Posted on 06/21/2002 6:36:46 AM PDT by Illbay
Nothing much to add. I saw only the last fifteen minutes of the game.
Germany went ahead on a header that'd have been nearly impossible for any keeper to ward off, and the US nearly came back and tied it--it was literally a matter of inches.
At the end of the game the German keeper collapsed to the ground.
This was a case of fighting one of THE premier teams in the world to a near standstill.
We come away from this tournament with elevated stature in international soccer.
Thank you, Team USA, you did your country proud!
USA! USA! USA!
I disagree that no card was warranted. FIFA's website says the following under "additional instructions".
Deliberately handling the ball (blah, blah, blah)
Preventing a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity
A player is sent off, however, if he prevents a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball. This punishment in Law arises not from the act of the player deliberately handling the ball but from the unacceptable and unfair intervention which prevented a goal being scored.
This is why Mexico should have been awarded a penalty kick with no ejection and the U.S. should have been awarded a penalty kick and Germany play a man down the last 30 minutes of the match. The Mexicans had no obvious goal scoring opportunity; the Germans stopped a sure goal.
And, too, the first Donavan breakaway (about 9 minutes into the game) was erroneously called offside.
Now I know how the Italians feel.
No James Jacksons on this team. :o)Any running back who breaks 100 yards against an NFL defense isn't a total loss. Besides, there's always William Green.
-Eric
I don't have to look it up. Gordon Banks was the Goal Keeper for England in the 1966 World Cup in England when England defeated Germany 4-2 in overtime inh the World Cup Final and Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick, with 2 of his three goals coming in the overtime. Banks was not considered to be one of the top keepers in the world, but he was magnificent throughout the World Cup that year.
Well, this is most embarrassing; I must defer to you and FIFA, of course. You'd think that in the course of several hundred competitive matches over the course of some 30 years in which I've participated as an amateur player that I would have figured that out.
Oh, well; such are the joys of learning soccer in America....
At least I didn't make a boo-boo as flagrant as one ref I know of who, after the opposing team kicked a corner kick that went out of bounds, declared: "Never came in; kick it over again!"
They scored on the rekick..... (for those not familiar with my point, on a corner kick, the ball starts out in the three foot radius arc at the corner of the pitch, and thus is by definition already "in bounds" -- hence, when the kicker booted it over the end line, it went from inbounds to out-of-bounds, and the defensive team should have been awarded a goal kick.) Our coach protested the game, to no avail.
But to return to the matter at hand, despite the fact that the handling was clearly unintentional, it directly and dramatically altered the course of the game, and thus, as per the correct rule you've pointed out, it should have been a PK for the US.
Thanks for correcting my longstanding mistaken understanding.
I have tried to be polite with you types, but I give up. Go somewhere else. Our boys played with heart and passion, and made it much further in the tournament than many great powers in the sport. You don't like soccer, than don't watch ok? I am so sick of how threatened non sports fans are by soccer. You might be a basketball or football fan, but you aren't a sports fan.
Go listen to Bob Costas or Peter Gammons wax eloquently about how inning #5 of game 46 of the Florida Marlins season is like poetry written on the field of spleder or some other such crap.
We don't pee on your guys sports, so just shut up already and let us fans be proud of our team for how well they played.
While I would agree that this was a great game for the US side, it is a mistake to say we "dominated" the game. The Germans were never in danger of losing and that has a tremendous effect on the way a game like this goes.
ML/NJ
In any case, there are ten situations when a direct kick is awarded:
1) (deliberately) kicking or trying to kick another player (or, God help you, the referee);
2) (deliberately) tripping or trying to trip another player;
3) (deliberately) jumping into another player (the feet-first karate move you see from time to time);
4) (deliberately) charging another player (e.g., knocking someone to the ground);
5) (deliberately) hitting or trying to hit another player;
6) (deliberately) pushing another player;
7) rough tackling (where you're going for the ball and you hit the player first or primarily);
8) holding another player (to slow him down or injure him);
9) spitting at another player (you'd be amazed at how often this actually happens, especially overseas);
10) handball (listed as "deliberate" in FIFA rules, but the advantage clause applies)
The first six (and the spitting rule) are automatic penalties, but the others are discretionary calls, where the referee should evaluate whether there is either a deliberate attempt to commit a foul, or, if not, whether some advantage has been gained by the player. If it's deemed unintentional, and no advantage is gained, the referee is encouraged to allow play to continue. If it's a handball that intentionally prevents a goal, that's a penalty kick and a red card, to boot. Any other offense (dangerous play, offsides, etc.) is an indirect kick.
But I've seen some seriously muffed calls over the years - offsides called on corner kicks (there is no offsides on a corner), indirect kicks where direct kicks are called for (especially after red-carding someone - if it was bad enough to toss somebody, it's generally a direct-kick penalty, almost by definition), and so forth. The qualifications of soccer referees in this country, and everywhere really, is rather uneven, to say the least, and there are a surprising number of calls that are blown, especially considering that the rules are really pretty simple. The FIFA "Laws of the Game" is less than 40 pages, for crying out loud - this isn't the encyclopedia of baseball rules ;)
And yes, that ref blew your corner kick call, badly. There is no "do over" on corner kicks, unless it goes back out, off of a defender ;)
Are you saying that Germany did not play USA tough? If the Germans looked bad (which I don't think they did) it's because our team made them look that way.
Nice to see that you admit your error. But I want to also take you up on the question of "intentionality". The question has to be answered OBJECTIVELY, not subjectively. The German player watched the ball move to his hand (away from his body, protecting the goal space that he couldn't legitimately block with his body or head) and ALLOWED the ball to strike his hand -- he made no attempt to move his hand, and note that the ball was not travelling quickly. OBJECTIVELY, that is "intentional", and I don't have to get into his mind as to whether he "meant" to do it.
For example, Germany, Italy, Argentina and Brazil own the cup. They've dominated from the beginning. They'll dominate it for another fifty years. A second echelon France or an England (or Uruguay if you go back a half century) can win it if the Cup is held in their country. Probably the only real surprise in all that time was Uruguay's second Cup when they beat Brazil in Rio. But that's 1950. Worse, Cups outside Europe are always won by Brazil or Argentina (or Uruaguay). Cups inside Europe, except for Brazil in 1958, are won by Germany or Italy (with the English/French home triumphs thrown in). It's like clockwork. The con job is that FIFA has persuaded the rest of the world that the sport is competitive. The only x-factor this year is whether being in Asia will benefit Brazil or Germany more.
What progress did the US team show? They got the jump in the first half on a Portugal team that chokes every time at the major level. They still almost lost that game. They tied the home team thanks to a great save on a penalty kick (if the US could ever get to the penalty kick phase, they'd probably would have a shot at the Cup). They were 1998 bad against Poland, and required another Portuguese choke to advance. And they beat Mexico, another perennial underachiever in the Cup (even with home advantage twice, they did very little). Since 1990, the US has really owned Mexico, so they faced a team and country that was practically beaten before they stepped on the field. Finally, they lost to a German team inferior to it's 1998 incarnation by 1-0 instead of 2-0.
That's progress only if you have low standards.
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