I’ve watching the World Cup from the United States and am realizing that my own ignorance of the game is no less than certain officials in the matches. As I watched the US take on Slovenia and make an AMAZING come-back from a two-zero lead in the second half of the game today, I realized how arbitrary many of the so-called official  calls are- there seems to be no standards for what exactly constitutes a foul as the players on the international stage take flop after flop and get calls for sometimes absolutely nothing.

During a free-kick in the second half which would have almost indubitably ensured a victory for the United States, Maurice Edu scored a goal as his fellow teammate Michael Bradley (and the coach’s son who scored the second goal for the US) was being held physically held back in front of the goal; then, in a controversial decision, the goal was taken back by the official for no apparent reason. The team’s leader Landon Donovan didn’t see the the foul either:
"We asked the ref many times what it was or who it was on and he wouldn't or couldn't explain it," Donovan said. "I don't know what to think of the call because I didn't see any foul, just a normal free kick and a goal."

 Obviously, as an American, I understand the rules of American football a little more than soccer, but I have two lingering questions about the goal. First, a US player was being physically held at the time the goal was scored- why wasn’t there a call for that? Second, what (and where exactly) was the call that negated the goal? At this point, the official isn’t talking.

As an American, I feel like I have an entirely different perspective on this than many in the world- in American sports, the officials are required to use hand signals to show which penalty is being called so that everything is clear- in this game- which is a WORLD CUP match, the officials still haven’t let anyone know what exactly the foul was, which would be unheard of in the NFL, MLB, or the NBA. I guess we are just used to higher standards, but if FIFA wants more US excitement over the World Cup, they are going to have to get higher standards for their officials.


Watch the clip and let me know what you think. Should this goal have counted? Angry? Read this for ideas from Sports Illustrated.