PBP: WWC Semifinal USA vs Germany June 30 - Montreal pre/pbp/post

Is there a link to the "official word from FIFA"? FIFA rarely comments on calls. If you're talking about askasoccerreferee.com, that's not FIFA. That's not even officially from USSF. That's a very knowledgeable guy, but his thoughts aren't "official". Point #2 is especially contentious.

 

And giveaway here is no one was scoring. All the scoring talent amass between those two side and no one is putting shots on frame. Sure they can put in a bunch of goals against a bad defensive team but when the defense gets good and u dont have the time, the turf becomes a hindrance.

 

If this tournament has proven anything to the doubters it should be that. I've watched all but a handful of matches this WC and only seen a handful of plays where a ball over the top didn't roll out past the end line for a goal kick. It's just killing offensive options.

 

point 1 would be contentious if it didn't fit the soccer douchebag narrative that nothing the USWNT accomplishes is earned "properly." If that was a Premier League game, NO ONE would be talking about a red card...

 

I was really impressed by the US, it was the best match, in particular with respect to the display of technical skills and smart passing, I've seen from them for quite a long time. Absolutely smothered Germany. Congratulations on reaching the final!

 

Hingst makes good on bet

 

I have gotten a kick out of Ariane all tournament long.

 

VERY true.

 

Hingst was pretty much the only person on the German Side who was stated while yes there may have been miss calls, ultimately on that day the us was the far better team. I give her porps for that. Admitting one lost because they flat out got beat does not come easy for the german fans. If you want to see that point confirmed skip over to the us germany thread in womens international group. Lots of confused german fans thinking denial is a river in africa.

 

The international board believed the negativity and pessimism from us USWNT "fans" when we nonstop ruthlessly make fun of our Head Coach and Veteran Player talent all the time. Those silly foreigners actually believed us HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA.

 

LMFAO.............Not one forward on this team is playing better than Alex Morgan who is coming off injury and rusty as hell. Alex Morgan brings everything that our other forwards don't. She makes the best runs, is able to get people the ball, she creates shot one on one better than all our forwards. She is not finishing, I know. Wambach finishing? She has missed several headers and a PK. A-Rod has energy but is sloppy with the ball and cant put her shots on frame half the time. She misses the easiest goals. None of the forwards bring anything more than Morgan at this point and that has been shown this WC.

 

We are never happy and bitch about everything. They should know that by now We have complained right up to multiple gold medals for peats sake. In the end we always hope for the best, and I think we are fair with the praise when it is earned. We just have high expectations and 1000 different ideas about how best to succeed.

 

Very nice.

The US women’s national team latest World Cup triumph was yet another ratings record-breaker for FOX.

The network announced Wednesday that the average audience of 8.4 million viewers for the USWNT’s 2-0 semifinal victory over No. 1-rated Germany broke the most recent mark for soccer on the network, set on June 26 with the USA-China quarterfinals match, by a 47 percent margin (5.7 million).

USA-Germany is now the third-most-watched women’s soccer match of all time, trailing only the USA-China 1999 World Cup Final (17.9 million) and Japan-USA in the 2011 World Cup semifinal (13.4 million).

The audience for USA-Germany on FOX was 147 percent better than the audience for the USA’s semifinal match of the 2011 World Cup on ESPN (3.4 million). It was also the most-watched World Cup semifinal, men’s or women’s, ever in the US, breaking the mark set for the Germany-Italy 2006 World Cup semifinal (5.9 million).

 

I just figured out why they are keeping Neid on through the Olympics. I was reading Steffi Jones' bio and she is still getting her coaching license.

 

That sounds ridiculous. Why isn't Maren Meinart getting a chance?

 

Did she want the job? I vaguely remember something suggesting maybe she did not.

 

Hingst has been the best commentator for Fox. A couple of others have not been bad but Hingst has done really well.

 

Thank you for clearing that up. I'm sorry for expressing my feelings.

 

I think this is a misrepresentation of the effect of the official on the match. I'm glad the Americans won but saying talking about it or having a different opinion is whining is pretty insecure. And adding bullsh*t like "This is the official FIFA response" is worse.

 

Hingst is an elite athlete who knows what it takes to win. Ultimately, the best athletes all realize that to blame your loss on factors outside of your control, gives you an excuse to not get better and to suffer the same fate again. As a result, they will always take responsibility for losing for needing to do better. The best in the world do that - it is one of the things that separates them from the rest. It is also one of the things that kills me when I listen to parents on the sidelines blaming everything BUT the fact that their players/team just wasn't good enough on the day.

AND BTW --- if you listen to some of our own fans about Japan beating us in past games/WCs you'll see excuses as well....

 

As I said I was passing along points from the ref pages. Probably should have quoted the actual response. Fact is there is plenty of debate on both sides of both PK calls. As well as the PI on Rapinoe that could also have easily lead to a second yellow. She was fouled (I would say hacked would be a proper term here) 4-5 times by two players. Bottom line is the better team won. And IMO the calls pretty well evened out.

And for those who think this has been hard (and yes much of it is due to the inexperience of many of the officials at the WWC), have you watched any of COPA America. I would hate to be a ref in that tournament. Players continually playing very dirty.

 

I think control of the ball might be what went through the CR's mind. However that is not one of the 4 criteria. You can have a case that a player is tripped by a defender trying to get to a through ball. i.e. they never have control, but it could still be a DOGSO if the 4 criteria are met.

Last Defender - not more than one defender between the foul and the goal
Distance to goal - closer make it more obvious
Distance to ball - this one kind of covers the control issue. If the player is close enough to gain control then this precludes actually having control. Works the other way too. If the final touch put it too far out in front (i.e. GK can get it or over the goal line) then this criteria is not met.
Direction of play - have to be moving toward goal. If for instance the FW received the ball in the PA and was dibbling away from goal to lay it off or whatever, then the Opportunity is not obvious.

 

There are plenty of people who debate the holocaust. They say things like "could have been." I've seen thousands of games. Johnson should have been tossed, there should have been no Morgan PK. The could-have-been's in the box are rarely called. You can mug people in the box and not get called for most fouls like those.

Some days you get the breaks, some day's you don't (and no matter who you are and how many times it sure feels like you don't). It's great they won. But to say they didn't get the breaks is bananas, if the game was reversed this board would be lit up like Vegas.