Herdman's comments: Canadian coach John Herdman held his tongue initially after the game. “Two bizarre decisions,” he said. “I’ve never seen a decision like that given. An indirect free kick without a real warning or a yellow card, just a bit random. And then the handball when something just gets blasted at you.” But Herdman did go on to say that Pedersen “will have to sleep in her bed tonight after watching the replays,” and that “she has a lot to live with.” Sinclair's: Sinclair said she asked Pedersen for an explanation. “She actually giggled and said nothing,” Sinclair said. “Classy.” Tancredi was even more blunt. “She could have done a better job. A way better job. This is the semi-finals. We’re supposed to be professionals and they should act like one too. I feel robbed. That’s all I can say. I said to her: ‘I hope you can sleep tonight and put on your American jersey because that’s who you played for today. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...reaking-semi-final-loss-to-us/article4465669/
so can we all agree Wambach counting seconds in the refs ear was the funniest part of the night. the horse ref whisperer.
Yeah I've heard that as well sadly, Pia has always played a more direct style of football, you saw that today, a ton of long balling to Alex Morgan, and it works because Morgan has speed to burn and outrun the defender. In fact Amy Rodriguez was that target forward for awhile, before Alex decided to show she was better at it. With Morgan cutting wide and serving the ball into the box, Wambach has an easy time of scoring goals with her physical play in the box. But this longballing style of play does have a weakness, its susceptible to counterattacks. And one team that is very good at counterattacking is the Japanese. USNT really needs a playmaking forward like Melissa Henderson, I just hope Pia retires soon so Melissa gets a chance to show her stuff.
Mal educado .... e estupido... vc no conhencer nada sobre futobol si voce estudar futbol femininho vc tem possbilidade a commentar... until then shut your maw...
Swedish. Norwegian. Who can tell the difference. With a better ref, Tancredi would have been sent off. Canada at 10 players doesn't win the game, imo. So, she should be careful with her words. Yes, the idfk against McLeod is weird. But the ref had a terrible game before that play/call.
you could say the same for Rapinoe, though. Pedersen's poor game management definitely had an equatable impact on both teams, for the most part. it's just unfortunate for such an excellent game that the game changing decisions were one-way and arguably dubious. to hell with the rules, i would've loved American Seitz calling this game. very good official.
Palmqvist & Steinhaus are probably viewed as a step above Seitz at this point--but maybe b/c Seitz doesn't get as many semis/finals when the US is still in them.
yes it's unfortunate Seitz can hardly ever get semi or final appointments since USA is always there. i wonder why Palmqvist and Steinhaus weren't rewarded QF or semi matches, unless they're doing the medal matches..
Pretty much. I think the ref forum's conclusion is that Steinhaus doesn't have an Olympics final on her record so it might be her for US-Japan. Steinhaus is a really good ref so fine with me. And Seitz got the 3rd place match last WWC. She's still getting good matches when possible.
I've seen her do that a few times before. I don't remember when myself, but someone said she did it during the WWC Brazil match.
I know of cases where teams refused to accept medals. I don't know of anyone where they refused to play. I'd think there'd be repercussions for the latter.
Where did I contradict myself? Both the call on Nault and the non-call on Rapinoe were the correct calls IMO. Even if you disagree, they were at the very least understandable decisions based on where the players' arms were in relation to their bodies.
Agreed. This game was a big boost to the prestige of Canadian women's soccer, and thus a big boost to the 2015 WWC. Boycotting the third-place game would send some of that boost down the drain. I don't think the CSA would allow that to happen.
The call on Rapinoe was probably correct. The call on Nault was absurd. No referee with a shred of credility calls hand ball on a free kick into defenders unless it's clearly deliberate or the defender's arms are extended in a manner that indicates a lack of control. None of that applies here. Nault's arms were not in the same position as Rapinoe's, but they were not extended or flapping around. The call was moronic. The conspiracy theories flying around are unfortunate. I subscribe to the maxim that one should never ascribe to malice that which may be adequately explained by stupidity or incompetence. This was a case of a referee getting an assignment she was manifestly unfit for. It was an officiating shambles from the first minute. What a shame. This could have been remembered as a classic match. Now it will be remembered as a freak show. Three cheers for FIFA and the IOC.
I'd like to take this moment to point out that on the penalty in question, the ball in fact touched two Canadian arms. It deflected off of the fingertips of whoever was charging the ball (Schmidt?) before hitting Nault's arm. The call looked harsh, but after I saw the replay and realized that two Canadian players handled it, I lost all sympathy. It was probably a 50/50 call, but it takes a lot more luck than Canada deserved for a penalty not to be called on a double handling incident...even if it was all by accident.
It hurts now, but I think in the end, this might end up being a good thing for us going into the World Cup. I'm not talking about the missed call, but instead, the 40 minutes or so after that to score a winner and the 30 seconds or so that we were from a shootout. They had ample time to nick a winner but because of a lapse in marking, they fell short. I still have my doubts as to how much of the current group of players will be as good or better in 2015, but this game and the World Cup coming up serve a common purpose: to inspire. This game will inspire the current group to push even harder so that when 2015 rolls around, we'll have a team that can contend and through that, inspire the next generation of girls to take soccer seriously in Canada. Back to the Bronze Medal game, the team seems to shifted their focus to France. They're saying all the right things: I would like to thank everyone back home for all the love and support. It means the world to us all. One more game to get on the podium— Christine Sinclair (@sincy12) August 7, 2012 So proud to be CANADIAN UR all so amazing!!!! Thank u for the messages and support now let's win this F'ing BRONZE for everyone in CANADA!— Kaylyn Kyle (@KaylynKyle) August 7, 2012 Canada Thank u for gettin behind us every step of the way! means the world. Podium still on our minds.... #CanWNT— Desiree Scott (@MsDScott11) August 7, 2012 FWIW, the referee Christina Pedersen is 31 and has only been refereeing professionally for about a year.
Your source is probably wrong or simply incomplete. FIFA's brief bio on Pedersen says she's been an international ref since 2007 although her first International match was in 2009. Still, that's relatively recent compared to almost all the other CRs in the Olympics; most of them had their first international match in 2005 or before.
The crying by team Canada and their fanbase is hilarious. Had immense respect for Sinclair's game but she came up small in the post game interviews. Tancredi and Sesselman were playing ghettoball the whole game mugging our players and no real action by the refs. Tancredi should have been out of the game with a yellow by the 60th minute. The ref didn't HAVE to make the idfk call but she warned McLeod and the GK defied her. At the end of the day we bossed Canada offensively , in possession and corners as well. Canada resorted to street/Ghetto ball tactics and paid a heavy tax. Also nice to note that the same time that team Canada spent writhing around on the ground during the last 10 minutes of the ET2 ,like Brazil during 2011 WWC QF,would become the injury time of extra time in which Alex Morgan would deftly dispatch the stalwart Canadians.
Nault's arms weren't at her sides. That's pretty clear from the replays. They weren't fully extended, but the only way that's a natural playing position is if she's jumping, and she wasn't jumping. If they were at her sides, the ball would have hit her arm at her side resulting in no call. Because of the position of her arms, the ball fell right down to the mass of Canadian defenders right next to her who would have easily cleared the ball. Had her arms been at her sides, the ball could have deflected anywhere (anywhere but straight down, which is where it went).