Well hopefully someone will release some news about it from the tournament offiicials, or even a team whining about it. Otherwise, all of us are going to talk this to death.
If the Wambach/O'Reilly situation ends up being a problem for the US I doubt it would result in disqualification. You can take as an example Paragraph 3 which states that "All players shall be at least 16 years of age in year 2002..." and the attendant penalty in Paragraph 5 which states "A team which fails to heed Paragraph 3 above shall automatically forfeit part of all of its prize money as determined by the Executive Committee..." There isn't really anything in their Regulations that states the team could be disqualified for the infraction that the US may have committed. I would think that, if anything at all, they might be charged with monetary sanctions. I would think it might be perceived as a smite on the tournament to disqualify one of its finalists without a really eggregious offense having been committed. The Gold Cup officials were obviously alerted to the problem and gave the US enough time to get Heather O'Reilly back to the tourney. I would hope that, without a clear cut clause stating that the particular offense was punishable by disqualification, that they would never even go there. If they do, I think the US could take it to arbitration.
As you should. I'd like to start my morning of posting by apologizing to you. I'm truly sorry for not believing you. I think it was more denial on my part. I still don't understand the situation, but I'm sure I will once a report or somethign is released. Thanks for the info ahead of time, BC63. At least someone tells us this stuff before we see it on the field...
The rules have enough ambiguity that a mediocre lawyer could tie litigation up over them for some time. I won't bore y'all with an analysis of the ambiguities. That being said, much as I would have preferred Wambach on the squad over O'Reilly, I agree that caution would dictate not making a substitution, at least not without prior federation approval. But before you excoriate Heinrichs, you have to know whether she had it. There is nothing reported to suggest one way or the other. It's probably against the fiber of being of Heinrichs-haters to give her the benefit of the doubt and recognize that perhaps she had the sign-off in advance, but that is probably the fair thing to do. Besides, if Panama protests, the USA has grounds to invade. We did it before. [JUST KIDDING!!!!!]
I don't think disqualification would be the punishment per-se, but a 3-0 forfeit of the Panama game would be a likelihood if a Panamanian protest was upheld - and that would hve created a 3-way tie on 6 pts. Goal difference would be real close. Has Panama filed an official protest? Did they protest Abby's inclusion before or during the match?
the problem is that the US and canada ARE CONCAF football...and in the eyes of many countries the US are womens soccer...so i think we could get our way out of anything without risking WWC status...however i do think this would be a good excuse to fire ape and put a compitent coach behind the american bench.
Agreed, it does look pretty bad on April. She's made some really boneheaded choices this tourney. An absent Wambach makes me relieved. But, I think it sucks for her b/c she's an awesome goal scorer and I'm cheering for Canada. Wow. I'm tired . I didn't mean to post that just yet. Would the US have gone through on top without their win over Panama? If so case closed slap a fine on the USWNT and be done with it. I'm too tired to find out. http://www.concacaf.com/competition...et-redesign+1172+2002+E&season=2002&code=1172 hmm. If they were to settle it on who beat whom just like the WC then the US would be ahead of Mexico. Head to head win. But its iffy on the Panama b/c I don't remember how they settled things after that point. Just curious though why would you give Panama a 3-0 win and not a plain 1-0 win?
I relay the info as I hear it, and as long as she says I can. If I get any other info about stuff, I'll be sure to post it.
Didn't you guys see this quote that was posted by Fear someplace or other? It's from a Seattle newpaper account. Here's the link. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/134571030_goldcup07.html If this account is accurate, it seems that the coach didn't do anything wrong and is not incompetent because of this. The CONCACAF officials are the ones who goofed.
Yeah, but that doesn't stop Heinrichs-haters who think she should be fired for breathing from using this as a pretext to advocate canning her.