Question Number: 23543

Character, Attitude and Control 6/23/2010

RE: World Cup Professional

Mike of IC, IA USA asks...

In the aftermath of the last-minute USA win and advancement, and having seen no question to you guys yet about it, I'm curious what you think.

Were the calls in the last two US matches particularly egregious, or is all the attention on them just a US media creation? Since they won, there won't be nearly the attention on the 2nd game, but between the phantom offside and some fairly nasty un-carded Algerian play, it makes me wonder if the calls in those two games were as bad as they've been made out to be.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Each game is independent. That is that the referee crew will not bring in a previous game to make a decision on the current game. In soccer, the referees are expected to be perfect. Look at the NFL...it has often times been proven that a referee awards a touchdown or takes away a touchdown incorrectly...yet they seem to be forgiven for it. But soccer we expect perfection and the standards are much higher than other American sports. It appears that the U.S. may have got the bad end of the stick on two decisions so far. Soccer is just a different sport.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The US comes out on the bad end of two questionable calls, and they rally together to go on anyway. France qualifies on a missed call, and the team collapses in the group stage.

The response that teams have when things go wrong is far more important than the misfortune in the first place.

A poster on a message board about robotics noted that 'bad calls' that affect goals are more important in soccer than they are in other sports like gridiron football or basketball. Soccer goals are so infrequent that messing up on just one of them can have a great effect on the game.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mike
I was interested in this quote by the great Italian referee Pierluigi Collina
"" It is not a matter of authority, it is a matter of respect. You have to be accepted on the field of play not because you are the referee, but because people trust in you, the players trust in you. This means you can reach the best result a referee can reach which is to be accepted even when he is wrong. That is the best, because it means the players trust in you even when they realise you are wrong - and it does happen that you are wrong. So it is a matter of credibility and trust much more than authority. ""

For me I trust that the referees made what they believed were the correct calls. Whether they were right or not is a different matter and clearly that is one of opinion.

That is part of the game and we have to accept that. Unfortunately in the modern world with huge media coverage many chose not to accept it.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

What does and does not happen to the US Team is going to be amplified by media all over the world. As a country we are loved and vilified but everyone involved with soccer also understands the huge economic impact the USA could have on world soccer should the sport ever approach the popularity of say England. If you read the blogs you will see many that absolutely hate us and others that wish us well.

There have been some truly bizarre calls in this World Cup involving many teams. The Slovenia game could have been the undoing of the US team especially given to this day no one knows what the referee saw that justified his whistle. But, after the expected comments by coaches and a few players, the team pretty much said they'd put it behind them and move on. Then the offside call on Dempsey when he was clearly onside negates yet another goal. It seems this US team is the most resilient we've had. They could have easily folded but instead pressed harder. Shot after shot hit goal posts, crossbars and finally in the 91st minutes, Donovan buries a goal and the US is in the final 16.

As noted above, how a team adjusts to adversity of any kind is more important than the adversity itself.

Congrats to this team. They've played hard and not quit which cannot be said of all the teams.