Why do most Americans act like there is some kind of ref conspiracy against us?

I'm already tired of the US vs Algeria thread. They've discussed the Offside for enough pages now I don't think a single one of the refs on this forum has down a game at a level where it was televised from 25 camera angles. It's simply a difficult call and just saying "you should get the tie to the runner" is bad reffing philosophy.

 

I think it comes from history and from experience.
From history: The US feels like they got cheated vs. Germany with a hand ball on the goal line. Four years later, the penalty against Ghana. Granted, this is nothing compared to what Italy went through that season, but it does have a way of creating a feeling like, "what are we supposed to do? We play Germany 1-0 and then that?" That feeling has a way of carrying over. By the way, US commentators generally don't know the game, but things like a goal being taken away vs. Slovenia are easy to understand.

From experience: The US is treated like soccer newbies that don't belong. Call it an underdog complex or whatever, but they feel like they are treated as if they simply don't belong on the same pitch as other countries. You can almost hear the condescending Belgian accent say to Dempsy, "nice try, but one of these days you will belong in round 2."

 

maybe the fact that through the whole tournament its only happened to america and it happened TWICE

 

Because of Geroge W. Bush

 

And published FIFA policy for decades.

 

I don't think anyone thinks there's a conspiracy going on. We all know refs make errors, and no one minds one or two bad calls. But there's been a pattern of them going all the way back to 2002. And one also has to question why we're getting certain referees - like Koman Coulibaly, who has a long history of critical errors in World Cup qualifying and African Nations cup matches. And Jorge Larrionda, who has worked three of our games in major tournaments (Confederations Cup 2003, World Cup 2006, Confederations Cup 2009) and screwed us over all three times.

Also, I can't believe anyone is still defending Coulibaly's call.

 

As someone who has reffed some higher level youth games in the past, I can tell you it is very difficult.

It is, needless to say, VERY difficult at a WC.

I think on balance there has been more good reffing at this tournament than bad reffing. But in every game, there are going to be wrong calls, bad non-calls, and, from time to time, huge mistakes. That it has happened twice for us (three times if you add the fact that the Algerian who smacked Dempsey in face should have led to a PK) is well, just our bad luck.

I firmly believe that we should have instant replay on close-in dead balls where the ball winds up in the back of the net, especially on offside calls. The technology is there for an official in a booth above to quickly review the sequence and assist the officials on the field. Get the call correct.

I also think that there are times when goals should be DISALLOWED, when the scorer is in fact offside, particularly on breakaways.

I think this could be done and not interrupt the flow of the game at all, since goal celebrations take up 30 seconds minimum anyway.

 

It is called football for the nations that choose to call it football.

The english drive on the left side of the road and 99 percent of the world drives on the right and nobody seems to complain about that. Why? becuase its pointless. Same with complaining why people decide to call it soccer

 

people get paranoid after being mugged like 5 times in the same place.

 

Formally, no, it's association football, to distinguish it from other football codes. If it was just called football, then the international governing body would be FIF, not FIFA.

 

you said it yourself: I'd rather not have refs enforcing calls they cannot see."

I'm still waiting to see from the "25 different camera angles" where Dempsey aledgedly shoved a player in front of the ref last Friday...

It's calls like that that would make most fans feel (wrongly so, I'll admit) that there is a bias (NOT conspiracy) against American soccer...

 

Q: Why do most Americans act like there is some kind of ref conspiracy against us?
A: Most Americans don't, but the fact that we had two legitimate goals nullified by bad referee decisions certainly doesn't help quell the conspiracy theorists

 

Dude, if that was the foul, then the whistle was 10 seconds late. That's complete BS. You can clearly see he puts the whistle in his mouth while they are setting up the set piece. There is no reason it would take 10 econds for the whistle to come. None. This guy screwed up royally.

 

Worst. Troll. Ever.

 

You can publish anything you want...doesn't mean it'll work or that people will go against what their eyes tell them in order for it to work. FIFA instruction is to make the call, there's a contradiction in saying the referee should "Make a decision" and "If you're not certain do nothing."

Also this close...no one on this forum could make that call even 50% of the time correctly at game speed.

 

Pure nonsense.

If Coulibaly was right on the no-goal and it was indeed a foul, then we should see him reffing in the next round... but we are not going to.

He was actually given a negative review rating by FIFA and his participation in the next knockout round and further rounds has been squashed by FIFA.

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/wo...ets-poor-rating--fbintl_ro-referee061910.html

The reality is that, unless you are a perennial powerhouse Euro or South American team, you will likely cross paths with a ref from the B-list pool in early rounds of the WC and the B-list pool contains some very, very questionable selections... seemingly in every cup...

It's not a situation unique to team USA - we just seem to be a team that falls victim to some of the poorer gaffs from the b-list zebras...

The problem is with FIFA.

They can and should do better with the ref selections for these tournaments and they simply don't.

Do we, as Americans, get overly upset with referee incompetence? Yes. Primarily because our primary sports leagues (NFL, hoops, etc.) are simply reffed to a better standard and level of consistency than what FIFA can or will support.

In reality, all participating teams deserve better... not just the Brasilain, Italian, German or Dutch squads...

 

That could be a decent point....

if you only realized the "ref" didn't call it, not to mention it was on opposite ends of the fields.....so, I guess you're trying to say that two separate linesmen made the calls to balance things out and be consistent?

not to mention, the call I think you are talking about going against Algeria, they were about 40 yards from the goal, and near the sideline....(not sure, I've watched so many games and seen so many bad calls)

Dave

 

This is an insult to every FIFA referee who works extremely hard to be the best at a very difficult job. You don't know what that's like so you sit on the sidelines and criticize...walk a mile blahblahblah or just don't bother saying anything at all.

 

BUT!

There is no conspiracy against the US. Period.

Reff'n is human. Trust me, the bad calls go around....and come around.

Dave

 

The offside call was very close, and actually Dempsey was offside while the Algerian player was on the ground, but after he got up, he took a step backwards to draw level with Dempsey. The linesman had to make a split-second decision and saw it offside.

Thanks goodness Donovan was able to get a clean shot into the net because we had three players offside when he shot it - the goalie had come out and there was only one defender left inside the six. If the ball bounced a different way and Donovan passed it forward to an unmarked Buddle - we would have been offside again.

Coulibaly made a bad decision - he just saw a lot of contact in the box and made what he thought was the easy call (foul on offense, ball going the other way). Unfortunately for him, it ended up taking away a goal, or else it would have just been a forgotten call.

 

My bad. Like I says, alotta games, alotta calls - many of'em bad.

But still, even with the 20 yards.....it's still abit different than 3 yards.

Not trying to say two wrongs make a right....

But in a way, isn't that what you were saying when you said they were at least being consistent?

Dave