests too. And I also made some horrible calls but I wasn't paid top dollars to make them. Missing a call; cool. Making a call that never gets made - KCBus has watched and reffed thousands of games and he said he didn't recall it ever called - at that point in time is just stupid. KCBus, giving the yellow card on the goal kick and giving her a warning that any other delays would be dealth with would have made the decision to award an IDK justifiable. And rules are there and quite a few are never or barely ever enforced. How many times do we see a guy take steps on a throw-in and told to go back but isn't it strange that 90% of the time the ball goes out near the corner flag at the defensive end, the ref suddenly has no problem with letting them throw-in from the 18? If the Canadian keeper had been doing that for, what over 10-15 times, then there were plenty of times before this to take action. And I've seen plenty of times when the ball comes at your face not being called. Remember that the player had someone else in front that just barely got out of her way which made the other player get caught off guard. Like I said, that's a PK 50-60% of the time. It's just tough to make that call when you just gave the other team the IDK on this "never ever called before today" technically correct call.