The first full set of games, up to the point where every team had played one game in the World Cup finals, was probably the worst series of matches I've ever seen. I've seen AYSO games with more flair. Perhaps 3 or 4 out of 32 teams actually TRIED to score and win. The rest were perfectly content to sit back and defend, holding out for a scoreless tie. It used to be the case that a tie was like kissing your sister. The way most of the teams in the World Cup are playing, their sister must look like Scarlett Johansson. I've never seen so many teams anxious for a tie.
Sadly that indictment also applies to the US team, which basically defended for 89 minutes against England (minus the one minute when Ricardo Clark fell asleep and let Steven Gerrard run into the box for a simple tap-in goal). Today in Johannesburg, the US tried something new, an attacking mentality against Slovenia. But once again, the US looked nervous and jittery for the first 15 minutes or so, and let a Slovenian attacker have all kinds of time on the ball just beyond the penalty area, which he used to crack a nice shot that blew past Tim Howard in goal. The US came into the game after that, but were punished again for some sloppy defense just before halftime when the Slovenes nicked another goal on a counterattack.
It is greatly to the credit of the US players' character that they fought back in the second half to tie the game, and deserved a victory which was stolen from them by amazingly incompetent officiating. It is to the detriment of the World Cup finals that both the US and Germany were ruined on the same day by atrociously bad officiating. I'll grade the US players below, but first I want to comment on the referees today.
The average goals per game (that includes both teams scores for a given match) was 1.6 following the first set of games. That is insanely low, and reflects the ludicrously conservative and defensive tilt of the tournament thus far. As the second set of games started, the scoring went up ans teams started to realize that somebody had to actually WIN these games to advance to the next round (an aside: It's amazing how much better the sport of soccer is when teams are actually, you know...TRYING TO WIN rather than playing defense for a tie). The second set of games have averaged (as I type this) a robust 3 goals per game. Therefore it was with glee that I tuned in this morning to watch the Germans, the first round's most impressive team after a 4-0 demolition of Australia, play the Serbians, an underachieving team that desperately needed a win. Alas, just as the games were getting good, the refs fell apart.
The Germany-Serbia game started brightly, with the Serbs actually causing some concern for a German team that had never been threatened by Australia. The Germans righted themselves quickly, however, and resumed the same siege of goal they showed in their first game. All this time, the referee (from Spain) decided that he was going to enforce the rules with extra vigor. A series of relatively ticky-tack calls earned yellow cards. The most egregious example was a card given to German striker Miroslav Klose. Yes, he had tripped a player from behind, but replays showed that he barely touched the guy, and was certainly not guilty of any "violent or serious foul play." He just happened to get his legs caught up with the other guy. Some later, more physical tackles also resulted in yellows.
The players should've gotten the warning and taken it seriously, but maybe they couldn't believe that the referee was REALLY going to keep dishing out cards at the same rate. About half-an-hour into the game, Klose tried to poke the ball away from a Serbian midfielder and caught his shin instead. Klose was running up behind the player at the time. Without any hesitation, the referee reached to his pocket and delivered the second yellow card, and subsequent red card ejection. Again, while at least this time Klose actually did foul the player, it was hardly the sort of play that warrants a yellow card. Well, at least the ref could say he was consistent.
Stunned, the Germans let Serbia score a scrappy goal a minute later, and the entire game changed. Rather than a back-and-forth affair, it became yet another "park the bus in front of goal" effort by the Serbians. With a man advantage, they made it count and held on for the 1-0 victory.
You can't say that the referee "cost" the Germans the game. After all, it wasn't the referee who missed half a dozen sure scoring chances in the second half (that would be Lukas Podolski). It wasn't the referee who tamely hit a penalty shot just next to the keeper for one of the easiest penalty saves you'll ever see (Podolski again, looking like he'd completely forgotten how to score goals). But had the referee shown even a little discretion at the start of the game and not started throwing around yellow cards left and right (particularly the first one to Klose), the game would have almost certainly been better for it. I'm all for strict refereeing, and often times I find myself calling for yellow cards when they're not delivered. But you simply can't come out of the gates and start carding players for ticky-tack fouls, even if some of them are from behind.
Which brings us now to the US game. While the referee in the Germany-Serbia contest marred the game, you would have to admit that he was technically correct with most of his calls and didn't directly decide the outcome of the game. Sadly, the same cannot be said in defense of the referee in the US-Slovenia match.
It started early, and continued through the match. Koman Coulibaly from Mali was the referee, and he looked completely in over his head. He called phantom fouls (mostly against the US, but not entirely). He seemingly ignored actual fouls. During a first-half sequence when the ball was bouncing around in front of the Slovenia goal, he called play to a halt to issue a yellow card to Robbie Findley of the USA. It was supposedly for a handball. Replays showed that the ball had never touched Findley's hand or arm, and even if it had, the ball was going around like a pinball, and without waving your arms about you could hardly be adjudged to have purposely handled it.
In the second half, the oddball calls continued. After the US bravely battled back to tie the game with some thrilling goals, they had a free kick from a little ways outside the box. Landon Donovan curled in a chip that Maurice Edu prodded into the net past a stranded goalkeeper. It looked like a remarkable winning goal, but the referee had already blown play dead before the ball even reached the area. Incredibly, he annulled the goal and gave Slovenia a free kick for ... what? Nobody knew. The Americans asked, and were waved away. The TV announcers speculated, but absolutely nothing made sense. Replays shown over and over showed absolutely nothing by any American player. If anything, the Slovene defenders were guilty of some terrible holding and grappling on the play (holding and grappling that, it must be said, usually occurs on nearly every corner kick or free kick near the goal these days, much to the detriment of soccer). The referee never explained the call.
So a terribly wrong decision by the referee actually cost the US a sure victory. The referee didn't "decide" the game, but he came as close as you can without being obviously corrupt. He was incredibly incompetent. The only reason for the foul that has been suggested which has even a whiff of logic was that the referee had thought better of the foul he had just called against Slovenia and had already decided in his head to call a "make-up" against the US as soon as the ball was played. You see this in basketball all the time. If true, this theory absolves the referee of any corruption charges. But no matter how you cut it, an honest observer could not call the referee anything but incompetent. Phantom handballs, phantom fouls and make-up calls that decide outcomes have no place in any level of soccer, let alone the highest-profile level of the game.
OK, that's enough whining for now. The US is hardly the first team (nor the last, sadly) that will be screwed by lousy officiating at the World Cup. There's a long and sordid history of bizarre or simply incompetent refereeing jobs that have killed many a World Cup dream. The US still has its destiny in its own hands. They simply must beat Algeria, and if they do it by at least two goals then they are guaranteed a spot in the next round.
Let's hand out some grades:
Starters
GK -- Tim Howard -- B-
He was statuesque on the first goal, and couldn't make a play on the second despite coming out to challenge the attacker. Neither goal was a mistake on Howard's part, and he played generally well, but you'd like your goalkeeper to make at least one big save in a game like this. Howard did it against England, but he didn't against Slovenia.
D -- Steve Cherundolo -- C+
This may be a bit harsh, but Cherundolo simply didn't get involved like he has been doing in other games recently. His defense was sound, but his forays into the attack were toothless. He struggled to connect passes and didn't make any telling crosses into the box. The good part was a hopeful pass towards Donovan that the latter turned into a goal.
D -- Jay DeMerit -- C-
In a reverse of his recent form, DeMerit was rock-solid when defending man-to-man but lost when having to cover in space. His communication and movement was not in concert with Oguchi Onyewu, and could be at least partially to blame for both Slovenian goals.
D -- Oguchi Onyewu -- C-
See: Jay DeMerit. Onyewu's terrific showing against England was a distant memory. He looked like the rusty, clumsy Onyewu against Slovenia.
D -- Carlos Bocanegra -- B-
He was never toasted, and his defensive movement was sound. He also provided some good passes from the back. All that said, at no point did he really control his flank or jumpstart any attacks from the rear line. He was solid, but nothing special.
M -- Clint Dempsey -- C
Slovenia apparently marked Dempsey as the danger man for the US. They surrounded him all the time and more or less took him out of the match. To his credit, Dempsey kept hustling all game long and did some good work up front after halftime, but couldn't make much of an impact on the game.
M -- Michael Bradley -- B+
There might be an argument that Bradley shouldered some of the blame on the first Slovenia goal. But other than that, Bradley was terrific. He was all over the field and even wore his passing shoes. He made some excellent passes through the middle, and was really the only US midfielder to consistently maintain possession. That's not to say he morphed into Gerson, but at least he made a positive impact all game long. His tying goal was an excellent effort. He sprinted into the box and poked a bouncing ball past the keeper, a situation that probably sees more misses than makes, even by world-class players.
M -- Jose Torres -- D-
A lot of us (me too) have been hollering for Torres to get into the starting lineup. He looked superb in the warm-up games and offers far more offense than Ricardo Clark. But Torres looked overwhelmed by the situation. His play slowed back down to the Mexican league rate. His passes were off and his defense negligible. He was probably most to blame for the first Slovenian goal, and was nowhere to be seen when Slovenia countered for a second. His lone highlight was a solid shot on goal from a free kick.
M -- Landon Donovan -- A
Donovan has to be the man of the match for the US. He, like everyone else, looked out-of-sorts early on, but he started to get aggressive with the ball during the first half and it snowballed into the second. Donovan tormented defenders throughout the second half and buried his goal with a virtually unstoppable blast from an extreme angle. He was the main instigator of the US attacks for the last 45 minutes, and his curling free kick deserved a goal from Edu (The goal that was wrongly called back).
F -- Robbie Findley -- D+
He ran hard, but looked like the Findley we've come to expect in international matches. He didn't show much composure on the ball or skillful touch. His yellow card (an absolutely atrocious call by the ref, but.....) will knock him out of the next game. The US attack was much more dangerous after Findley left the field.
F -- Jozy Altidore -- B-
He didn't do much at all during the first half. He couldn't hold onto the ball nor could he beat any defenders. But in the second half, the light came on and he started playing like a younger Brian McBride. He won numerous headers and played a fantastic header to Bradley for the tying goal. Now if only Altidore could start finding the goal himself.....
Substitutes:
M -- Maurice Edu -- B-
He started poorly, but worked his way into the game as the second half wore on. His defensive coverage was far superior to what Torres was offering, and his offensive effort was at least as good. He scored what should have been the winning goal, but I think we've beaten that dead horse enough for now.
M -- Benny Feilhaber -- C+
It's telling that the US overall showed more attacking teeth in the second half, after Feilhaber came on at halftime. However, he was largely an invisible man. Nearly all the US attacks were either through Donovan, or simply direct balls to the forwards.
F -- Herculez Gomez -- NG
Made a late cameo and did fine while he was in there, but I can't grade him for 9 minutes of play.
The US can still advance, and they should be proud of today's effort, even if it was flawed by some bad defense and horrible officiating. Until next time....
SAH
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