After having a huge edge in play during the first half, the USA came under pressure to start the second half of its Women’s World Cup semifinal against Germany in Montreal. The game changed in the59th minute when Germany was awarded a penalty kick, but Celia Sasic missed wide, ending Germany’s streak of having converted every penalty kick — 17 in all –it’s taken at the Women’s World Cup.
On one of the few German chances in the penalty area, a ball bounced up on the turf and U.S. defender JulieJohnston hauled down German Alexandra Popp. Romanian referee Teodora Albon whistled for a penalty kick and issuedJohnston a yellow card — but did not send Johnston off for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.
Sasic, the tournament’s leading scorer with six goals, had converted twopenalty kicks against France — the first in the 84th minute and the second in the shootout when the Germans went 5-for-5 to win their semifinal.
But it took a took a minute for Solo toget set up on her goal line, and 95 seconds after Albon whistled the penalty kick, Sasic stepped up and pit her penalty kick wide.
“You do what you can,” Solo said in a post-gameinterview with Fox Sports. “I did the stall tactic. It worked.”
Ten minutes later, the USA had a penalty kick of its own — controversially awarded for a foul by Germany defender
“It was a big chance,” said Sasic of her penalty kick, “and I am very sorry for the team. It was a great chance. [Solo] shouldn’t influence me. My job is to score thegoal.”
Looked like the US penalty-kick should have been a free-kick just outside the area.Re the German p-kick, the guilty German should have been red-carded and Solo should have been yellow-carded for blatant lack of “sportswomanship” … stalling. Some people call that “gamesmanship”.
The reply of Johnston does not show where Solo was in relationship to the goal. Also, whether or not the US should have been given a PK or not, does not negate the 2nd goal the Americans scored. The Americans won that game on the 50:50 balls, the won it on passing, they won it b/c they played the full 90 minutes and the Germans seemed to give up after a missed PK.
John, do you think Solo’s tactics were worse that Tim Krul’s vs Costa Rica during during their penalty shootout in 2014? Hope stalled to get herself mentally ready and let Sasic’s mind stew a bit. Until FIFA comes down with some new interpretations we’re going to see a continuation of this gamesmanship. I don’t like it either but it’s permitted just like GK coming off the line early or players entering the penalty area early as well, which are all violations of strict interpretation of the law.
It was easy to see that the German player blocked Morgan just shy of the penalty area AFTER you see it replayed on TV 3 or 4 times. But in real time, it’s not as clear cut, if you are a referee at field level and see Morgan hit the (artificial) turf a yard or two into the area? Or do you want instant replay to make those kinds of decisions? (My gripe about the referee is that she ran up and down the middle of the field and was always in the players’ ways. I think she should have been running on more of a diagonal throughout.)
The Morgan PK was too close to call. Having given the Germans a PK, so she did the normal thing and gave the US one. Remember the line is part of the box. Even in super slo-mo we’re talking inches, and no one can make that call that precisely in real-time. Reality is that US outplayed the Germans up and down the field, and deserved to win. As to the Julie Johnston yellow card, that is always a referee discretion call, and this was not a clear break-away with the ball clearly in control of the attacker. Bouncing ball, several players converging, ref made the right call.
This would have been a great game but it was butchered by the referee. First, Johnson clearly should have been sent off. That, and not Solo’s stalling, was the key turning point. A player is sent off *by rule* for DOGSO; there is no discretion involved. It is a failure of character or nerve (maybe same thing) of the referee to not do apply the rule. Second, stall tactics are not a legitimate part of the game. That merited a yellow. And finally, that Morgan PK was certainly not too close to call. Maybe on the TV screens this would be harder to see, but it’s been my experience as a referee that *when properly positioned* a referee can see very clearly where things take place. It looked to be easily 1/2 to 1 yard out of the box, especially from the side. Unfortunately, as Lee pointed out, this referee was poorly positioned much of the game, and in this case her AR either did not help or was ignored. While some may think that the second goal negates all of this, I don’t think things would have gone down like they did if the referee had made the proper calls. What should have been an awesome game was in the end decided by bad refereeing. In this tournament, at this stage of the tournament, this is inexcusable.
the ref made the correct call under the current guidance; although the following is a USSF, it is based on the current FIFA ref guidance: “Many fouls can continue across the penalty area. At one time, the location of the foul was where it began. It made it clearer for everyone. FIFA changed that notion when it introduced the notion of a continuing foul in a questin regarding holding (it is a penalty kick if you grab outside, and let go inside the penalty area). But, the notion does not apply only to holding. The current interpetation of the USSF is that the location of a continuing foul is where the restart is most advantageous to the victim (i.e., a penalty kick). This was called in 2008 in a MLS match, and it was the subject of a published analysis by USSF that this was the correct decision.”
If Johnson is not sent off, then “Denying an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity” has no literal meaning at this level (US Soccer’s “4 D’s are there — Distance to ball, Distance to goal, Direction of attack, lack of cover Defenders). Credit Johnson for a truly outstanding tournament, but she clearly should not be playing in the Final.The referee blew the “weight” of calls at each end — keeping Johnson in the game and then penalizing the Germans for a foul that was initiated outside the box. Her unequal discretion gave the US too great an advantage for a match at this level.Having said all this, the US probably would have won this match in overtime anyway as the German team played very “un-German-like” in the last 20 minutes. Rushed, off balanced, aerial passes from the back did not look a #1 ranked team under pressure
Should be “Johnston” … my apologies
I find all the comments interesting and all in some sense are correct. On Morgan pk is ref close? Eh, yes, very close. And at full speed there was deliberate contact and unfair play in the box. No fault there for calling the kick.While dogso is ligit, the 4 ds were all there, so why a yellow? Because the ref thought there just wasn’t that much contact. And there wasnt, either. Also the attacker was fouling Julie too, so it was one of those things where the penalty is enough of a penalty. The yellow was correct, for me. The ref was fair, justice was served and the outcome of the game was not changed by the ref, right or wrong.
I should leave this discussion alone, but I won’t. First, whether a foul occurs inside the penalty area or not is the responsibility of the Assistant (who always is supposed to be looking out for this situation) to see, so the position of the referee is not critical. Second, what USSF says about DOGSO matters in the US Open Cup, but does not apply to the World Cup. Third, I don’t feel sympathy for anyone committing professional fouls. Sure it was calculated to prevent the player from getting into the box with the ball, but when you make a cynical foul you take your chances on what the referee calls. The referee could have issued a DOGSO red card. (The other defenders could not have prevented a shot.)
I like the term “sporting behavior” rather than sports(gender)ship. You can even just say, “That wasn’t very sporting.” I don’t have an answer for a substitute for “gamesmanship” that doesn’t apply a gender.