DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum USA vs Slovenia

Looks like the US is choking away their chance of advancing. Down 2 - nil to Slovenia at the half.

US Defense looks like utter poop today. Down 2-0 at halftime, and it could of been 4-0 had George McFly from Slovenia not wiffed on one, and missed another by inches.

US offense has shown some glimpses, but it seems like everyone would rather pass, rather than just line up and shoot it .... unless of course it's from 40 yards out. :P

yeah, on the first goal, I think our defense was taking their drink orders as they passed the ball from the corner to the elbow of the box to center. And lined up the shot like a penalty kick.

do you think if they mis-passed, we would have been gentlemenly enough to get the ball where they wanted it to go?

Just pulling off a draw will take a minor miracle in this one. Ugh.

Finally!! Donovan doing what strikers should be doing!! Actually shooting towards the net, rather than looking for a cute pass!

And almost another one! Offense looks alive!

LOL... Just what the doctor ordered! Do you believe in miracles?

Well we sure aren't getting any help from the officials in this one.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!

GOOOOAAALLLL USA! It's all tied up now!

Our team sure likes drama.

And the Ref just jobbed us of a go-ahead goal.

Robbed of a 3-2 lead!

Wow... looked on-side to me. What a horrible call.

Ref has been an embarassment. He gave our one guy a yellow card (will be DQ'ed for the third game) ... for a handball that hit his face.

Then that 3rd goal where three of our guys got fouled, and everyone that mattered was on-side ... horrible call.

though, if you told me when we were down 2-0 that we'd get a tie, I'd gladly have taken it.

just need to beat algeria by more than 1 goal to advance for sure.

Critical blunder by the officials. Should have been a penalty kick at the very least (for the guy getting tackled in the box). Unreal.

Depends a lot on what England can do against Algeria and Slovenia.

espn.com already has a poll up asking which call was worse, Joyce's call in the perfect game or this call denying the goal... was it THAT bad?

Too bad the biggest stage in soccer can only find blind officals.

As the US was lining up for the free kick, Dempsey (I think it was dempsey... i was watching a grainy feed at work) was originally offsides, but he got back well before the kick was initiated. On the screen they had originally showing offsides as te call. Somehow it evolved into a "foul" on the US. Both Dempsey and Altidore were wrapped up by Slovenian defenders.

The perfect game call was worse, but this was pretty bad.

I'd disagree, this call was WAY worse for a couple of reasons:

This is only the largest tournament in all of sports and the entire world was watching this game...compared to only a small demographic that was watching the other, regular season game.

The other things going on around the miscue call. In the baseball situation, it was just a straight forward, one missed call. In this instance, you could have called a penalty kick on any number of opposing players as well as letting it stand for the goal. Instead, the call was on the one and only thing that did not actually occur. Adding it all up, it is around 4 missed call all at the same time.

20 perfect games in history? Try 0 times in history, as in ZERO times has a team come back from a 2-0 deficit at the half to win the game. ZERO times far outweighs 20 times.

Finally, the reaction of the referee/ump. In the baseball game, the ump was IMMEDIATELY apologizing for what he did which helped to lessen the damage. In this instance, we still have absolutely no word on what it was that he saw. That leads to even more outcry because it does not even seem like he cared....and yet people wonder why FIFA created a committee to look into fixing matches by refs a couple of days into this World Cup.

yeah, but taking away all the ramifications, all the stuff outside, and just look at the play itself, which was worse?

Just the play itself? Still goes to the World Cup game then.

The play itself in the MLB game had no effect on the outcome of the game because they still won, the World Cup game did.

US Rallies for Draw With Slovenia

JOHANNESBURG -- If only the United States could produce when it wasn't completely desperate, it might be a World Cup contender.

Incredibly, despite falling behind by two goals in the first half against Slovenia on Friday afternoon, the Americans were one lousy call away from a stunning victory thanks to another stirring comeback. Instead, it will have to settle for a 2-2 draw that, at least, maintains its hopes of advancing to the second round until next week's first round finale.

The Key Plays: Slovenia simply was better at the basics of soccer than the U.S., especially in the first half. Their passes were more accurate, their trapping was more sound and they were far smarter with their movement off the ball. That difference in quality resulted in two goals.


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The first was a 25-yard blast from midfielder Valter Birsa, who found loads of space behind the U.S. midfield and in front of the defense in just the 13th minute. The second came in the 42nd, when some quick passing freed Zlatan Ljubijankic down the left. He slid a smart shot past a charging Tim Howard.

U.S. coach Bob Bradley replaced the struggling Jose Torres and forward Robbie Findley for the start of the second half, inserting Benny Feilhaber in midfield and pushing Clint Dempsey up front. Maurice Edu filled in in central midfield. Within minutes, the motivated Americans resurrected their hopes and pulled to within one. Steve Cherundolo hit a long ball down the right that Landon Donovan collected in the corner. Rather than cut the ball back, he charged toward the near post and lifted a perfect blast into the roof of the net.

The Americans continued their onslaught, and drew level in the 82nd minute on a beautiful play finished by Michael Bradley. A long pass from Donovan was headed down against the defense's shift by Jozy Altidore. Bradley stormed through and poked it over the goalkeeper, running toward the corner flag in a mad celebration that was joined by the entire U.S. team, including those on the bench.
Video: Disallowed Goal
Watch the goal that should have given the U.S. a 3-2 win, and three points in Group C. FanHouse has the video.
The controversy: The Americans scored a third goal as well, but it was inexplicably ruled out by Malian referee Koman Coulibaly. He'd had a decent game until the 86th minute (a few missed calls, but maintained the flow and let the players play), when Donovan's curling free kick from the right was slammed home by Edu. Bradley was ruled offside on the play. Not only was he on, according to TV replays, but a Slovenian defender had him in a bear hug. Certainly the U.S. has no one to blame but themselves for the way they opened the game, but this call will linger if they come a point short of advancing to the second round.

"I'm a little gutted to be honest," Donovan said. "I don't know how they stole that last goal from us. I'm not sure what the call was. He (the referee) wouldn't tell us what the call was."

What it means: The U.S. remains in the hunt at 0-0-2, with two points in Group C. Slovenia has four at 1-0-1, with England and Algeria playing tonight. Should England win, as expected, it'll have four points and Algeria zero. Slovenia and England play each other next week, and unless they tie, a U.S. win over Algeria will put the Americans through.

Men of the Match: Michael Bradley and Landon Donovan. Bradley was a beast in the second half, covering enormous amounts of ground and scoring the tying goal. He also did an enormous amount of work in the first compensating for the overmatched Torres, and took several shots from long range that forced saves from Slovenian goalkeeper Samir Handanovic. Donovan brought the U.S. back off life support with his brilliant goal, then launched the pass that set Bradley free for the equalizer.

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Yeah we got hosed on a goal, but we also got a gift goal vs England, that's even in my book. Bottom line is we aren't playing all that well through 2 games.

Also this is a far worse call than the tigers game, that was a bang bang play. This was ludicrous.

I'm not big on soccer (or footie as some call it) but I was watching the BBC and SkyNews online earlier and they are just going crazy over there because of their team's poor play so far.

Every newscast is

World Cup ......
About 30 seconds of other news ....
Blame the manager of the English team .....
Weather for about a minute ....
More World Cup ... with interviews ......
Blast the manager of the English team ......
30 seconds of human interest ......
Reaction to World Cup. ...... from players and "man on the street" ......
30 seconds of international news .....
What's wrong with the English team?


It is rather funny that some fans (and players) blamed the draw against Algeria on the fact that English fans booed the team's play during the end of the game.

Okay, not a soccer player. Saw the play, call sucked at around a billion psi. But is it legal to hold and hang on to the opposing team during kicks? Saw at least two blatant holds on breaking USA players. Are you still allowed to throw beer bottles in World Cup?

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/s...5901&ver=us

Report: Coulibaly to get FIFA review

Malian referee Koman Coulibaly, criticized for disallowing a potentially U.S.-winning goal off a free kick in Friday's U.S.-Slovenia World Cup clash, may be dropped by FIFA for the rest of the World Cup, according to a Yahoo! Sports report.

Citing a FIFA source, the report says Coulibaly is poised to face an expedited performance review from the refereeing committee of world football's governing body. Officials plan to review footage on Saturday from the Group C, 2-2 draw to evaluate Coulibaly's performance after several U.S. players blasted his handling of the match, Yahoo said.

Second-half sub Maurice Edu appeared to put the U.S. ahead in the 86th minute, poking in a close-range shot after Landon Donovan's free kick to him. But the goal was waved off by Couilibaly, though it was not clear on whom the foul was called or what the foul was.

After the match, Donovan said he asked the referee what the call was but did not get an answer.

"We asked the ref many times what it was or who it was on and he wouldn't or couldn't explain it," Donovan said. "I don't know what to think of the call because I didn't see any foul, just a normal free kick and a goal."


Referees must submit a written report to FIFA after each match, but it is not specified in the rule that he must fully explain a ruling such as this.

FIFA refereeing rules state: "The referee shall hand over to the FIFA general coordinator a match report at the stadium immediately after the match. On the report form the referee shall note all occurrences such as misconduct of players leading to caution or expulsion, unsporting behavior by supporters and/or by officials or any other person acting on behalf of an association at the match and any other incident happening before, during and after the match in as much detail as possible."

Coulibaly could still appear, according to the source, as a line judge or other supporting role, but is unlikely to be given assignments to referee further matches.

"If he is found to have made a serious mistake, especially one that affected the outcome, then he would be highly unlikely to play any further part in the tournament," Yahoo quoted the source as saying. "FIFA is determined to keep refereeing standards high and does not want high-profile mistakes."

The controversial call comes four years after the 2006 finals in Germany where the refereeing was roundly condemned after a spate of controversies.

It led to FIFA setting up a special referee's assistance program to better train top officials for the 2010 finals.

Among those refereeing in South Africa are Benito Archundia of Mexico, who handled the 2006 semifinal between Germany and Italy, and Italian Roberto Rosetti, who also officiated the Euro 2008 final in Vienna.

The 39-year-old Coulibaly has been officiating in African soccer competitions for 17 years and called the final of the African Cup of Nations between Ghana and Egypt earlier this year.

For its part, the U.S. is moving on, with no way to appeal the disallowed goal. "There is no process for appeals for a decision on the field," team spokesman Michael Kammarman said Saturday. "We have not asked for any official comment from FIFA in regards to the call."

Replays show that more Slovenes were holding Americans than vice versa. Aleksandar Radosavljevic held Michael Bradley in a bear hug,

Bradley had his own theory: Coulibaly might have regretted his decision to award the free kick. Valter Birsa had been called or a foul on Steve Cherundolo.

"I think it's a good goal, first. I think the only things really that could be called would be penalty kicks for us," coach Bob Bradley said. "There are times when a referee, for whatever reason, blows a foul and now thinks either he didn't make the correct call on the foul or from a previous play, and then literally as soon as the free kick's taken, he blows his whistle, OK?

"So you can speculate all you want about which guy and everything, I think it's a waste of time. All right? I think there was nothing there. I think it's a good goal. And that's that."

The U.S. team has been besieged with questions why soccer referees don't publicly explain controversial decisions, as umpires and referees do in U.S. sports.

"We're all accustomed to the fact that if it's an NFL playoff game and there's a call that's in question, there will be a statement by the league from the referees, but FIFA operates differently," Bradley said. "There are some aspects of it that are not made 100 percent clear. That seems to add to the discussion about the game. So from our end we get used to that. And we all have friends and family who ask us the same questions that most of you ask, and you end up saying that's just how it is sometimes, and then you move on and you get ready for the next game."

The U.S. would advance from the group phase if it beats Algeria on Wednesday or even with a tie as long as England loses to Slovenia. If the U.S. and England both draw, the Americans would advance if they maintain their goal advantage over the English, currently 3-1.

But if England draws and scores two more goals than the U.S. does in the final game, the United States and England would finish even on all tiebreakers. FIFA would conduct a drawing of lots -- it's unclear whether that means a coin flip or another method -- to determine which team goes to the second round.

The only time lots were used in a World Cup was in 1990, when the format was slightly different and 24 teams competed. Both Ireland and the Netherlands advanced with exactly the same results, and FIFA used lots to determine the Irish would finish second in Group F and the Dutch would be third.

In the next round, the Netherlands lost to eventual champion Germany, while Ireland won a shootout over Romania to get to the quarterfinals, where it fell to host Italy.

"I don't think anyone really wants that, to be honest" defender Jay DeMerit said. "I think as players and as a team and for fans, it should never really come down to things like that, but unfortunately that's the rules we live by. There's still a lot of soccer to be played between all four teams. And like I said, it will be very interesting to find out how the chips fall. And now we just have to make sure that we take care of things of our end and hope that it doesn't come to something like that."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

I got to watch the game this weekend and what a roller coaster...

From here we go again


To holy sh*t we tied it up


To WTF was that ref looking at!


Yes, it was nice to get the draw after that hole we dug BUT we EARNED the win!

The article did not address what happens if both England and the U.S. win, unless the assumption is the same as in the case that both draw,...total goals is the breaker. ??

if USA and England both win, they would both advance since they have one win, two ties, and zero losses while algeria and slovenia would each have a loss seeing how we would have beaten algeria and england would have beaten slovenia