Highway Robbery!
Well...I need MCA's eloquent take on this one. I'm not sure if this morning's match elevated my interest and passion for soccer, or if it was simply more evidence that the results are too arbitrary. The disallowed goal was the equivalent of calling offensive pass interference on a hail mary that is caught to end a game. I have yet to read what the foul call was...allegedly the whistle blew before Edu's "goal", but the commentators couldn't find offsides. In fact, the only foul on the play was Michael Bradley getting bear-hugged. Brutal.
7 Comments:
My not-so-eloquent take?
That was utter bullshit. Disgraceful.
BG's analogy is right on, except this was like calling offensive pass interference on a completed Hail Mary at the end of a game ON A GUY STANDING ALL ALONE IN THE CORNER OF THE END ZONE.
In an interview after the game, Landon Donovan said the ref wouldn't even tell them what the whistle was for. Of course he wouldn't.
Comebacks from 0-2 down to tie are pretty much non-existent in international soccer, right? Coming back to actually win 3-2 has to be practically unheard of.
Add this one to the pile - the bogus redcards against Italy in '06, the non-call on an egregious Germany handball in the box in '02. We seem to get a lot of really bad breaks in the World Cup. There was also a yellow card on what should have been a red against Slovenia, and a "disqualified for the next game" card on a U.S. player for a supposedly intentional handball that hit our guy in the face. Are these all evened out by bad calls going our way that I've forgotten about?
So, maybe it was just a shitty ref that had it out for us for me to shake off the World Cup Disinterested Blues.
June 18, 2010 at 1:00 PM
I forgot about the garbage hand-ball call...and had the Slovenian actually gotten his red card, we might have won 5-2, given how many chances we were creating. So brutal. Assuming:
1) We beat Algeria, and
2) Slovenia/England doesn't end in a tie
...we will advance. A big "if", I know...but I think our guys are on a mission now.
Hmmm, I guess the fact that I'm discussing this means I'm more interested in soccer, but they are certainly testing my sporting patience.
June 18, 2010 at 1:10 PM
The refs were toatl BS in that game. We were joking here that the american had the Adidas imprint on his forhead from the "hand ball." They said durning the game that only one team has come from two down to win. I forget who the winner was but the loser was Bosnia-Herz... however you spell it. The second half was about as exciting as it gets as they were just peppering Slovenia.
June 18, 2010 at 2:47 PM
Wow. Algeria just hooked us up with the scoreless tie vs. England. We beat Algeria and we advance. Simple as that...
June 18, 2010 at 3:55 PM
Well. So, England and Algeria play to a scoreless tie. Wha? Anyway, let's break it down:
- we beat Algeria, we move on under any circumstances, with 5 points and at least 4 goals. If England beats Slovenia, we win the group unless they do it by 3 goals. If Slovenia beats England, they win the group and we're 2nd, London burns and the England coach is Bravehearted in Trafalgar Square. If they tie, we're ahead of England, London burns, etc., and we win the group if we beat Algeria by 2 or better. Goal differential and total goals in play if otherwise. Potential total clusterfuck there, too. If we beat Algeria 1-0 and Slovenia/England tie 1-1, we'd have to flip a coin to see who wins the group and who's second, as we'd both finish with 5 points, 4 goals and 3 goals against.
- If we tie Algeria and Slovenia beats England, we're good in 2nd.
- If we tie Algeria and Slovenia/England tie, Slovenia still wins the group and we're down to total goals with England, which we should win because we've outscored them 3-1 so far.
- Basically, England needs to beat Slovenia or every third person in Great Britain is going to have a pub glass smashed in their face, Begbie style, the Prime Minister will be ridden out on a rail through Hyde Park, naked, and god help any Slovenians who venture north of Gaul. The pressure on them will be un-fucking-bearable.
- If we tie and England wins, we're out.
- If we lose, we're fucked. Algeria and Slovenia would both have 3 or more points, and we'd be at 2.
June 18, 2010 at 4:03 PM
thanks MCA- that gave me a fucking headache trying to keep track of all that, but I appreciate the breakdown as I was wondering what all the scenarios were. You know what the problem- all these draws, why do they have them in the first round? Is it because penalty shootouts go against the purity of the game? If that is so, then I wish they would come up with some other method (e.g. hottest girlfriend on each team settle match in mud wrestling competition), because I hate draws...
June 18, 2010 at 6:06 PM
this was all so much simpler in "Victory". That's the kind of soccer you can set your watch to.
June 19, 2010 at 3:51 PM
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