In the 85th minute Friday, the referee Koman Coulibaly gazed into what was supposed to be a penalty area but was actually a mosh pit.
Sure, the Slovene players were committing acts usually experienced during the arrest scenes on “Cops.” But the Americans were also doing their share of slam-dancing and assorted frisking maneuvers usually reserved for the security line at the airport.
United States players argued with the referee Koman Coulibaly after he disallowed a goal Friday.
As Landon Donovan prepared to take a free kick, Clint Dempsey seemed to shove the Slovene midfielder Andraz Kirm. Maybe Kirm had told him a funny joke and Dempsey pushed him only in that guy’s way of saying, “Get out of here.”Dempsey is known as Onion Rings to his teammate Jose Francisco Torres because his eyes are so wide. If Dempsey had opened them a little wider, he would have noticed the referee standing nearby.
Then there was the American captain, Carlos Bocanegra. He was involved in some spirited grappling with the Slovene forward Nejc Pecnik. At first, Pecnik seemed to be measuring Bocanegra’s neck size. Maybe he planned to make him a shirt.
Then Bocanegra put his left arm around Pecnik’s waist. This maneuver is most familiar in sports to pairs figure skaters who are about to launch their partners into a double axel. Or perhaps Bocanegra confused Pecnik with a discus.
In any case, Coulibaly began to raise his hand before Donovan struck the free kick, and Maurice Edu’s volleyed goal was disallowed. The Americans had to settle for a 2-2 draw and the realization that FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, will probably never provide an explanation for exactly what happened.
There is no process for appealing a referee’s decision on the soccer field, just as there is no appealing an umpire’s calls of balls and strikes on a baseball field.
This kind of wrestling always happens on free kicks, and the Americans were unfortunate to be whistled for a foul. They were even unluckier not to get an explanation. Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s president, prefers it this way.
Blatter may have a point, given the angry, galvanizing response to Coulibaly’s call in the United States.
“He accomplished what no one else could do in more than 100 years,” wrote Paul Kennedy, the editor of Soccer America magazine. “He made Americans care passionately about soccer.”
Bob Bradley, the United States coach, said Saturday that he did not expect answers from FIFA. He did say, though, after reviewing the film that Edu’s goal should have counted.
He might have added that his son, midfielder Michael Bradley, was all but put in handcuffs on the play and read his Miranda rights by the Slovene midfielder Aleksandar Radosavljevic.
“I think the only things that really could be called would be penalty kicks for us,” Bob Bradley said.
For the laconic Bradley, that is what passes for outrage.
He did imply that perhaps Coulibaly regretted calling a foul on Slovenia and made a makeup call on the resulting free kick. Was he suggesting that an N.B.A. game had broken out in the World Cup?
“There are times when a referee blows a foul and now thinks either he didn’t make the correct call on the foul or a previous play,” Bradley said. “Then literally, as soon as the free kick’s taken, he blows his whistle.”
People can speculate all they want about which American committed what foul, Bradley said, “but I think it’s a waste of time.”
“I think there was nothing there,” he added. “I think it’s a good goal, and that’s that.”
There was additional fallout from the game Saturday. The Slovenian Press Association reported that Pecnik broke his ankle in a late collision with Dempsey and would probably miss the remainder of the World Cup.
In the opening minute, Dempsey lanced an elbow to the head of forward Zlatan Ljubijankic. In that incident, there was no lasting damage except that for the next few minutes, Ljubijankic inexplicably broke into show tunes.
Of course, the Americans had only themselves to blame for falling behind, 2-0, and having to play a frantic game of catch-up. They also trailed England, 1-0, after four minutes before rescuing a 1-1 draw.
No one has any real explanation for this maddening habit. Donovan said the Americans were tentative early against Slovenia. Oguchi Onyewu used the word complacent. Perhaps team caution stems from Bradley’s natural circumspection as a coach.
When a team falls behind, though, it must lose that carefulness while chasing the game.
“We seem to play better when we’re behind, and that’s all got to change,” goalkeeper Tim Howard said. “I think a lot of teams play better when they’re emotional, when tactics and game plans go out the window and it’s about standing toe to toe with the next guy and winning your battles.”
Next for the United States is Algeria on Wednesday in Pretoria. The Americans can advance to the second round with a victory; with a tie if England loses to Slovenia; and also with a tie if England draws and the United States maintains its total goal advantage, now at 3-1.
But as weird as things were Friday, they could become even weirder.
Should England and the United States tie in their Wednesday matches and finish with an equal number of goals scored over three matches, the tie breaker would be a drawing of lots.
“I don’t think anyone really wants that,” defender Jay DeMerit said.
The Americans have asked FIFA if drawing lots would mean drawing Ping-Pong balls or possibly flipping a coin.
“They said they’d let us know,” the team spokesman Neil Buethe said.
Source:http://www.nytimes.com
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