Koman Coulibaly denied US a win Friday against Slovenia when he ruled that US were pushing Slovenian players. However, as can be seen in the photo above (courtesy of The Offside Rules), it was the Slovenia players who were doing all of the pushing and holding -- including a bear hug on Michael Bradley which prevented the US midfielder from having a scoring chance.
As it stood, the goal by Maurice Edu was disallowed which is an injustice based on how well the States played in the second half.
Source: The Offside Rules.
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20 comments… read them below or add one
That was a very poor call. It changes the complexity of the group. Even watching the replays on ESPN2 now show the Ref already leaning to blow the whistle before the goal was scored.
You can’t hear the whistle b/c of the vuvuzelas but the ref appears to be motioning for a foul before Donovan even take his kick. If I’m not mistake that is not a legal ruling under the laws of the game.
Mark, you are right. The referee has his whistle in his mouth just as Donovan is starting to strike the ball. This means he has already stopped the play from happening as the whistle is the announcement that the referee has already stopped play (or the restart of play). There can be no foul in this case as the ball was never put into play. It is clear from videos that the referee is watching something intently in the middle in front of the goal area before Donovan starts his run. What the referee has to do now is punish whatever he saw as misconduct and show the appropriate card. After this, Donovan should take the kick. I think the referee was shocked when he saw the ball in the air and just changed the misconduct to a foul. He’s already turned away from the penalty area and is motioning for a kick coming out of the penalty area before Edu gets to the ball.
I suspect the referee regretted giving the foul on Altidore that set up the free kick, and was all too eager to whistle for a US foul as soon as the kick was taken.
The foul on Altidore was a bit soft, and the ref probably assumed that there would be some infraction by the US team on the free kick since there is almost always some shirt tugging and holding on any set piece.
He probably also assumed that the US wouldn’t score on the free kick and everything would be forgotten if he called it back for a US foul.
As it turned out, there was nothing there that looks like a US foul, and Edu ended up scoring a goal from the free kick.
Disgraceful decision by the referee to deny the US their winning goal and i’m an England fan !!!!!!
Indeed there is no excuse for such a bad call. The ref got it completely wrong and USA deserved the win despite a bad first-half.
Referee is from north African country of Mali. Mali is 90% Muslim. Based on the us war against ‘islam’ and ref’s previous ( numerous ) bad calls, I would venture to say he never wanted the US to win, specially being in the same group as Algeria(who happen to be a neighboring country to Mali). My 3 cents worth
u do realize that 4 of the 5 yellow cards were on the slovenians right? meaning that 4 of the 5 fouls he called were in FAVOR of the US…way to go bud..
By the time this picture was happening, the official already had his whistle in his mouth to blow the call. Unbelievable, this Mali ref is done as an official after this game and that is because of more than this blown call. He had a horrible game from the start.
FIFA should do something. FIFA should cancel of the ref.call cause it is clear he blew the whistle after the ball in the net. But it is against the tradisional rules..
Fifa won’t touch this one. If you go watch the highlights on FIFA.com, they’ve conveniently forgotten to include the footage of the disallowed goal. They normally show any scoring chance that comes within 10 yards of the goal, but this one has been edited out. They know the ref screwed it up but will keep quiet and ignore everything and the ref will never be disciplined (he’s blown quite a few big calls, see the one against egypt in 06). Bunch of crooks at FIFA anyway.
USA are sooo unlucky to have that 3rd goal disallowed! Crazyyy ref!
While I hate to believe that there may be political or religious agendas in sports, I believe the Muslim thing may be a factor. There is no question that this ref (wannabe) was not going to let the US win this game. His mind was made up to call a foul whether it happened or not.
“the Muslim thing?”
That’s a bitter and bigoted reaction.
Your claim is even shittier than the the call you’re criticizing.
Idiot.
Nice Gary, show your ignorance too.
There was no foul and the USA should have won the match. I doubt that religion had anything to do with the call. In my opinion the ref felt he made a bad call on the foul that led to the free kick and just decided to make up for the bad call and call a foul on the free kick. He was calling a foul as soon as the ball was kicked. His mind was made up. Had the US not scored on the play no one would have ever known or even taken a second look at the play. Unfortunately the US scored on the play and forced everyone to take a closer look. Instead of saying 2 wrongs don’t make it right we should say 2 bad calls don’t make it right. It wasn’t that he made a bad call, he made a bad make-up callm Bad timing for him as it will be tough for him to referee again. This happens all the time in sports, Seen it over and over again in baseball, basketball, football, hockey…
Ref was doing Allah’s work. It’s obvious.
the ref might saw some pushing between this players. many ref on soccer see what people dont see or they dont see what people see. like they didn’t see hand ball by maradona or thiery henry which was obvious to the audiences. it was just human mistake. they cant cancel the call that already done although it was a mistake. argentina still won and france still join this year world cup with the “hand of God” (poor ireland)
It’s just the time he blowed the whistle was so close BEFORE edu’s foot even touched the ball. people might saw he did it on purpose which I dont think so. when edu kicked the ball, the ball already dead. there wasn’t any goal to talk about. USA not the one and only country who suffer from bad referee.
many country had and they never connect this into conspiracy things.. LOL.
when teams play in the field, people dont care how many nuke they have, how many terrorist they have, how many war they won, how poor they are. they just want to get around each other and have fun watching leaving the politic, war and problem behind. so please dont take this too far..
no offends.. I support USA too. I think it refreshing to see country other then brazil, netherland or germany for final.
That Mali ref is a total washout. He already made up his “ill” mind not to let USA win. I am a Mexico fan but I feel USA deserved that goal.
Let’s not forget to support War on Terror all ye football fans. All the Religious fundamentalists are criminals and all their supporters are no different. They should be wiped out of the earth SOON.
You hear that ASSama bin Laden? I knew you were a fag since your teens. But I never liked your appearance so I never had sex with you…Ha ha ha
Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. If the U.S wasn’t so shite giving up all those
goals, they would never of been in that position to begin with. Put that
in your pipe and smoke it, jerky’s.