Players should not be trying to influence refs during the game.

Attempting to influence the ref during the game is unsportsmanlike behavior. It is not within the spirit of the rules in team games. Players play the game to the best of their ability (they make mistakes), officials ref the game to the best of their ability (they also make mistakes), in the end everybody shakes hands and goes home. One team is the winner, one is the loser. Life goes on...

In the game of soccer you have over 90 minutes to prove you are the best team. That is plenty of time to get the job done as the sport was intended to be played (with your mouth shut!).

I wish I could say I was a proud American, but after reading all that has happened during and after this game, I can't say that, sorry!

Not all that proud of the fact that Abby was counting the seconds out loud while the Canadian keeper had the ball in an attempt to use her influence to get a call that was in fact a really trivial event that had very little effect on the game. 90 minutes is a long amount of playing time. To complain about the amount of time the keeper has the ball before distributing it is absurd. Add up all the celebration time for the other five goals scored in the game and you most likely have about the same amount of combined time of this event sequence. Why were those calls not made?

Players will take everything they can get away with in the game of soccer;

-Diving inside the box attempting to get a PK call
-Intentionally using their hands to keep the ball out of the net while standing on the gaol line during a World Cup game
-Taking players down at midfield to stop a counter attack (the professional foul)
-Keepers jumping off the line to stop a PK
-Players stepping forward ahead of the ten yard distance on free kicks
The list could go on forever...

And we wonder why the game is now buried in corruption at the highest levels...

It is the ref's job to keep the game fair and tell the players to S-T-F-U!

Can't really believe that a ref made that kind of game changing call during a game that was being played in such an important historical environment.



Maybe Abby should just concentrate on her own performance in the final game. She is lucky to be there.

Totally support the referee Correct call we need more of this to stop CHEATING TIME WASTERS.I have been complaining all Tournament about the pathetic wasters & divers GET IN THE POOL. This is the Olympics supposed to be about sportsmanship not cheating to win.
I hope the FIFA gang send a memo to everyone involved what the actual laws of the game are.
I want instant red cards on foul & abusive language to match officials which was one of the most important rules ever .
The law changes over the last 40years have ruined the game I grew up with. Only MONEY counts anymore.
Great call by the refereee & than Canada hand ball not once but twice! WTF we are innocent BOLLOCKS.yOUR NOT EVEN A REAL cOUNTRY!

Personally I hate games where the refs over enforce every rule. I think must all soccer/sports fans would agree with that.

We want to see all 22 players that start the game finish the game. A game where all 22 players finish the game is a successfully played and managed game. If the rules are needed to be used too much during the game then the punishment aspect of the rules is not effective.

The rules are there to create a fair game only, not to give one team a huge advantage in the last few minutes of a big game. The rules are intended to be a deterrent to keep the game flowing with as few stoppages as possible. The game is intended to be an endurance team event. That is why it is 90 minutes long. If you stop the game to enforce every grey area foul the game would flow like a brick uphill.

What happened to the concept of refs being consistent with their decisions?

Is that not what we all ask from them as a group?

We know that it is a hard job to do, we just ask that they call the game in a predictable way so the players have some idea how to act. They are many grey areas in many of the laws in this game, it is the refs job to keep a steady flow of endurance play going and also create a fairly played game. It works best when they only make the calls that are needed to stop actions that are outside of normal.

I would agree that the rules should be adhered to by the players, but I don't agree to starting to enforce them in the middle of a semi-final game of a tournament. The rules were not enforced earlier in that tournament and none of the players thought they would be enforced in the last few minutes of this semi-final game.

This was a very poor choice of choosing when to apply the enforcement of a rule. It is so far outside the statistical normal used in the enforcement of this rules that it could be a bit suspicious.

FIFA uses statistical methods to find games that may have been compromised/fixed by that the same methods. They observe what is normal and what is outside of the normal patterns of betting on those games. Games that are outside the statistical norm are investigated more. Where do you think the enforcement of this rules falls statistically based on past history of enforcement?

This is the same as driving on a freeway where the speed limit is 65 mph and everybody else is driving 73 mph everyday. You drive this road to work and back home in the evening everyday. One day you come around a corner and a cop is sitting hidden behind a billboard. He lets all the other cars going 73 by but then pulls out after you and he gives you a $125 ticket while everyone else drives by still driving at 71 mph...

In the past when FIFA has decided to crack down on the rules they give everyone a bit of a warning that the change was about to happen. They enforce the rule the first or second time it happens to show the players how they should expect the game to go.

The two hand balls were only there because of a call that has never been made in my lifetime before.

It was not a reasonable call considering the past history of non enforcement. The rule has been ignored for decades.


Q- Why did one ref make her own decision during the very end of a semi-final game to start enforcing the rule? Some may have a right to see it as a suspicious call.

*I also don't agree with leagues publicly threatening to fine players who complain about poor performances by refs.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics--a...nst-canada.html

"I wasn't yelling. I was just counting," Wambach revealed Tuesday during an interview at the team hotel. "Probably did it five to seven times."

Herdman, the Canadian coach, was asked about Wambach's admission and tipped his hat to the player. While he said his players can learn from her, he wouldn't ask them to do any counting in the future.

"She found a loophole. Our players can learn from that."
.............................................................................................................................

Great now every team also needs a tax attorney to find their own loophole that they can use to create their own advantage to win games they could not win during the run of play. Great!







STFU and play the game!

USA vs Japan Gold medel game (just got done working and now get to watch the game).

8th minute
Great service into the box by Alex Morgan while facing away from the goal.

27th minute
Foul and free kick for Japan...

Are you kidding me?
CONSISTENCY IN CALLS?


41st minute
Shannon Boxx, Carli Lloyd, and Abby Wambach have done a great job of taking Japan's #6 Sakaguchi and #10 Sawa out of the game. That is key in this game they are the first choice players for Japan to move the ball out of the back and into the attacking areas. Shut that connection down and you destroy the team playing style.

Half
Japan had their chances in the first half but did not finish. The central mids Sakaguchi and Sawa don't seem to have the same amount of energy as last summer in the World Cup. They are not doing the movement work to create space for each other...

46th minute
Japan free kick
Are you kidding me? X2



50th minute
Alex just loves going 1v3 all alone in the attacking third, what a an attacking player... Love her play.

58 minute
Great decision by Pia to take out the attacking outside mid Rapione and sit the team back to defend to win with a two goal lead. Japan is not playing well tonight. We are now playing two lines of defenders in a smaller area closer to our own goal, very compact in width. We are giving Japan the outside and there is no way Japan will beat the US by playing crosses into the box from out wide. Alex is having a great game playing by herself up front, this is a good/bold decision by Pia. Great stuff!

63 minute
Japan scores as Shannon Boxx gets caught ball watching at the top of the box and lets the Japanese player make an unmarked run into the box. The defender next to her goes to pressure the ball and the player is wide open.

66 minute
US is not doing the work of defending (which is what our tactics are now) and this game may not end well for the US...

71 minute
Rachel Buehler sure likes to foul the players she marks when close to the goal...



Brandi Chastain is a great person to have calling the game for the fans at home,

82 minute
Carli is POM in my book

83 minute
OK maybe Hope is POM...

88 minute
No Alex is POM...

88 minute
Abby has created many good chances tonight but has been "unlucky" as the English say. She is a great worker and attacking player. A rare thing!

USA 2004...

USA 2008...

USA 2012...

The story continues on until 2016...






GO CONCACAF!

Mexico take down Brazil on Saturday!

Great match re-cap JW7. I though the US back line still looked a little soft at times. They allowed several goals in the tourney and in qualifying due to some really ugly breakdowns in back. It is almost as if they lose their compactness really easily, and forget the roles/responsibilities we demand of our youth players. Time to get back to the basics when it comes to defending!

McKayla Maroney was not impressed with the play of the Brazilian Olympic team.

Congratulation to Mexico as the 2012 Olympic gold medal team.



CONCACAF rules 2012 Olympic soccer in London.
Dreams are just that, dreams. The real truth comes within the complete performance of a team...








Q- Were there European teams in the 2012 Olympics?

I remember seeing the French woman's team play but not much else. I thought England should have had a team in the Olympics. At least in the men's tournament.


*In the last few years, when it comes to the final games of the big tournaments, the woman's games have been more fun to watch then the men's games!

That's the facts Jack...