...“Then I heard the whistle,” Edu said
Referee Koman Coulibaly of Mali had called it off.
Over and over, American players asked, “Why?”
In English. Then in French.
“He just ignored us,” Landon Donovan said. “Or he didn’t understand.”
Perhaps Coulibaly, working his first World Cup game, will never explain himself. By the rules, he doesn’t have to speak to the media on game days, and his next availability isn’t until Monday. Perhaps it will remain one of those unsolved soccer mysteries.
I watched the game, and this was just a horribly officiated game by Coulibaly. Making terrible decisions, like this one, and the yellow card given to Findley for an "intentional handball" when it clearly smacked him right in the head! Yellow cards were handed out like crazy, and I just don't know what to make of the whole thing. Now I'm not a conspiracy theorist, never have been, but this ref's decisions, his arrogance, not responding to the players, not to mention blowing the final whistle at least what, 2-3 minutes earlier than what the stoppage time was suppose to be leads me to believe that this game was more about politics than the actual game.
I'm not making excuses for how we played, because we shouldn't have been down 0-2 in the first half to lead to a comeback, but the overall feel of this game just felt out of place to me from what else was going on. I know soccer will never trump the other sports in our country, but the amount of coverage it is getting and the support the team is getting makes me think that it'll at least gain more attention. But if we don't get out of this group because of "what could have been" from this game, then the sport itself will just take another big hit again in the U.S., which I would hate to see because I do like the sport and wish it was covered more here.
Edited by dropkickshanahans, 18 June 2010 - 08:22 PM.
