World Cup: Slovenia vs. USA - final
Who was that team in the blue in the second half? The USA? Where were they in the first half.
Truly a comeback performance by Team USA. Lead by Landon Donovan at 47:33 with a goal to invigorate the US, America became the aggressors they needed to be in the first half. But the USA would not go through the half without controversy. Lot’s of it.
Multiple calls by the referee were the critical point of the match. Call after call went against the US, each being more bizzare than the last. There was the yellow card against Forward #20 Robbie Findley in the 40th minute. A hand ball call off the coner kick as the ball clearly deflected off Findley’s face, ending the attempt at scoring a much needed tie goal when Slovenia only had 1.
There was the yellow card in the 68th minute. Could it have been a RED card? Altidore was charging for the pass from Donovan, he was the last man. He was in full charge and he was thrown to the ground inside the penalty box. The call was a yellow and a free kick that failed to convert.
There was the bizarre call in the 85th minute as #19 Maurice Edu was denied a goal off of a free kick. A play in which #4 Michael Bradley and #17 Jozy Altidore were being held and fouled, and Edu was clear of everyone. Yet the winning 3rd goal was waved off.
Those were 2 opportunities and a definite score, all denied by the referee. And that says nothing of various challenges and fouls that either went against the US or were ignored in favor of Slovenia.
It’s not to say that Slovenia was not making it’s own mistakes. Slovenia filled a flag with Yellow cards in the second half, aquiring 3 within 15 minutes. They were shaken by the goal of Donovan, and then seriously put off by the goal by #4 Michael Bradley in the 81st minute. Passes got sloppy and challenges became far more brutal. The cohesive play of the first half devolved quickly, though Slovenia remained a strong force. Several times thay pushed on the counter-attack to try to score another goal to finish off the US.
Howard also had a great game. Though he gave up the 2 goals in the first half, he made up for it with several great saves in the 2nd. Whether he could have done more if uninjured from the match against England will never be known, but there was no question of his ability in the 2nd half.
But ultimately only 2 things are true of the entire match. The USA could have played far better in the 1st half, considering the play of the second they underestimated Slovenia. Given that, had they come out with the fire and organization of the 2nd half, the score likely would have been 2 or 3 to 0.
The second fact is that the referee was abysmal. He seemed to have a bias at the worst, and was inept at the least. It’s yet another time where America was hindered by bad referees than by play on the field. If America does not qualify for the Round of 16, which is still possible, it will almost assuredly be because of the call in the 85th minute by the referee.
Final score Slovenia 2 - USA 2
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