[Berlin_Freeper]

If not for the hand to the face we would still be not winning.

Congratulations Canada!

Better luck next time USA.

Bronze is still on the table.

[Monterrosa-24]

“...hand to the face...” I don’t follow.

I take it, even when it was zero to zero, Canada seemed to be the stronger team.

[sphinx]

The U.S. was again flat and this time it caught up with them. Canada played well enough to win. That said, I don’t agree with the call that led to the penalty kick. Tierna Davidson had cut the ball off and had inside position. She was playing the ball all the way. The Canadian player came in from behind.

[sphinx]

Here is the first replay of the “foul” on Tierna Davidson that I could find. There are several angles shown. For the best pics of the leadup to the “foul,” pause at 2:23, 2:20, and 2:32. The picture quality isn’t good, but the angle is clear. Tierna Davidson clearly had the inside track to the ball. She clearly reached the ball a step or two ahead of the Canadian. The Canadian player clearly comes in from behind. If that is a foul, the call should have gone against the Canadian player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqCiE_J2AFI

The ref awarded a goal kick. I’d be ok with that.

The Canadians protested and the VAR ref awarded a foul on Davidson, apparently because her arms flew up and made incidental contact with the Canadian player’s head as Davidson was hit from behind.

I will let the rules hawks debate the point, but generally speaking, when you are rear-ended by someone coming in from behind, the fault goes to the person who initiated contact. Davidson had a step advantage before the Canadian player came in. She was called for fouling a player behind her and out of her vision, as her arms came up to catch her balance.

Bad call.

Bad call by the VAR ref who overruled the correct call on the field.

Bad calls happen from time to time in all sports. It is a shame when a game is decided by a bad call. Soccer is particularly vulnerable to this because scoring is so low. In this case, the bad call produced the only score in the game.

A strike against VAR as well, by the way.