Quote :

"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 game 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, Landon 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."

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5304289/ce/us/fifa-ax-us-slovenia-ref-wc&cc=5901?ver=us

6/19/2010 2:03:51 AM

Man, that call fucking sucked. Watching it at the Brathaus for lunch I couldn't see/hear all that great and thought we just got soccer screwed. But watching the whole match at home this evening we really got proper fucked today. Now, we basically enter the Algeria game already down a goal because we need a win so badly.

The England result was fantastic, it's too bad that stupid ass Algerian picked up 2 yellows in 10 seconds in the first match or the whole group would be tied at 2 right now and we'd be virtually assured of a spot in the Final with even a tie.

Quote :

"After the England-Algeria tie: If we win, we're in. If we lose, we're out. If we tie, then we need England-Slovenia to tie. If England outscores us by 2 in the final game, then the tiebreaker will revert to a random draw. If England outscores us by 3 or more in the final game, then England wins. If England outscores us by 1 or fewer, we're in."

Obviously, you're missing the scenario where we tie and Slovenia beats England and we advance.


I just hope we don't do too much scoreboard watching instead of focusing on our game. It's definitely much more fair the way they play both games simultaneously but its annoying as a fan when you'd love to watch both without flipping between the two. Does the game really start at 10 AM? Shit, I don't know of anywhere even open that early near my work.

6/19/2010 2:11:06 AM

from the other angle you can see the US player is bear hugging the dude
in this scenario the defense usually gets the call, cause the alternative is a penalty and theres no way a ref will give a penalty for this.

and 2nd the foul that gave US the free kick was bogus as well, Altidore dived and should not have gotten the call, so it goes both ways

6/19/2010 2:39:59 AM

The foul was called on the goal scorer.

6/19/2010 2:44:33 AM

yes, apparently the foul was on edu for pushing off (with his shoulder?) on his marker

6/19/2010 2:52:30 AM

anyone else watching this japan/netherlands game?

lol, netherlands just blew a perfect chance to put this thing away. fucked up a 1 on 1 with the keeper.

and another one... great save by the japanese keeper.

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 9:11 AM. Reason : k]

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 9:15 AM. Reason : lol at the way the univision commentators say "de jong"]

6/19/2010 8:59:52 AM

^^^^way to be diplomatic... bear hugging? what do you think is being done to Bradley? This was a bullshit call. He should have swallowed his whistle. Im tired of reading stuff that backs this guy up.

6/19/2010 9:22:51 AM

good hustle goal. i like it

edit: wasn't THAT big of a keeper mistake imo. that was a hard shot to block. ESPECIALLY WITH THOSE SHITTY JUBILANI BALLS

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:14 AM. Reason : .]

6/19/2010 10:12:11 AM

not real sure what the ghana keeper was trying to do there, but smart play to follow up for the rebound.

6/19/2010 10:14:55 AM

when is the next USA game?

6/19/2010 10:16:35 AM

wednesday at 10am i think.

6/19/2010 10:19:42 AM

whats happened so far here? i just started watching. i knew i shouldnt have picked ghana to win on the streak



ahaha wait. nevermind. ghana getting another penalty apparently

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:24 AM. Reason : g]

6/19/2010 10:23:16 AM

whooooooooooooops.

LOL AT HIS FACE

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:25 AM. Reason : .]

6/19/2010 10:24:48 AM

im not sure if you can give a red there. he didnt really throw his arm out wide


lol at their best player gettin a red last game, and their 2nd best player gettin a red today...though you could maybe make an argument that schwarzer is the best or 2nd best too

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:26 AM. Reason : f]

6/19/2010 10:25:24 AM

wow.

EPIC LULZ at that dude's face though.

^ i tend to agree. definitely a handball, but maybe not red worthy. but fuck it, you know, these red cards aren't going to give themselves out...

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:27 AM. Reason : k]

6/19/2010 10:25:44 AM

Copa de Mundial Rojo


i cant recall any of the world cups ive watched having as many reds as this one...what is going on with these refs this year?

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:29 AM. Reason : f]

6/19/2010 10:27:59 AM

I really don't think you should get kicked out of a game or two because some guy blasted the ball off your bicep from 15 feet away.

6/19/2010 10:31:34 AM

me neither, but i guess technically he stopped a "sure" goal. so by letter of the law he should be thrown out

6/19/2010 10:32:28 AM

harsh but it's either that or nothing. you can't call the handball and give a PK without any punishment. and it's a red card if it's a handball stopping a goal in the box.

6/19/2010 10:32:59 AM

ghana have no business having a man up this game. they dont look like a good team at all

6/19/2010 10:35:44 AM

poor ol' harry kewell. he was supposed to be australia's x-factor today.

^ yeah, it still looks like it's 11-11 out there.

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:36 AM. Reason : k]

6/19/2010 10:35:49 AM

that used to be a red back in the day...you know...sliding through someone from behind



haha wow at this stat: "Six players have been sent off in the last four World Cup matches involving Australia."

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:41 AM. Reason : f]

6/19/2010 10:40:30 AM

how many of those were australian?

6/19/2010 10:42:25 AM

haha i dont know. probably all of them

great save by schwarzer. haha a goal kick?? wtf refs??


lol gamecast: "Great save Schwarzer! Carney was dispossessed, Kevin Prince Boateng brought the ball right into the Australia penalty area, eventually hitting the ball low across goal, only to be denied by the Aussie keeper. Inexplicably the referee has given a goal kick. One of the worst decisions at this World Cup in my opinion..."

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:46 AM. Reason : f]

6/19/2010 10:44:29 AM

damn, dude blew that whistle quick as fuck. i'm pretty sure it still said 44:5X when he called full time.

6/19/2010 10:46:29 AM

where the fuck did fifa get these refs from? i cant recall so many poor decisions by refs as im seeing this year

oh and at my point that ghana have no finishers on their team, this is off of gamecast too: "Ghana's last three goals at the World Cup have been penalties, including in their last match against Serbia."


so i guess they can finish pk's which is good, otherwise they cant score from the field of play

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:50 AM. Reason : this stadium looks really small from an aerial view]

6/19/2010 10:47:08 AM

i'm not sure you can say they can't score from the field - 2 of the red cards would have been goals...

6/19/2010 10:49:54 AM

well it didnt go in in the field of play...


wait 2 of the red cards? the other penalty they got against serbia was a handball that was not going to be scored. it was off a cross going away from goal

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:51 AM. Reason : im pretty sure thats the only point im making]

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 10:54 AM. Reason : f]

6/19/2010 10:51:17 AM

gamecast is really awesome for the world cup this year. i love lookin at this tactical formation and average position on the field in there. no wonder ghana suck, if this thing is right. they are not keeping a good shape at all



hmmm...so i thought weve had a lot of reds this year, and i knew 06 had a lot but i did not realize there were 28 red cards last world cup...wtf. there have been 8 so far this year if i have counted correctly

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 11:15 AM. Reason : f]

6/19/2010 11:01:16 AM

looks like ghana is going to shoot from 35 yards out for the rest of the game.

6/19/2010 11:19:54 AM

Why is ghana playing with 10 men?

6/19/2010 11:23:59 AM

wow australia...you have to finish that

^australia are. handball on the goalline. red card.

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 11:28 AM. Reason : f]

6/19/2010 11:28:17 AM

what did i tell you about their forwards and finishing...

6/19/2010 11:29:03 AM

lol both teams suck at finishing


god ghana suck tactically. they are only in this game with athletic ability...and they are a man up!

and they also suck in the back, wow. haha

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 11:34 AM. Reason : f]

6/19/2010 11:29:55 AM

CARD FEST 2K10!

6/19/2010 11:41:23 AM

hahaha yeah.


this game almost looks like ghana are a man down the last 20 or so minutes

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 11:44 AM. Reason : this is why staying tactically sound is important]

6/19/2010 11:43:04 AM

LOL at that last cross.

and damn, pantsil rocked his face

6/19/2010 11:49:08 AM

hahahaha, ghana guy busted his face on the back of his teammates head

6/19/2010 11:49:18 AM

ahaha did the commentator just say Johnathon Sphincter?


i knew i shouldnt have picked ghana for the win on the streak...

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 11:51 AM. Reason : f]

6/19/2010 11:49:44 AM

wow, terrible game by ghana.

6/19/2010 11:51:07 AM

see, this is why i respect soccer....but don't really enjoy it. Play our asses off all game, and then just end 1-1.

6/19/2010 11:52:11 AM

interesting

6/19/2010 11:55:48 AM

6/19/2010 12:08:21 PM

there are some insanely hot latin bitches on univision right now

6/19/2010 12:08:33 PM

France is pretty much done anyway barring a miracle, but they have sent Anelka packing

Probably good for the team because he has started both games but been terrible

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5304766/ce/us/france-nicolas-anelka-kicked-team-official-says?cc=5901&ver=us

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 12:12 PM. Reason : a]

6/19/2010 12:10:47 PM

WOW! How do you get a red card for clearing the ball unintentionally off the line with your hand? Didn't the 2002 World Cup teach everyone that that was legal?

6/19/2010 12:17:34 PM

hey look, another fucking tie. whats that. 80% of the games so far?

6/19/2010 1:22:38 PM

^If my math is correct then as of 1:27 pm et on 6/19/10...

37.5% of the games have been ties.

6/19/2010 1:28:41 PM

Man, the Soccerroos deserved to win that match. They played their hearts out. Ghana played like shit.

6/19/2010 2:11:19 PM

man, what is up with all these empty seats this tournament? i know south african's might be poor, but there has got to be some way to fill these stands.


just looked into it. apparently the games all sold out, but people just aren't getting to to the games somehow? sounds fishy.

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 2:30 PM. Reason : ]

6/19/2010 2:27:31 PM