Good questions. You might become a futball fan after all.

"- On the play that resulted in the penalty kick, the announcer seemed to suggest that the red card was automatic. Later I heard people questioning the decision to award a red card. What's the rule?  What was your take on the call?"

Red/yellow cards are completely discretionary. The guideline for a red card/PK in the box is generally the same as it is for a penalty shot in hockey - did the defender disrupt a clear scoring chance by committing a foul? It was certainly a hard tackle by the defender, but I don't know if Marta had a clear, indisputable chance at goal. And one comment I heard was that the USA player got the ball before she made contact with Marta, which would negate any foul call in the first place, but I didn't see a conclusive replay.

"- When they awarded the re-kick after Solo stopped the PK, they seemed to think it was because she left the line early which she clearly didn't. Since then I heard something that a US player may have entered the box early. What was the call?  On a side note, the fact that they play on after the PK is a dumb rule. If the goalie makes the save, stop play and award a goal kick."

I'm assuming the call was on the USA player entering the box, because Solo didn't come off her line. It's a legitimate infraction, but I've never seen it called. I don't know why the ball is live after a PK. It just is. And I've seen teams score after a save. Talk about sudden momentum swings.

"I didn't see the play where the Brazilian apparently faked death (in soccer? Go figure). What happened and did she get a call from the officials?"

She took a mild blow to the back of the head on a 50/50 ball, walked about 20 feet and then collapsed like she fainted. They took her off on a stretcher (which is SOP these days. They try to get injured players off the field as quickly as possible) and as soon as the first aid crew got her past the end line, she hopped off the stretcher and ran back to her bench where she waited for the next stoppage to re-enter the game. She got a yellow card. Suffice to say, it's one of the most unsportsmanlike things I've ever seen, even by soccer standards. Completely unforgivable. And it probably back-fired on Brazil because the referee stopped her watch during that shenanigan.

"Is it me or does every member of the Brazilian team look like a man? I've never seen so many ugly Brazilian women.  Not that the US had much to look at (although Solo is pretty)."

Especially for a nation renowned for gorgeous women like Brazil. Alex Morgan is supposed to be the next Barbie doll from the U.S. team, but I'm unimpressed. None of these teams has offered a lot of eye candy so far (though I haven't seen Sweden yet). The German team looked like extras from a women's prison movie.

"One last note, I know it's soccer and they otherwise would probably be there all night, but I hate penalty kicks. Imagine the Stanley Cup being awarded in a shootout. Boooooo"

It's a legitimate criticism, and FIFA has tried just about every format conceivable. But goals in soccer are so infrequent compared to hockey that you might end up scraping players off the field after 4-5 hours. I'd try another set of 15-minute overtimes in a sudden death format before the shootout, but we North Americans tend to appreciate survival skills a little more than the rest of the world.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (7/10/2011 8:01 pm)

I've been trying to come up with an analogy to compare call that resulted in the re-kick, but I can't find an entirely suitable one. The closest thing I can think of is if Pujols hits a grand slam, but he's called out because Oquendo was standing outside the third base coach's box. By the letter of the law, it may be the correct call, but there's little or no advantage gained by the Cardinals from Oquendo being outside the coach's box in that situation and it has really nothing to do with the play itself.

Max wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

I've been trying to come up with an analogy to compare call that resulted in the re-kick, but I can't find an entirely suitable one. The closest thing I can think of is if Pujols hits a grand slam, but he's called out because Oquendo was standing outside the third base coach's box. By the letter of the law, it may be the correct call, but there's little or no advantage gained by the Cardinals from Oquendo being outside the coach's box in that situation and it has really nothing to do with the play itself.

Did I miss something?  Was that goal called back?

Like I wrote, it wasn't a completely apt analogy. If you've got a better one, please share it so I can steal it.

Max wrote:

explain: "re-kick".

Solo saved the first PK, but one of her teammates was deemed to have entered the 18-yard penalty area before the Brazil player struck the ball. So Brazil got a second chance and converted the PK.
I could have also used the term "do-over," but I think that's become passe even for my 11-year-old.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (7/11/2011 12:26 pm)

"Didn't Solo get a yellow card during that play?  I took that as an indication that the infraction was called on her for leaving her line (although I suppose she could have said the wrong thing to the ref).  What was the yellow card for?"

She was booked for "dissent," soccer-ese for arguing with the referee. It sounds more sophisticated. Can you imagine Earl Weaver back in the day being thrown out of a game for "dissent," like he was making a strident point to the umpire about Soviet deployment of troops in Eastern Europe?
"Say Nestor, don't you think what Breshnev is doing in Romania is wholly imperialist?"
"Come on, Earl. If your country was invaded twice in less than half a century, wouldn't you want a buffer?"
"I say it's entirely dogmatic!!"
"Well, you'll have time to think about it, because your OUTTA HERE!!"

"During the penalty kicks at the end, the Brazilian goalie was coming off her line early on every kick.  They called her for it the first time, but she continued to do so on every kick thereafter.  It didn't matter because we scored on all of them, but that suggests to me that the goalies must do that all the time because it looked like habit for the Brazilian keeper."

She clearly came off her line on the first kick. I didn't see any similarly blatant infractions on the other kicks, but I guess I was so caught up in the moment I might not have noticed. The keeper can move laterally along the goal line. Defending a PK is literally guesswork. You pick a side and hope the player kicks the ball that way.
FWIW, a superb PK is one that hits the side netting. There is an artistic quality to these things.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (7/12/2011 9:40 am)

forsberg_us wrote:

"She clearly came off her line on the first kick. I didn't see any similarly blatant infractions on the other kicks, but I guess I was so caught up in the moment I might not have noticed."

The penalty kicks start at about the 2:25 mark.  To my untrained eye, it looks like she left early on the 1st, 4th and 5th goals and maybe the 2nd.  I don't think she had time on the 3rd since the player took a short run-up to the ball.  Maybe I'm seeing something that isn't there, but it looks to me like on each kick she takes 2 steps forward before the kick and then dives laterally as the ball is struck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUIEh-Dp3XY

Maybe there's only a re-kick if the shooter doesn't score, like in basketball when a lane violation on the defensive team gets ignored if the player at the foul line makes the free throw.

artie_fufkin wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

"She clearly came off her line on the first kick. I didn't see any similarly blatant infractions on the other kicks, but I guess I was so caught up in the moment I might not have noticed."

The penalty kicks start at about the 2:25 mark.  To my untrained eye, it looks like she left early on the 1st, 4th and 5th goals and maybe the 2nd.  I don't think she had time on the 3rd since the player took a short run-up to the ball.  Maybe I'm seeing something that isn't there, but it looks to me like on each kick she takes 2 steps forward before the kick and then dives laterally as the ball is struck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUIEh-Dp3XY

Maybe there's only a re-kick if the shooter doesn't score, like in basketball when a lane violation on the defensive team gets ignored if the player at the foul line makes the free throw.

I suspect that's right.  Why reward the goalie for her infraction by requiring a re-kick?  But she was coming off the line early, wasn't she?

"But she was coming off the line early, wasn't she?"

Clearly. There's a linesman on the goal line, who I suspect is there to judge if a) the entire ball crosses the line, and b) if the goalie comes off her line. What wasn't shown was the replay of the Brazil goalie's save on Shannon Boxx's first attempt. It would be interesting to see if the linesman or the referee made the call that the keeper came off her line.