GorT and family are big fans of soccer (sorry, we’re Americans, so it’s soccer – or fútbol, but not football) and we watched the highly contentious US Women versus Canadian soccer semi-final game earlier this week.  I then re-watched portions of it last night and read some coverage from around the globe this morning.

First, am I biased on this? Sure.  I’ve thought the American women’s team has been exceptional for years and plays a very aggressive and competitive style of soccer.  So my thoughts and comments below are slanted but, honestly, I aim to be at least somewhat objective.

For those who didn’t watch the game, you probably missed one of the top 10 best women’s soccer games in the last decade and maybe longer.  The tension was palpable if you had a team in the match and if you didn’t you surely could get that sense immediately.  The controversy started even before the match with the Canadian coach making an accusation at a pre-game press conference that the Americans employ some “highly illegal tactics”.  Most of the press coverage of those comments assigns it to a sort of gamesmanship by Coach Herdman thinking that he might be trying to pre-influence the referees to call the game close for physical play.

The American women came out and played hard and it was evident that both sides were going to play physical.  The game went back-and-forth with probably the most underrated player, Christine Sinclair scoring all three goals for Canada.  Each goal put the Canadians in the lead and each time the US fought back – the first two by Megan Rapinoe and then the real in-game controversy started.

In the 78th minute of regular play (out of 90), the Canadian golaie, Erin McLeod stopped a shot and as players moved back upfield, held the ball getting ready to clear it.  There is a specific rule (under Law 12 – Fouls & Misconduct in the FIFA Rules, which the Olympics defer to for the game rules) governing goalies handling the ball.  It states that an indirect free kick is awarded to the other team if the goalie takes more than six seconds controlling the ball with their hands before releasing it from their possession.  The spot of the foul should be where the goalie was positioned when the call was made.  People argue that referees rarely enforce this and when they do it should be a warning and possibly a yellow card.  I’ve had a goalie on my team called for it – no card, indirect free kick, same thing that the Norwegian referee called for this game.  Apparently, Erin McLeod was warned earlier in the game for delaying play (which was obviously happening).  However, it sounds like Abby Wambach, one of the two star forwards for the American team, was counting out loud on the pitch near the referee and, for this incident, reached a count of ten before the referee blew the whistle.

The result was an indirect free kick in the penalty box that then resulted in a hand ball – and before people complain about that one – the arm clearly altered the course of the ball which was directed toward the goal, it needed to be called.  Abby Wambach took the penalty kick for the hand ball in the penalty area and scored, tying the game at three which drove it to extra time.

I’ve refereed a number of sports, including soccer.  I’ve played soccer and other sports both as a child and as an adult and I hate players trying to influence referees but it happens.  Watch any college basketball game – especially Duke in the early 90s and probably more), or watch an NFL game.  In many cases, you’ll see players and coaches jawing at the referee – “Hey, he’s holding, ref!”, “Ref, I’m getting slapped left and right when I drive”, etc.  The referee missed some clear calls but these two were not the ones – Megan Rapinoe had at least one handball earlier in the game and a late out-of-bounds call was missed (now, the ref was screened and the line judge was on the opposite side, behind the goal so no one had a great view)…but hopefully they did their best.  There were calls missed (or let go) against the Canadians including some egregious pushes and trips.

So in the end, all the hub-bub about how this referee gave the game to the United States is much ado about nothing.  I’m sure the Canadian teams feel robbed.  I feel robbed when the kids I coach get bad calls (in their opinion or in reality) but I tell them they need to play their game.  If the referee isn’t keeping the game safe or it is blatant, then I’ll jump in – but sportsmanship and effort are the qualities to pursue.  Not complaining and bitterness.

I hope the Canadian team can move on.  They made an impressive improvement from their 2011 World Cup showing (which wasn’t good) and I think they’ll continue to prove a more dangerous opponent for the United States in the years to come.

PS – Note to the US women’s soccer team – the celebration parties on the field are a bit excessive.  I know it’s the Olympics and it’s big and plenty of international teams do some crazy stuff but why not take the higher road?  Congratulate the people involved in the score and move back to position – to paraphrase an oft-used quote in football (American football), “act like you’ve been there before.”

GorT

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