The Morning After: Thoughts on USA-Slovenia

Well friends, it’s the morning after the most talked about game thus far at the 2010 World Cup, as the USA battled back from a two-goal deficit to force the draw with Slovenia. Of course, a 2-2 draw isn’t much to talk about on the surface, but if you saw the game, you know there’s a tad bit more to it than that. So let’s discuss yesterday’s contest, and try to make sense of it all.

– Where do we begin? Why that’s an easy question:

It’s the most talked about call in quite some time for U.S. soccer, and for all the wrong reasons. Referee Koman Coulibaly saw something on this play, and decided that Maurice Edu‘s go-ahead goal would not count. And why wouldn’t it count? No one has a damn clue.

There is simply nothing in that video that comes close to a foul by the USA. However, it’s hard to count on one hand the number of fouls I see being committed by Slovenia, which makes this decision all the more baffling. Just what did Coulibaly see on this play? We’ll probably never know, because I’m about 99% sure that even Coulibaly doesn’t know what he saw on this play. And if he does know, then why couldn’t he give an explanation to the players on the field?

One more thing. I’m tired of hearing “well if the USA hadn’t got down two goals, this wouldn’t have mattered.” That’s garbage. So the referee should get a free pass just because the favored team trailed by two goals at one point in the game? Regardless of how the game started, the U.S. did what they had to do. They did their job. They tied up the game, and then should have went ahead. What else are they suppose to do? Should we just call the game after a two-goal deficit from now on or just relieve the referee of all responsibility after that point, and basically just let him do whatever he pleases without any type of consequences?

I’m not going to play the “well, if” game. If the USA had been up 127-0, it still would have been a bad call. I’m not blaming him for the overall result. I’m blaming the fact that he made a call that greatly impacted the outcome of this game…..yet we have no idea what the reasoning is behind the call. Honestly, most of us just want to know what happened to warrant the call. Is that asking too much?

– On to other matters, the defense once again had a slow start. This team has to stop digging itself an early hole, because it’s just not going to work if they want to advance in the knockout stage. Though I like to see the energy and aggressiveness that we bring to the table when we get down, let’s maybe just do that on a regular basis and not just when we’re down. The defensive lapses really weren’t all that bad though, so I think we’re making progress.

– If there was ever a doubt as to who the leader of this team was, Landon Donovan made sure everyone knew it yesterday. Donovan knew that the U.S. had to get an early goal in the second half to build the momentum, and he went and got it. He basically walked up to the goal and kicked the ball as hard as he could, and it went in. Keep it simple, right? Given the angle that he had, it was a pretty excellent goal. If not for this determination by Donovan early in the half, I don’t see this game getting to a draw.

– Luckily, things got a little better several hours after the game was finished. Algeria managed to hold England to a draw, which puts the U.S. in a much clearer situation now. Beat Algeria, and you advance. It’s that simple. We could get into other scenarios, but I want to keep it that easy for now. It won’t be an easy task by any means, since Algeria also still has a chance to move on to the next round, but let’s not kid ourselves. The U.S. is the better team, and should win this game. But as we’ve seen many times in this tournament, the better team doesn’t always win.

– Let me get this piece of negativity out of the way real quick before we wrap this up. If England loses to Slovenia, and the U.S. loses to Algeria, will this be the most disappointing group in World Cup history? It’s certainly interesting to think about. But I’ll tell you who wouldn’t be disappointed: the guy in Vegas who thought it would be funny to pick Slovenia and Algeria to advance out of the group (seriously, did anyone in the world make that prediction?). I don’t think this is going to happen, but after what took place yesterday, there is a dark cloud of possibility hanging over this whole situation.

– So let’s go ahead and make a prediction. It all comes down to whether or not the U.S. will allow this goal to affect them. I don’t think it will, and I think they’ll be pissed. I’m not going to predict a rout, but I’ll say that the U.S. beats Algeria convincingly. As for England-Slovenia, I’ve seen nothing from England that makes me feel like they belong in the next round. They look completely uninterested, and all the concerns about team chemistry heading into South Africa are now warranted. Slovenia is playing better right now, and I’ll predict that they hold England to a draw. Slovenia and the U.S. advance.

Your thoughts on yesterday’s game? And who do you think advances from Group C?