Assess the USA soccer situation here

Shotty, I don't believe for one second that the refs have it out for the US. What I do beileve and what I do know is that certain players and teams receive favorable calls. Call it the "star system." It is no different than when Jordan, Kobe, etc receive calls for them that are questionable.

In this case, the US isn't on that list. Had it been an Italian, Brazilian or any other established soccer nation that call does not get made. Because of the game against Italy, the refs were looking at the US side and thinking they may be "chippy." As such they will receive calls against them.

Think of it like a baseball game between the Red Sox and Yankees. In game two of the series, Ortiz gets plunked and in retaliation, Jeter gets plunked. When game 3 of the series comes, the umpires will be on the lookout and may even issue warnings before the game starts.

So, in the case of the PK, the ref was probably unsure if he really did see something. He looked over and saw the big Onyewu standing up and the smaller Ghanan on the floor. So, here comes the PK.


Gee, while that is pretty aggregious, what the ref in the Ghana game did was hand one team a goal.

 

Some great posts on this thread.

 

Here is that Vescey column that tim_candon was talking about:

Sports of The Times
Vanquished U.S. Goes Back to Drawing Board
By GEORGE VECSEY

Nuremberg, Germany

THIS was never a very good team, this American soccer squad that got bounced out of the World Cup yesterday. There were too many players in odd positions, not enough scoring power, too much age, too much youth.

Still, this team deserved better than the knee-jerk call that doomed the players to an immediate trip home, the ludicrous whistle by Referee Markus Merk that set up the penalty kick in first-half added time that gave Ghana a 2-1 victory.

Oguchi Onyewu's main fault was being nine inches taller than Razak Pimpong of Ghana, with whom he had minor contact after heading the ball out of danger just inside the penalty area. Onyewu is one of the three or four American players who can reasonably be expected to take part in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The referees ought to get used to 6-foot-4 Americans; with any luck, there are more where Onyewu came from.

One horrendous call by a referee aside, this was not a very good team. Claudio Reyna, the captain, gave up the ball and injured his knee on the same play that led to Ghana's first goal. It was sad to see Reyna limp off the field later in the first half. He has been part of the United States squad since 1994, but now it is time for a change, maybe even farther up the chain of command.

Manager Bruce Arena said after the match that if he had to make a decision about coming back, he would decline. That's a normal feeling, but Arena may be on to something. Even though the cast of players will change, it is totally normal for the manager to turn over from one World Cup to another. Arena has done two. No sane person would want to do three straight, and Bruce Arena is a sane person.

Uh, no, I don't think Larry Brown would be a good choice if Arena or Sunil Gulati, the head of the United States federation, come to the conclusion that it's time for Arena to move on. Gulati was saying yesterday that he would not want to educate a foreign-born coach in the only-in-America intricacies of college eligibility and amateur rules. But if Arena has truly had it, I would propose a coach who speaks excellent English and resides in California; that is to say, Jürgen Klinsmann, currently coaching Germany. Stranger things have happened.

•

(CONT)

 

Back home, some soccer fans are yowling about Arena's strategy. I reject the suggestion that truly helpful players were ignored. The main criticism I might make is that Eddie Lewis and DaMarcus Beasley, two useful players in 2002, were moved from their normal left-side positions before this World Cup, although Arena surely had his reasons. They were reinstated yesterday, partly out of necessity when other players were not available. Still, the yapping from the home fans is a good sign. It shows people care. Yankee fans yowl. Dallas Cowboys fans scream. At this advanced stage, Knicks' fans just babble. But at least there is a fan base that did not exist 16 years ago.

"Bob Gansler could have walked through Times Square and nobody would have recognized him," Gulati said about the 1990 coach who lost three straight matches in Italy. This team and the 2002 team were both light years better than the 1990 team.

Under Arena, this team took some major steps toward the United States' becoming a soccer powerhouse, sometime later this century. This team did not reach the quarterfinals like Arena's star-kissed team did in 2002, but it did play in front of two of the noisiest crowds ever to witness an American soccer game.

"The fans were amazing," Reyna said. "It's amazing to think how far this sport's come. From 1998 to now, the expectations are so much higher."

The expectations were higher in the American locker room and back home in the States and certainly in the stadium in Nuremberg, where American fans seemed to grasp the basic soccer tactic of roaring when your team moves downfield and whistling when your opponent is flopping all over the lawn.

This was the kind of response that timid American fans have come to expect from Hispanic fans in American stadiums. Now it was happening in the south of Germany, well-heeled Yanks scooping up extra tickets, outnumbering Ghana's fans.

•But the American players could not outplay the Ghanaians on the field, which is why Africa's latest hope is moving toward a Round of 16 match against Brazil, the pre-tournament favorite. Some of the American players can recall four years ago when they were the rollicking newcomers, when they seemed to herald some kind of new wave in American soccer power. This time they scored exactly one goal, lost twice and drew once, a gallant 1-1 standoff against Italy in the middle game.

"It's very disappointing," goalkeeper Kasey Keller said through a spokesman. "We put ourselves into position to advance. Obviously, we're disappointed with the decision of the referee, but in the end, we didn't make the plays we needed to make. It's as simple as that."

Very simple. Maybe lucky in 2002. Maybe unlucky in 2006. The result stands. The cheering in Nuremberg matches the gnashing of teeth from the disappointed fans of the new generation. And somewhere in the United States, the next Ronaldinho, a youngster of 10, may be thinking he wants to be part of this. And if he grows up to be 6-4, the referees better get used to it, and not automatically call a foul when the smaller guy goes flying.

E-mail: geovec@nytimes.com

 

I've often been intrigued by the sportsmanship shown in sports that Americans don't follow. For instance, cyclists on the Tour de France (and other races) slowing down the group to bring back a rider who's crashed. That just doesn't happen in, say, the NFL, where you throw at the guy with the ankle problem, etc.

Given that, soccer has a very strange side of this. I noticed yesterday that the US twice kicked the ball out of bounds rather than attack because a Ghana player was down. Once was when there was about five minutes left in regulation when the US was clearly in desperation mode.

If that's the sporting thing to do, fine. However, why does this happen in a sport where players constantly take dives and feign injury in order to draw whistles and yellow card, when nine times out of ten, a guy screaming in agony and holding his knee will be right back out on the pitch running at full speed? It seems to me that if you don't know if a guy's really hurt or not and there is no foul then you should attack, attack, attack. Call that unsportsmanlike, but certainly no more so than the what the fakers are doing.

 

In response to Point No. 1:

No self-respecting MLB pitcher should hurl a fastball 95 mph at an unsuspecting batter intentionally. No self-respecting NBA player should clock an opponent going in for a layup/dunk from behind.

Crap happens. Yes, I hate the diving in soccer (although I was a decent diver back in the day ) but like cheap shots on the court or rink and doofus pitchers trying to hurt a batter, it happens. That doesn't make it right, but that's just the way it is.

Can't say anything about Point No. 2. Well said.

 

Yep.

 

A couple of points:

Keller did everything which was asked of him. He gave up six goals and only one could have possibly been stopped (the 3rd goal in the 1st game). The other five goals came from two unconested headers on crosses, an unstoppable blast by Rosicky, a PK and a well taken 1 v. 1.

I wonder how we would have done with Gibbs in for Pope. Eddie gave up both goals on the crosses (to Koller and to Italy). That is where the loyalty bit The Bruce, because Conrad did a fine job.

Adu had no place on this roster. None.

Vescey is right, but he's still a douche. The classic Euro-snob soccer fan who can't watch a Yankees game without writing how the San Siro has more atmopshere.

The diving and the rolling around by Ghana and Italy was insane. Such a turnoff to the casual fan. Looking at the PK call, I think that Pimpong could have gotten a yellow for going down like he was shot.

 

offial beer of World Cup - Miller High Life -- 'nuff said

 

Creole -- I agree completely, but what really bothers me is it seems systemic.

Baseball has a pretty even rule -- hit my guy, I'll hit yours, but nobody throws at the head -- and when someone does, they're ostracized. (Unless they're Roger Clemens). Same with hockey -- two guys want to go, they go, but no third man in and no sticks. Break any of those rules and again, you'll be ripped to shreds.

Maybe it's just that I don't know where that line is in soccer.

I went to youtube and watched the PK call again. Man that was shitty.

 

Adu did have a place on this roster. If he can play in our national league, he can play on our national team.

 

My guess would have been Zima.