England Vs USA

[Rorschach]

Ah, that's the stuff. I was only half-listening to the reports at work: I thought that 2-1 was FT.

Slightly OT: the guy in the house across the road from us was flying a big stars and stripes out of his upstairs window last week. I didn't give it much thought until I saw that he has had a flagpole fitted to the side of his house and has, this week, been flying the Algerian flag. I saw him getting into his car not long ago and he was wearing an Algeria shirt.
One can only assume he'll be flying the Slovenian flag next week.

Yeah, sounds like a bit of a dick. But you've got to admire his dedication.

[Hirschof]

Hirschof, I think that was all leg btw.

I don't know why I wrote "header." I think I was trying to write "free kick."

bleh.

[The Cid]

Okay, so let me get this straight: in the World Cup, a referee can negate a goal and not give anybody an official reason for it? Because it seems like that's exactly what just took place this morning. The US didn't get the full win, basically, "because screw you, that's why."

[Rorschach]

You're pretty much correct, Cid. Except that it's football, not just the WC. Don't think it's an American problem - have a look at why France got into the finals and ROI didn't.

Referees are - for some reason - unaccountable for their decisions. Even if you take a decision to an appeal, in Scotland anyway, the appeal board is the referee who made the call originally. It's a joke and has to change.

But enough about us and more about England who are increasingly looking like a busted flush. The ITV commentary team showed remarkable self-control last night: it was 33 minutes before 1966 was mentioned.

And even before the game, one of the ITV buffoons had "We should probably praise Algeria, but realistically they're the kind of team you'd expect a prospective World Cup winning team to beat." Who decided that England were a prospective World Cup winning team? Oh, the media.

The Guardian's commentary on the various commentaries goes no small way to explaining why three countries out of four are hoping that England don't win:

4 min: Algeria goalkeeper Rais M'Bolhi catches a looping Steven Gerrard effort cleanly, only to be patronised to within an inch of his life by the ITV commentary team for looking like he might drop it.

12 min: Madjid Bougherra sends in a cross from the right flank, which loops down on David James, who punches unconvincingly under pressure from Karim Matmour. The ball drops in the path of an Algerian, who snatches at it. England hack clear. For reasons they don't specify, the ITV commentary team decide not to mock James in the same way they did the Algerian goalkeeper, who has yet to make a mistake.

14 min: Now Andy Townsend is having another go at the Algeria goalkeeper, stating he "looks all over the place". The guy hasn't put a foot wrong yet, so I'm not sure where Andy's getting this from.

33 min: A decent England passing move comes to naught when Algeria goalkeeper M'Bolhi gets down to his left to splendidly save a Frank Lampard drive that was arrowing towards the bottom left-hand corner. ITV match analyst Andy Townsend grudgingly gives him some credit. England should have gone one up there.

40 min: "Do you think team ITV have noticed Algeria have been the better team so far?" asks Tom Black. I think it's fair to say they haven't, Tom. Townsend is prepared to concede "they are spirited and energetic", but doesn't seem to realise that's two more boxes than England have managed to tick so far tonight.

Declan Kelly writes: "Andy Townsend said toward the end of the half that it's not easy to break down a team who just get men behind the ball. I can only assume he was talking about England's negative tactics, because Algeria have actually had the majority of the possession. I'd like to hear how Andy would spin that little stat so as to find some shred of silver lining for England while at the same time partonising the 'spirited' Algerians. How about this, Andy? "Algeria are simply a better football team."

68 min: "Anyone remember England's game with Trinidad & Tobago in WC2006?" asks John Owens. "This game is a ringer for that one. England will win 2-0 with a late header by Crouch (after a foul) and a Gerrard screamer. England qualify from group and when they get knocked out on penalties all the talk is of 'unlucky' England. No one will remember how bad they've been tonight."

69 min: I will.

One last thing: Oh ... and is that Wayne Rooney turning to a camera and sarcastically spitting "It's nice to hear your own fans boo ya" down the barrel? That's his first contribution of note this evening.

Oh, and Madjid Bougherra - who has played with the champions of Scotland's Premier League for two years now "will be familiar to fans of Crewe Alexandra, Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton Athletic." Motherfuckers.

[JermCool]

So if ITV didn't exclusively hire right dicks, England might be more popular?

I really could believe that. Seriously.

[Rorschach]

Yeah, I actually feel for the English players and fans. Noone has a problem with them as such, just their massively wankerish hangers-on.

Great save from Kewell there.

[adciv]

Isn't that the definition of a football fan? What with all the riots at football games in Europe, I figured you would be used to it by now.

Referees are - for some reason - unaccountable for their decisions. Even if you take a decision to an appeal, in Scotland anyway, the appeal board is the referee who made the call originally. It's a joke and has to change.

Cripes. This sounds like all EU Football refs are all tin-pot dictators. How did it get to be that way?

US gridiron football would never go for that. Nor does Baseball or Hokey. Basketball is about the closest you will get to that. I'm not sure how the US Soccer league is going with those regards. However, if it kept that up, they would quickly lose most fans.

[The Cid]

You're pretty much correct, Cid. Except that it's football, not just the WC. Don't think it's an American problem - have a look at why France got into the finals and ROI didn't.

Oh, I'm well aware. Handball. If I'm not mistaken, isn't one of the most famous moments in pitch football history a missed call much like that one?

three countries out of four are hoping that England don't win:

...The other recommends Trident.

Cripes. This sounds like all EU Football refs are all tin-pot dictators. How did it get to be that way?

US gridiron football would never go for that. Nor does Baseball or Hokey. Basketball is about the closest you will get to that. I'm not sure how the US Soccer league is going with those regards. However, if it kept that up, they would quickly lose most fans.

Um...I disagree. A lot. (Except for hockey. Hockey refs are awesome for the most part.)

In the US, we let our referees take center stage. Did you watch the NBA playoffs at all? (Crap. I just mentioned it. Now I have to go vomit for the fortieth time since Thursday night.) Referees insisted on taking center stage throughout, deciding they can dictate the pace of a game better than any players can. How about the two weeks of love baseball fans just gave to Jim Joyce for screwing up an important out call? Ooh, ooh, what about the Tuck Rule Game? Or that Steelers-Seahawks Super Bowl?

[adciv]

Basketball is about the closest you will get to that.

Baseball, Football Note how these guys readily admitted their error?

Come on, you're supposed to be a sports reporter.

[The Cid]

...Which is why I can start naming other famous missed calls, often that the league offices stood behind. Spoiler tags because it'll kind of be going off topic.

-I'll take it back about the Tuck Rule, because although that's an obscure rule it was still technically the right call.
-A World Series was decided by a blown call. Don Denkinger missed a call very much like the one in your link that would have given St. Louis the World Series. Kansas City ended up winning.
-The 1999 NFC Championship had a prominent blown call, notable because the correct call was reversed by instant replay. Not that I'm bitter as a fan of the team that got screwed that time.
-This one too, though really the umpires didn't make a difference in that series. In fact, go through that gallery. Check out how often this crap goes on. And don't forget, in baseball we "purists" consider human error a charming part of the game.
-Here's another decent list, although a little sparce on evidence. I mention a few of these throughout, but it's still a good guide. Notice how the NFL and college football aren't immune.
-Despite the umpire and referee admitting error in your links, did their calls ever get reversed? League offices make decisions like that all the time. The Commissioner of Major League Baseball once erased a few dozen no-hitters from the record books on a whim, but did they overturn Joyce's blown call? Nope. The NFL retroactively fines players for hits that aren't called as penalties all the time, but did nothing about Hochuli's missed call.
-Does the name Jeffery Maier ring a bell? Blown call. That the umpire and league office stood behind.

In the US, we let our referees take center stage.

Even your links back me up on that. The only major differences here are that the rules of pitch football are such that a referee doesn't have to explain himself.

[Rorschach]

This is not the first time that I've noticed this, but has 'pitch football' replaced 'soccer'?

I much prefer it.

[The Cid]

Some people use it, but not many. I like when Europeans call the NFL kind "gridiron football," so I figured "pitch football" would be a good replacement for "soccer." And "soccer" is a sport little kids play before they're old enough for Little League.

[Deacon]

That actually sounds pretty cool: pitch football and gridiron football. For reference, ours still sound a million times tougher

So I finally got a chance to watch the German v Serbia game that I'd recorded, and I was appalled at the refereeing in that game. It was like maybe he thought the players were overheating and thus would use this little yellow piece of paper they gave him to fan them with.

And after that I watched the Slovenia v US game and didn't like what I saw for the most part until a little ways into the second half when Slovenia started breaking down and the US started playing like it meant something. First we put ourselves within 1 of tying, then we broke even! And then what seemed like the blink of an eye later, we went UP 3-2! It's like what Brazil did to us in the past! But wait! What's this? WE GOT FUCKED IN THE ASS, AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY.

Oh well. Once we get out of the group, everyone starts off with a clean slate, right? Though FIFA may be burned to the ground if we somehow don't make it out of the pool. Also, Edu should really at least have a footnote in the official FIFA history books that he did indeed score a World Cup goal. He may be one of the hated Rump Rangers, but still.

[Rorschach]

He may be one of the hated Rump Rangers, but still.

At least we hate him for the right reasons, his own fans however ...

[The Cid]

Oh well. Once we get out of the group, everyone starts off with a clean slate, right?

Yes, but position matters. The winner from group C gets to face the second-place team from group D, and vice versa. (Right now that would see the US playing Ghana while Slovenia plays Germany and millions of English people light themselves on fire.) So it's advantageous to be the top team in one's group.

Though FIFA may be burned to the ground if we somehow don't make it out of the pool.

Or, more likely, we'll be upset for like a day and then go back to baseball season, NFL preseason and NBA free agency (aka the Lebronathon.)

Hey, does anyone know the tiebreakers for these group stages? I'm trying to figure out if there's a scenario in which the US wins over Algeria but still fails to advance out of the group stage. Does that involve England winning by half a dozen goals or something?