Can a Catholic Order a Fatwa?
So now that it is officially over, I am wondering who it is to blame for our World Cup disaster. I have several candidates. I will leave it to you to vote on who deserves the full and mighty wrath of the United States of America. One or all of these candidates needs to pay. Let's see those comments.
Jorge Larrionda
This experienced international referee single handedly snatched victory and momentum from the USA against Italy. According to his FIFA bio, this humble clerk from Uraguay enjoys breeding animals, including parrots. Other interests include fixing matches, as evidenced by his suspension from international competition in 2002 for "irregularities" in Uraguay. I will never understand how he could issue a red card to Mastroeni for that tackle - except as a make-up call. The second yellow against Pope was a joke. This was an orchestrated effort by FIFA to hold the USA back.Markus Merk
Another FIFA appointed referee. Can you see the pattern here? Obviously, referee pre-match instructions for games involving the USA include instructions to award a penalty kick in added time if at all possible. The header by Oneyu was absolutely clean. I didn't even see contact! I watch other matches where referees refuse to call a PK in the box for HARD tackles from behind. Instead they pretend the foul occurred outside the box, to avoid completely changing the game. Merk is a Dentist in Germany. I would like to see Oneyu punch his teeth out.The Acting Troup from Ghana
Never have I been so incensed by injuries than in the game against Ghana. I used to think that South American teams dove and acted too much. It is now clear that Africa has taken the lead in this illustrious skill. Every time a Ghana player lost a ball, missed a tackle, or ran into his OWN teammate, he fell. Not only that, he would grab the most convenient body part, gasp and scream in pain. On replays, it was worse. You could clearly see players fall without contact. I remember a fall where the player even grabbed his head in mock pain. The worst part was USA kept kicking the ball out in a show of sportsmanship. After the 27th fake injury, we should have taken the ball upfield and scored to shut them up. That would end all faking. I know this is part of soccer, but it was elevated to a mockery in this game. Not even a single warning was issued for time-wasting. In a match of this importance, the referee knows the faking is gamesmanship. He needs to step in. Oh yeah, I forgot it was Merk the Jerk.Bruce Arena
This guy has my vote. He is not equipped to be the national team coach anymore. Granted, he did a great job in 2002 when we surprised the world by making the quarterfinals. This year, he became a complacent, arrogant ass. First, he screws with his players heads by not telling them his starting lineup until gameday. Wouldn't it be helpful for the starters to practice together a day or two to get some rhythm? Next, it's obvious he is not a motivator. Every pregame interview asked, "What did you tell your players before the game?" His answer is always that this is a big game, the players know that, and nothing needs to be said. WHAT? Of course you need to say something. Motivate these guys! Finally, I disagree with his tactics against Czech Republic and Ghana. We were completely outplayed against the Czechs because of poor gameplan and uninspired play. We showed up against Italy, but the Ghana strategy is inexcusable. Needing help from Italy, we should have at least attempted to take more control of our destiny by making up some of the goal differential. I'm not saying we could have scored 4 goals, but we should have come out ATTACKING!!! We played safe, not to lose and paid the price. A more aggressive approach was paramount. We didn't seem to have the will to win.In general, the 2006 World Cup leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I feel that FIFA and the world have it in for the USA. We are not a traditional soccer power, and they are doing everything possible to ensure that continues. It started with the seedings and poor group draw. Referee decisions put one foot in the grave, and uninspired coaching killed us. Arena needs to go, and the USA needs to play with a chip on its shoulder for 4 years. Africa 2010 should see us take chance out of the draw. We need to be seeded to avoid the uphill battle that we faced this year.
1 comment:
I'm submitting a write-in - FIFA. They screwed us in by seeding Mexico over us, even though we knocked them out of the last World Cup, qualified ahead of them this year, and won the CONCACAF Gold Cup. They screwed us by giving us the most difficult draw in the tournament. Then they screwed us with referees. I'll give them the Mastroeni red, but the Pope red and the Onyewu PK were just atrocious. Shitty play cost us one game, shitty referees cost us two. Without that PK on Onyewu the US goes into halftime with all the momentum and comes out firing.
As for the diving, that was one of three things, along with shirt pulling and tackles from behind, that FIFA explicitly told referees to crack down on. They've been quick on the draw on the first two, but I've only seen one yellow for diving. It's really atrocious. It's the biggest blemish on soccer, if you ask me. If you ask anyone who isn't a soccer fan why they don't like it the first thing they'll bring up is all the diving and acting. FIFA needs to take serious action against this because it just makes me sick.
Arena? He's should be canned. If nothing else, WC2006 exposed the US's lack of technical organization and creativity. Landon Donovon did nothing in qualifying or the first two games, but Arena still hitched our wagons on him. Eddie Johnson was the only threatening player versus the Czechs but saw limited time throughout the tournament. John O'Brien, arguably our most talented player, played garbage minutes against the Czechs.
All in all, terrible play, terrible coaching, terrible reffing - a world cup to NOT remember...
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