American goals don’t count and the other teams are allowed to punch us in the face in the box.
I take back everything I said about the excellent officiating. I’m so bitter I have no desire to watch anymore games.
*** Update ****
OMFG! Apparently I just have to post something negative and we score!
*** Update ***
Who says soccer isn’t exciting?
Dave C
This is so fucking depressing.
c u n d gulag
That’s what happens when you hire former WWF ref’s…
kommrade reproductive vigor
President Obama has emboldened the rogue referees.
psycholinguist
goal GOAL FUckin GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
stuckinred
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Dave C
@Dave C:
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!
Liz
I take it we didn’t do so well…
Punchy
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!
JGabriel
John Cole:
Wow. It’s almost like they’re forcing America to play soccer by the same rules we force upon everyone else in foreign policy, and the wealthy force upon the rest of us here.
.
c u n d gulag
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
psycholinguist
America FUCK YEAH
flotsam
a friend of mine (not a big fan of soccer to begin with) made a good point – for marginal fans watching the US games, why bother with soccer when the apex of the sport, the world cup, is dominated by such horrendous officiating along with a stated desire from FIFA to continue the pattern…
having said that, we just scored so fuck em all…
Hunter Gathers
I
Probably has something to do with Real ‘Murica thinking that soccer is for fags. It’s what we get for running our mouths off. Ask Good Soldier Stanley.
Sentient Puddle
I’m following merely by listening to my cubemate over the wall.
He says the officials will wait for USA to start celebrating, then call a foul.
Shygetz
GOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!
mantis
Goddammit! Damn web feed crapped out and i missed it.
BlueDWarrior
FUCK YEAR AMERICA
Comrade Jake
Team America FTMFW!
benjoya
thank god we won’t have to hear about the bad call in the US-Slovenia game for the rest of the freakin tournament
Sebastien
Your grumpiness has powers science just can’t explain yet, Mr Cole. And good for the USA.
Martin
Wow.
PTirebiter
I was listening on the radio which isn’t easy. Pretty exciting stuff, or as the (apparently) Scottish color commentator said: “it was starry booook, absolutely starry booook!
BlueDWarrior
That game was like hitting a HR in the bottom of the 9th after breaking up a no-hitter after one HR was called foul because the umpire couldn’t see where it went over the Fair Pole
D-Chance.
6 weeks, 4 days…
ThresherK
I got on my feet when the attack swarmed, then jumped and punched both fists up when the goal scored.
This was in my living room. Time to get the spackle stuff to cover the marks on the ceiling.
Ash
lmao someone putting an Algerian scarf on Clinton, that oughta make a nice photo for someone.
Darkness
@JGabriel: That might explain Germany getting screwed over too, but not so much Ireland.
Matt in HB
LANDYCAKES!!!!!!
OMFG what a finish.
R-Jud
Top o’ the group, ma! And England’s through as well– people are singing in the street behind my house right now.
NameRequired
See? see what a beautiful thing a World Cup is?, forgo your false religions and come worship in the altar of this strange, illogical, infuriating, exasperating, and utterly emotionally devastating game!
steviez314
I blamed Bush for the lousy ref calls in 2002 and 2006.
Jeez, the firebaggers are right–Obama is just like Bush.
edmund dantes
What a finish! So happy for the U.S. team. They’ve made a habit of this scoring late shit. Just once I’d like them to go out and dominate early from beginning to end, but I’ll take this. So awesome! I hope I didn’t disturb the neighbors beneath me. Screamed so loud my head hurts.
Top of the group! Can’t believe Algeria was playing for the tie when it did them no good at the end.
Montysano
What I’ve learned is this: soccer can instantaneously go from “meh” to jump-off-the-couch exciting.
America, fuck yeah!
mightygodking
Congrats, USA.
That having been said, if the officiating was good, Dempsey would have been sent off the pitch before the first disallowed goal was ever scored and the USA would have been down to ten men for the rest of the match. The bad ref giveth, and the bad ref taketh away.
(On top of that, the USA blew about seven thousand scoring chances this game, so… again, congrats, but don’t get complacent, guys.)
fucen tarmal
ok, i will admit the goal that counted was exciting. but what is up with the clock running while the u.s. was celebrating on the field? i get the celebration, that is universal in team sports, but to be able to run out the clock while doing so? that is one of those things, and the more i watch soccer, doesn’t translate well to me as a sports fan.
BlueDWarrior
Hey FIFA Refs, America went ahead and scored anyway.
And if you ain’t down with that, I only got two words for ya…
SUCK IT!!
AHAHAHAHA *cough*Oh god it hurts to laugh, stupid crappy lung strength*cough*
wengler
OK who picked USA as Group C winners in your bracket?
England second. I liked typing that.
BlueDWarrior
@fucen tarmal: I think it’s just one of those things, they wont stop the clock for anything unless like someone drops dead on the field, so the refs just make a judgement call at how much time to tack on in the end
It is strange since every mainstream sport in America that bothers with a clock will stop it when someone scores or a penalty is assessed or what have you.
fucen tarmal
@NameRequired:
nah nfl camp opens in under a month…
Jager
Mrs J just called and said the cheers from the warehouse were as loud for the USA (including the chant) as they have been for the Mexican wins…
Violet
What a fantastic match. Exciting all game long. And that ending. Wow. Well done, USA!
Matt in HB
@fucen tarmal:
The clock runs, always. The ref holds official time and has discretion to add some as necessary. So, you can’t really run out the clock in celebration. If it gets excessive, the ref will add time to compensate. It’s a bit subjective, but as we see, that’s how it goes with so many officiating decisions.
Steeplejack
@fucen tarmal:
I don’t think it runs out the clock. The “nominal” clock keeps running, but the referee adds time to his clock, which is the only one that matters. Same thing with injuries and other delays in the game.
carlos the dwarf
@wengler:
I did.
No, seriously, I did. I completely blew group A, but I nailed group C.
KRK
@fucen tarmal:
That “clock running” that you see has no effect on game time. The only timekeeping that matters is the game official’s, which is why there’s (almost) always a few minutes of extra time added at the end of the second half and sometimes the first for injuries, celebrations, etc.
ETA: Too slow, already covered.
edmund dantes
The ref adds time for celebrations. So the clock is running, but the ref keeps a running tally too.
sashal
if anybody watched USA play against
Slovenia and Algiers, that excitement , the heart break and still do not love the game, they are assholes….
Absolutely fantastic game, the drama, the nerves, I though my heart will jump out my chest with all the opportunities , the chances the refereeing.
FANTASTIC FOOTBALL USA DEMONSTRATED, THOSE GUYS DESERVE EVERYTHING…
ed drone
@fucen tarmal:
The referee or assistants clock interruptions like that and allow for them at the end of each half. It’s called ‘stoppage time,’ and loosely accounts for anything (injury, issuing cards, celebrations) that interrupts the flow of the game.
So, for example, we scored in stoppage time (4 minutes added, I think it was), so that added time actually probably ran a minute or more over what was originally called (the 4 minutes were probably 5). It’s frustrating, but that’s how they do it.
Ed
fbihop
What a great game.
When Donovan put that goal in, I didn’t see any of his celebration as I was too busy running around the house cheering and jumping off the walls.
Anyone who says a 1-0 soccer game can’t be exciting wasn’t watching this game.
Jaim
A win’s a win, but the US looked terrible. Horrid finishing (Altidore is still a question mark, and Gomez and Buddle both looked bad). And mid-fielders were content to just give the ball to Algeria at least a dozen times.
West of the Cascades
Idiots say soccer isn’t exciting. Glenn Beck says soccer isn’t exciting. The US game on Saturday is going to be HUGELY popular throughout the US.
ed drone
@sashal:
Didn’t Glen Beck do a rant against the World Cup recently? Or O’Reilly? One of those clowns, anyway.
Ed
wengler
@carlos the dwarf
I’ve only got one position right in the first 3 groups(Argentina winners of Group B). Though I did guess Mexico and the 2 going through on Group C.
@KRK, others
I think the ref was a little angry at Algeria at the end so called it only a couple seconds over 94 minutes. The time added is supposed to reflect the minimum number of minutes added on at the end of the half. Substitutions, goal celebrations, and injuries in stoppage time should be added to the end of stoppage time. Though refs from southern Europe and South America tend to like to stop at the end of the minimum no matter what I’ve noticed.
wyliecoat
Does anybody else feel that we are nicest team in the World Cup? No dramatics, no complaints, not even too many thrown elbows or trips.
I am not sure that is an asset.
Dreggas
WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO
So damn glad to see that we won. Now we just have to beat England.
David in NY
Yes. This.
MikeJ
@Jaim:
Amen. If the US hadn’t screwed up so badly it would have been 7346 to 0.
fbihop
Last time the USA won their opening round group? 1930.
They made the semifinals that year.
Well, by winning the group they made the semifinals. And there were only 13 teams in the World Cup. And there were only three teams in their group that year. And most European teams didn’t bother to show up.
Still…
Martin
@BlueDWarrior: One of my issues with the clock stopping in most sports is that it’s not any more fair than what soccer does – certainly the NFL are experts at running out the clock and playing time-outs for maximum advantage. Just as the NFL has rules for how long you can stall between plays, soccer rules determine how long you have before you reset after a goal.
Ash
On another America/sports related note….John Isner and some guy are currently at 29-29 in a fifth set at Wimbledon. JFC. Someone just faint already.
Irritable Liberal
I just hate those boring 1-0 soccer games.
fbihop
@wyliecoat:
Dempsey throws his elbows around, and our defenders tend to take quicker wingers out (seriously, why didn’t Algeria pressure Bornstein? He sucks) when they get beat.
That said, the USA dives less than other teams (Altidore had a bad one today, though, and Beasley is pretty infamous for it).
America is the hard-working, blue collar team with a couple of breakout guys (Donovan, Howard, sometimes Dempsey and Altidore).
Hypnos
@BlueDWarrior: actually, a guy did drop dead in the middle of a game somewhere in Europe last month.
He got a yellow card for diving.
ThresherK
@ed drone:
Is it more frustrating than watching the clock count down in American football when the ball isn’t even in play? Canadian football, basketball, ice hockey, water polo…I can’t think of another team sport where the clock runs out with a dead ball if it advantages the team in possesision.
Hell, even Arena football’s rules mandate no kneeling down at the end of a game–if you’re in the lead, and you don’t gain yardage, the clock stops.
Another thing from FIFA rules: An attacking side won’t usually be stopped in the middle of attacking (which is a good thing in almost any case), so the exact number of seconds wasted during a half don’t have to be obsessively counted.
PS I grew up with the NASL timekeeping, which I think was neither fish nor fowl, and not as technologically advanced as big stadia clocks are now. I prefer the international system.
sashal
@ed drone:
yeah but he is a clown of the highest magnitude
fucen tarmal
@sashal:
lighten up, francis, it wasn’t THAT exciting. saying anyone who doesn’t like a sport you like, is an asshole, kinda makes me regret giving it a chance. i have more sports in my life than i probably need, anyway.
the biggest turn-off soccer has right now is fans who call you an asshole for not liking it as much as they do.
Punchy
@Ash: Wow. That’s unreal.
Update: it’s now 30-30.
sashal
@fbihop:
that’s the beauty of the game – to go from utter despair to overwhelming joy in a split second.
they just kept plugging away despite all the near misses & bad calls. and minutes from being eliminated, the get the goal that puts them thru.
this is what people who don’t ‘get’ soccer are missing out on. yeah, all the time spent in the midfield kicking the ball back and forth can get a bit tedious, but the play in the boxes more than makes up for that.
and even this match, the time in the middle more often than not was fast break attacking – both ways which made for an extremely exciting game – for any sport. @fbihop:
cmorenc
@BlueDWarrior
OK, that’s the first time I’ve EVER seen any analogy made between baseball, which has to be the slowest big-time athletic sport on the planet ( I say “athletic” so we don’t have to count e.g. chess.) Even more amazingly, it’s a quite successful, apt analogy. There can’t be but a tiny handful of permutations where such an analogy between soccer and baseball is even remotely possible, but by gosh you creatively hit one of them out of the park…er, shot right on goal!
Now here’s a truly difficult challenge: try to make a successfully poignant analogy between cricket and soccer, and one that is actually understandable by ordinary mortals. That will take true genius-level creative talent and imagination!
sashal
@fucen tarmal:
you lighten up yourself, bud,
that “asshole” was not insulting.
Wait when I call Beck or Cheney assholes and morons, you will feel the dif…
J.W. Hamner
One of the tensest and most exciting sporting events of my life… though the dominance of officiating in the final outcome is so great, that I still think it’s a game I can only love every 4 years or so.
Michael Sheridan
@benjoya:
Rest of the tournament? It would have been the next 4 years, at least.
Hell, I roomed with a guy from Germany in the ’80s who still insisted that the goal England scored to take the lead in the 1966 final didn’t go in….
JenJen
Was listening on XM while driving home from Columbus, and I almost wrecked the freaking car when Donovan scored.
OMFG. That was so awesome. Now that I’m home I need to find a repeat so I can actually watch the goal!
fucen tarmal
@sashal:
call me an asshole then, because i still prefer other sports.
Comrade Javamanphil
Went home for lunch to watch the second half with my son. Best decision I’ve made in months.
Zandar
What I have learned:
Bill Clinton + shitload of vuvuzelas = winning your group.
MattR
@wengler: I did a couple of the ESPN fantasy games. So far, I have picked the results of 18 of the 38 games correctly. But I have nailed 5 of the 6 teams that advanced and whether they were first or second (I had Greece advancing over S Korea). FWIW, my Group D predictions end up being Germany first and Ghana second (which requires a German victory and a Serbian tie or loss)
NameRequired
Preferring other sports is not asholish, if incomprehensible, now if after this someone still goes on about “boring” 1-0 games….
valdivia
I was getting a manicure (yeah I know, girly girl here) and forced everyone in the shop to watch the game with me. And I kept jumping up and yelling when things where going badly. The goal made everyone jump up–nice to have spread the excitement. Go USA! That game was FTMFW!
Cacti
Why must Americans turn into such a collection of WATBs any time there is an international tournament of any kind?
You Don't Say
Meanwhile, the longest match in Wimbledon history is now being played, Isner v. Mahut, 32-all in the 5th!
sven
@Michael Sheridan: In the 1990’s I was an exchange student in Britain and was housed with 3 Brits and 2 Germans; the debate over 1966 was endless. Late in the year one of the Brits literally brought in a vhs tape so we could watch it over and over. Shadows, angles, the crossbar….
Here is the video. I post it without taking any position whatsoever on the question.
QuaintIrene
I hear Tony Hayworth is taking a new job, as a soccer referee. He figures that will be much less controversial.
sashal
@fucen tarmal:
fine, I love other sports too. Many. Big sports fan.
but game like THIS ONE make it for me in preference
Ash
@Cacti: Who DOESN’T turn into a WATB when their home team gets shafted in international tournaments? Everyone wants their own country to do well, and everyone will complain when it gets screwed up.
Tonybrown74
@Punchy:
It’s 33 – 32 in the 5th …
Jeez, the Match is almost 7 hours long!
You Don't Say
@You Don’t Say: Correction: longest match ever!
SLKRR
EPIC WIN.
My neighbors here in Brazil must have wondered what the hell all the yelling was about since the big game isn’t until Friday… ;-)
Onkel Bob
@sashal:
Thank you, I try very hard to be an asshole. I hope you appreciate the effort – fuckwad :^)
I wonder, if the USA actually won the WC, where would it be a bigger deal in America, or in the countries we beat? Where I work, foreigners outnumber the Americans, and no doubt those foreigners are more interested in the American team (and their respective country’s team) then any of the Americans. Then again, we be scientists, and we’re more interested in proteins than we are in politics or sports.
MikeJ
@Cacti: The presence or absence of a tournament is irrelevant.
Cacti
@Ash:
The “FIFA/rest of the world’s out to get us” complaints just sound very…
Republican.
magurakurin
Baseball, yeah it’s real slow. Tell you what, why don’t you jump into the batters’ box and have someone like Randy Johnson toss a few 100mph fastballs a few inches from your balls, and then come back and tell us how slow the game is.
I’ll admit that I’m enjoying the World Cup(even though it seems a bit crooked to me but then again I like the WWF too– and I mean that in a very complimentary way, honestly) but no need to go slagging baseball. ;) (cheers)
skeeball
i now only read the vuvuzela-ized balloon juice:
http://www.vuvuzela-time.co.uk/www.balloon-juice.com
calling all toasters
@skeeball: Now, that IS soothing.
J.W. Hamner
@Cacti:
The officiating in two of the United States team’s games have been horribly one-sided and awful. This is not debatable. Pointing that out is not the same as alleging an international conspiracy to punish Americans.
MattR
@Tonybrown74: So what does ESPN do when the tennis match is still tied at 50 when the next batch of World Cup matches is set to start at 2:30 Eastern?
Cacti
@J.W. Hamner:
Has there ever been a greater injustice?
Lawnguylander
@Cacti:
All sports fandom is wingnutty to me, soccer, baseball, whatever, inside the US or outside it. The best is when one set of wingnut fans accuses the other set of being the real wingnuts. I wouldn’t have it any other way because imagine how boring it would be if everyone was all rational and fair minded about their teams. Who would there be to make fun of?
Oh wait, there’d still be this kind of guy @JGabriel:
J.W. Hamner
@Cacti:
In sports? In life? Of course, on both… but the collected performance of the officials in these last two United States games remain a demonstration of incompetence that any fútbol fan should be embarrassed by. It does not show off the sport in the best light.
SLKRR
@J.W. Hamner:
It’s not just the US games… did you see the red card Kaká got for letting someone run into his back?
Whatever team you root for, you’re going to find some calls to (legitimately) bitch about. That’s sports.
Tonybrown74
@MattR:
Switch over to the ESPN2 or the Tennis Channel I assume … and it’s 36-All in the 5th.
Cacti
@Lawnguylander:
Americans are a hyper-competitive people. It’s simultaneously one of our best and worst attributes. Part of the down side is that it leads us to attribute bad breaks or even just losing to some sort of malfeasance.
In reality, we’re no more prone to getting bad breaks than anyone else. If it were so, Paul Hamm and Michael Phelps wouldn’t still be in possession of some Olympic gold medals.
fbihop
Without hyperbole, I think when Donovan scored that goal it was one of the top-five most exciting sports moments in my life.
Leeds man
@Onkel Bob:
I wonder, if the USA actually won the WC, where would it be a bigger deal in America, or in the countries we beat?
Hard to say, but there would definitely be a lot of annoying triumphalist bullshit from Americans who don’t even care for the game (mostly rightists). It’d be fantastic for the real fans, of course. And at least it wouldn’t be Brazil again :)
Tonybrown74
@Cacti:
Srsly!?!?
So all those stampedes and riots that occur in soccer matches that I hear about happen in the U.S.?
In all seriousness, I don’t think any one nation or people have sole claim of hyper-competitiveness.
Mike Lamb
@Jaim:
The US was horrible? Poor finishing, yes. But other than DeMerit whiffing on that high ball early on, the US pretty well controlled things. Unlucky not to have a multi-goal victory.
Jim in Chicago
Offside calls are blown all the time. There were some bad ones against Algeria too. Looking at the replay, you could make the case that Dempsey’s toe was a centimeter beyond the foot of the last defender, so this was nowhere on the order of the “mystery call” in the Slovenia game. I thought the officiating on the whole was very good except for both the ref and the linesman missing the punch to Dempsey in the box. That player ended up getting a red card later, however.
What a great ending to the game though!!! Totally cathartic. The ref really should have added about 2 minutes to the original 4 given the length of the goal celebration, so his quick whistle favored the U.S.
Moonbatting Average
@skeeball: We need an app like that which plays the Benny Hill theme song when visiting wingnut sites
J.W. Hamner
@SLKRR:
This is true of course, but the problem for me… and why I can’t become a 100% real soccer fan and only get obsessive for brief stretches during tournaments (Euro, WC)… is that goals are so rare that one bad call has a greater tendency to make a HUGE impact on a game. Every sport has bad calls and officials being idiots… but most often they tend to even out… and it seems to me that blaming an official for the outcome of the game is legitimate much more rarely in other sports.
Cacti
@Leeds man:
It would be more or less like this:
Your average Joe would be happy, even if he didn’t understand the game prior to the win. Everybody loves a winner.
The handful of true football fans would be delirious with excitement.
Republican blowhards would be as bad as North Korea in using it for propaganda.
BTW…Brasil para sempre! Don’t hate the players, hate the game!
Matt in HB
@fbihop:
I’m not sure I have a ranking, but that moment is near the top absolutely. Off the top of my head, I can only think of a few that match it: 1980 US hockey beating USSR, Steve Yzerman’s game 7 double overtime winner against St. Louis, . . . hmmm . . . Kirk Gibson’s World Series home run for the Dodgers.
The thing about Donovan’s goal is the range of emotion. from depression to elation in just seconds. I’m still elated and distracted. I suspect I’ll feel good all day and into the weekend. : )
Cacti
@Tonybrown74:
You’re right. We usually save our rioting for post game
frankdawg
@sashal:
Not that this will come as a great shock but I’m an asshole.
I have tried & believe I understand it but I just can’t care much about it. Officiating is only half of the problem. And, no, I do not want to see games go 12-15 btw.
Lawnguylander
@Cacti:
I don’t disagree that we’re no more prone to bad breaks than other countries, just that we’re any more whiny about it than anyone else. American exceptionalism when it comes to bitching about sports just doesn’t hold up based on my travels around the world and the internet during the WC, the Olympics, etc. It may be more grating to many based on our position in the world politically, militarily, etc, but I see no difference in the quality of the whining.
MattR
@Jim in Chicago: Pretty much agree with this, though I think the ref ended up giving the second yellow/red card to the wrong guy. Thought it was #19 that really got up in the ref’s grill, but I have no idea who said what.
@Tonybrown74: Right now, ESPN and ESPN2 are supposed to have soccer in 45 minutes. My guess is that it goes to ESPNEWS or ESPN Classic, but I don’t think either of those is carried as part of the basic cable tier.
estamm
There is a brand new technology that the World Cup should use. It is called ‘instant replay’. It is often used in other sports where it is important to make sure that calls are correct and do not cost a team points. Perhaps this sports organization should investigate its use.
That being said, real football will start in just a couple of months!
wengler
@ J.W. Hammer
The international conspiracy to punish Americans usually happens during qualifying against other CONCACAF teams. As long as the ref isn’t from Mexico or Central America everything is good. But the cards come out along with every single BS call in the book when they are.
@Cacti, Onkel Bob, others
You know some of us do follow the US team outside of the World Cup. I suspect a lot of people here just jump on the bandwagon every four years and that’s fine. It’s also fine to like other sports too for whatever reason.
My only problem is when people who don’t watch the sport come in and talk about how much they hate the sport. It’s really not the forum for that. We’re here to talk about the World Cup, not an inquisition on the value of football/futbol/soccer as a valid American sport.
Cacti
Yeah, let’s stop the game so the officials can huddle around a video booth for 5 minutes every time there’s an offsides call.
Tim
@BlueDWarrior:
My recollection from the consensus of scholarly literature is 1969. I was only 4 at the time, though. ’45 through ’50 were pretty strong too in that regard, as I understand it
estamm
@Cacti: No need to review every offsides call. Just the ones that get called AFTER a goal has been scored. I’m sorry, but if you take away a goal (when only one or two are scored in any given game) due to a suspect offsides call, then there better have really been an offsides committed. Plus, the way the NFL does it is nice… each team is allowed two per game, and if they lose a ‘challenge’, then they also lose one of their allotted timeouts. There is absolutely no reason that lousy officiating should cost a team a game in this day and age. None at all.
sven
@wengler: I think you are spot on. There have been some terrible calls this tournament but they haven’t given me that uneasy feeling I sometimes get in CONCACAF matches.
Dr. Squid
Meanwhile 43-42 in Isner match.
Damn, but TV makes him look huge. This is the last time Court 18 will get that kind of coverage.
burnspbesq
@Matt in HB:
Interesting that in a football thread, you fail to mention Chastain’s World Cup winning goal.
burnspbesq
@Dr. Squid:
Isner is about 6’9″, IIRC.
Punchy
@Dr. Squid: 43 squares. This is just nuts.
8 hour tennis match.
Dr. Squid
@burnspbesq: 6’9″ and 250 at that.
Well, not after this match – more like 235.
Ian
USA 1, Referees 0
Tonybrown74
@Punchy:
44 All in the 5th now …
I wish I was seeing it live as opposed to the live scoring online. I cannot imagine how awesome this match is!
Comrade Darkness
@wengler: It’s really not the forum for that. We’re here to talk about the World Cup, not an inquisition on the value of football/futbol/soccer as a valid American sport.
I missed the part where this was your blog, but some of us clued in on that in previous threads, nevertheless.
The refs are perfect the sport is perfect. Wouldn’t change a thing. There? Can I post now?
burnspbesq
Anyone know whether Univision will be replaying the US match tonight?
Dr. Squid
91 games into the fifth set, and dude’s still hitting 120mph aces on the second serve.
Paula
@burnspbesq:
Depends. The Women’s WC has a much more recent history than the Men’s WC, and until the rest of the world start paying attention to their female soccer players as much as the men it’s always going to feel like the Olympics in that only a few countries are truly competitive in a given tourney. But obv, that’s slowly changing. (I hope the WPS is able to tough it out this time.)
Also, the USWNT are also acknowledged as one of the top teams in the world and have had more international successes … Unlike the US men, who yield such emotional results (for their supporters anyway) because it constantly feels like they’re battling both a lack of respect not just from the rest of the world but from their own fair weather countrymen — and also what appears to be a self-confidence/neediness issue. Every time they get interviewed they mention how wonderful it is that they’re getting so much attention and support that wasn’t there before.
MattR
@burnspbesq: Looks like it. 7 pm eastern
@MattR: And the tennis moves over to ESPNU.
cmorenc
@sven
YEEEOW! As a very experienced soccer referee myself, it’s rather clear, even from that angle that this was definitely NOT a goal – the ENTIRETY of the ball must cross ENTIRELY PAST the goal line. This ball barely got past the front part of the post by molecules. The AR got fooled by the illusion of seeing grass between the ball and line when it bounced – because clearly it hits both post and goal line.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
Yeah, the officiating in this World Cup is pretty bad. In fact, it’s so bad that maybe it will get its own Wikipedia page.
Stroszek
@Comrade Darkness: Well, Randinho (who was invited by John to write and mod the soccer threads) has repeatedly told people to stay out if they don’t want to do anything but trash the sport (or in the case of one of our more ornery flakes, the entire concept of recreational activities).
Onkel Bob
@wengler:
Which is why I rarely comment on these threads, that was my first – this will probably be my last. Never said I “hated” the sport. Nor did I denigrate those who find it entertaining. I merely made the observation (to which many of my foreign and American colleagues agreed ) that the sport is not very popular here, and even if Team USA went far, that popularity will evaporate like an overcooked gel.
At least it is a “sport,” unlike that “pastime,” golf! Now that activity I could easily “hate.” :^)
Lawnguylander
@Comrade Darkness:
I for one support your right to be a total drag. Or try to be anyway. This and Randinho’s threads have been too much fun for anyone to spoil them.
@Matt in HB:
1. When it was a fair ball and it got by Buckner and the Mets won, the Mets won.
2. US over USSR
3. Nystrom’s overtime goal to win the 1980 Stanley Cup
4. Donovan’s goal.
5. 1991, Tipperary over Kilkenny 1-16 to 0-15.
Paula
Randinho had stuff to do this morning, so he’s not here to mod these threads.
The US Men’s team represent themselves, not their fans whinging or American foreign policy. People are emotional because it’s been very tough for them to find consistency in results. But they’re getting better. No need to shit on them because after all their work they deserve not to be screwed by bs refereeing, at the very least. And yeah, their fans can complain. What is this meme about how US Americans don’t have the right to complain about bs officiating?
J.W. Hamner
@Stroszek:
If I think “diving sucks and it’s the worst thing about soccer” does that mean I shouldn’t participate in WC threads… even though I’m watching the games and enjoying them… because I’m not demonstrating an unfailing devotion to the game and it might hurt somebody’s feelings? That’s not how BJ has worked in my time here.
Matt in HB
@burnspbesq:
RE: Chastain
Funny, I was actually at that Women’s WC final game. But, personally, it didn’t hold much meaning for me.
My list was a personal list of moments that were huge to me and stick with me to this day. I remember details of each of those and still get goose bumps thinking about them. With due respect to the women’s WC win, it’s not as personally relevant. YMMV.
Matt in HB
@Lawnguylander:
1. When it was a fair ball and it got by Buckner and the Mets won, the Mets won.
2. US over USSR
3. Nystrom’s overtime goal to win the 1980 Stanley Cup
4. Donovan’s goal.
5. 1991, Tipperary over Kilkenny 1-16 to 0-15.
Excellent choices. Except I have no idea what #5 means. : )
For Mets fans (and Boston haters I suppose) just the name Buckner must make you feel warm and giggly.
Lawnguylander
@Matt in HB:
All Ireland Hurling Championship. I was going to say Port Washington over Cold Spring Harbor in the Rough Riders lacrosse tournament this past Saturday with my offspring scoring the only goal of the game but I’m sure the wounds are too fresh for the other side and didn’t want to start a flame war if there are any C.S.H. fans lurking.
Leeds man
@Matt in HB:
#5 – We have a hurling fan here. Now there’s a man’s sport. Irishmen armed with clubs.
Dr. Squid
Aaaaand it’s 50 square.
mcd410x
@Lawnguylander: Ah, Bobby Nystrom. Got it on the DVR!
Tonybrown74
How unbelievable will it be if they have to suspend the Isner/Mahut match AGAIN because of darkness? It’s after 8 PM Greenwich Time and they’re on an outer court (18).
MikeB
I’m a big fan of the game, and over the last decade, soccer has replaced
basketball and American football as my favorite sport, in no small part
due to the ridiculous commercial hype and bombast of US TV coverage
(Super Bowl is a shining example). When you have giant Jumbotrons
blaring “Welcome to the Jungle” cuing the fans when to “Make Noise”,
you’ve moved on from the sport itself into “Advanced Media Marketing.”
That said, IMO soccer is definitely and consistently the most poorly officiated
sport. This is mostly due to FIFA’s stubborn refusal to help the referees,
through technology or extra officials. They are considering posting
an extra ref at each goal to help the onfield ref, that would certainly
be an improvement.
Phoenix Woman
@wengler:
Careful, dear, or the Torygraph will see your comment and wave it about as proof that Obama’s mean to BP because he hates the Brits.
I only wish I were kidding.
frankdawg
@Leeds man:
“Wide World of Sports” used to have a clip in their opening montage of a guy getting clipped across the brain pan in a Hurling match – brutal! It surprises me the sport didn’t get huge with TV audiences here!
I say let hitters take their bats with them on the base paths! Baseball would become a huge ratings hit! Braking up a double play would take on a whole new meaning.
Actually NHL is pretty close to that already & not wildly popular so maybe not.
frankdawg
@Lawnguylander:
Puckets homer in game 6 ’91 & Morris’ 10 inning masterpiece in game 7. The best WS in my lifetime & maybe in history. I hate the Braves so the fact they lost was just icing :)
Cacti
Actually, they represent the USA.
That’s why they’re called Team USA, as opposed to…
The Independent Team of US-born or Naturalized Footballers.
Cacti
@wengler:
Actually, this thread started out as another whine about how mean and terrible the dastardly refs have been to the American side. My comments were aimed at that.
May I continue to post, your majesty?
fbihop
@Matt in HB:
Yes. The feeling of resignation (especially since the US did NOT play well in the last fifteen minutes of the game. At all) to total elation was crazy. Hell, Algeria just ALMOST SCORED before the US went on the break.
And I can’t think of many top sports moments in my life (I was born in 1985, so sports memories for me start around 1992). It doesn’t help that my favorite baseball team is the Dodgers and my favorite football team is the Chiefs.
Paula
@Cacti:
That’s a cute answer. Cute cute cute. How witty! Isn’t Cacti great and insightful to this discussion, everyone?
Cacti
@Paula:
Almost as insightful as the observation that Team USA does not represent their fans or country.
Vico
@Tim: It was actually 1968. The King and Kennedy assassinations and the election of Richard Nixon — all great tragedies.
Vico
@Matt in HB: As a Cardinals fan, the name Bartman makes me feel all warm and giggly.
Paula
@Cacti:
Even CUTER. :)
Cacti
@Paula:
Aww, did I touch a nerve?
What’s with all the think-skinned Thaddeus’s today?
Paula
@Cacti:
Cacti’s so wonderful. Keep going buddy.
Cacti
sp: thin-skinned
Damn typos.
Cacti
@Paula:
;-)
Paula
;) :) <{:D :P
sven
Is this the point in the romantic comedy where Cacti and Paula bump into one another in real life?
Does Paula’s dog knock over a Louis 14 end table and Cacti restores antique furniture?
I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Cacti
@sven:
Hope not.
My wife surely wouldn’t approve.