An injustice on the soccer field
Go, team! No, not the Lakers, who had their deserved day in the sun this week. We’re talking about the U.S. soccer team playing Algeria at the World Cup on Wednesday. If you haven’t already tuned in to the planet-wide party taking place in South Africa, if you happened to miss last week’s U.S.-Slovenia match, which ended in a draw when we were robbed — robbed — of our winning goal by a first-time World Cup referee from Mali, this would be a good day to start tooting your own vuvuzela.
Nothing galvanizes Americans like a sense of injustice. Well, it galvanizes most people, but hey, we’re the injured party here. After a dramatic comeback from Slovenia’s 2-0 first half lead, the U.S. team tied in the second half, then midfielder Maurice Edu knocked the ball into the Slovenian net for what looked like a beautiful, winning goal. That is, until referee Koman Coulibaly whistled foul and disallowed the goal without explanation, as is his right under FIFA rules. But oh, how wrong it was, a terrible, horrible, no-good call, said commentators around the globe after watching an instant replay, which is not used in soccer.
Fortunately, good sportsmanship prevailed. None of our players tried to flay the ref, and the U.S. didn’t overreact with an invasion of Mali. (Admittedly, it’s kind of nice to have the world feeling our pain this time.) All sorts of Americans heretofore uninterested in soccer took notice and started learning the rules of the game.
Even before the troubled match, Americans were watching the World Cup in record numbers. ESPN says viewership is up 60% from 2006, and now that the stolen goal has raised our collective blood pressure, who knows? Media not typically known for sports coverage — such as Vanity Fair, GQ and NPR — have started soccer blogs, while the Wall Street Journal has daily coverage of what has been a surprising World Cup. European powerhouses such as England, Italy and Spain are stumbling; France is suffering a meltdown; and the U.S. is still kicking. With any luck — and a better referee, as Coulibaly sits out this round — the team will kick all the way to the next round and into the hearts of mainstream America.
