Peter King is hopping mad about the blown call during Friday’s draw between the United States and Slovenia at the World Cup.
Here’s King’s explanation of the play:’
With the score tied at 2 in the 86th minute, the United States had a direct kick on the Slovenian side of the field. There was much pushing and shoving in front of the goal, both before the ball was in the air and while it flew toward the net. Replays showed three American players being bearhugged by Slovenians — and Americans, in the case of at least two scrums, hugging back. But in the case of an earlier hero, midfielder Michael Bradley, Slovenian Aleksander Radosavljevic did his best Ray Lewis imitation, practically dragging Bradley down just feet from the goal. As the ball fell to earth, American sub Maurice Edu pounced on it, flicking it hard into the net for what appeared to be the winning goal. But in his first World Cup game, referee Koman Coulibaly, from the landlocked West African country of Mali, ran into the fray and blew off the goal.
King is mostly upset that Coulibaly didn’t explain why there was a penalty and which player it was on.
At least four Americans tried to find out what the call was. But Coulibaly, who, according to several U.S. players was all but mute during the game (a rarity in world-class games, they say), didn’t inform either side what call he made. We still do not know what the infraction was that Coulibaly called, and under the idiotic rules of FIFA, Coulibaly doesn’t have to say what the infraction was. He might go to his grave with it.
“Who knows what it was?” said the man of the match, Landon Donovan of the United States. “I am not sure how much English he spoke, or if he spoke English. But we asked him several times in a non-confrontational way. He just ignored us.”
The call was awful. But in all sports, when hugely controversial calls are made — the Tuck Rule call by Walt Coleman in the Raiders-Patriots playoff game nine years ago, the Jim Joyce ruination-of-the-perfect-game this month — at least we know what the call is. Here, millions of people staring at TVs around the world are still asking, “What’s the call?”
So I asked Bob Bradley in the American press conference: “Isn’t something like this a bit of an outrage in a game of this importance?”
I could see Bradley thinking about how to answer this question. When he did, he said, “In the midst of a game, it’s rare that a referee will give you an answer. When you’re involved in the game long enough, there are moments when you’re frustrated … That’s the way the game works. And you move on.”
I find it off-putting that Bradley can chalk this situation up to, “That’s the way the game works.” That’s not right and if that’s how soccer usually operates, then no wonder more Americans don’t get into the sport.
The U.S. deserves an explanation.
