The Five Stages of USA Grief
My five stages of grief following Koman Coulibaly's controversial decision that took an incredible come-from-behind win away from the USMNT:
1. Denial
Did that really just happen? Did some no-name from Mali just rob the US of a rightfully earned 3 points and take away one of the greatest comeback wins in World Cup history? There's no way that you can make that call. It's baffling. There's no way that anyone could be that blind or clueless to the point that they ignore three blatant fouls on American players inside the box but find a phantom one to negate a good goal. It's unbelievable in every sense of the word, and I refuse to believe that that actually just happened.
2. Anger
Koman Coulibaly, you're a f***ing moron. You should be banned from officiating World Cup games for the rest of your life, if not all organized soccer matches. You're lucky that you robbed Americans and not Colombians or Brazilians or the English or some other completely soccer-mad nation, because chances are there would be a bounty on your head and plenty of eager takers. Hell, I might be underselling Americans; it only takes one nut, and I'm sure you've created more than a few. Congratulations, you're a trending topic on Twitter. FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS. I have no f***ing clue what the hell you were thinking, what the hell you called, and why you did it. I really hope I never cross your path, it's really come to that. I wait four long, long years for this, and your awful call could end up ruining it. I hate you.
3. Bargaining
FIFA, just do the right thing and over turn this call. We'll even play the last 5+ minutes over again, with 10 men even; I'd take anything at this point. Please, at least just admit that one of your minions blew it big time and that it might be time to bring in the five referee system or instant replay or something. This is a complete joke and stain on what is supposed to be your shining moment in the global eye. Let us appeal the call, just take a look at it and make the right decision. We'll pay you for your services, Jack Warner, just do something to reverse this injustice.
4. Depression
I just can't understand this. I wait four years for each World Cup, and yet again it might be a dubious refereeing decision that cuts it short. Why? Why does this keep happening? It's like an inevitability that we'll get jobbed by a ref at some point on the big stage. I don't know how many times I can put up with this before I just give up hope altogether. I feel completely drained, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I kind of just want to sit in the dark or go to sleep for awhile, anything to get my mind off of this.
5. Acceptance
Sigh. It is what it is, and ultimately I'm pretty damn happy that we managed to pull a point out of this because I had already seen our World Cup flash before my eyes. Koman Coulibaly might be a disgrace to referees, Malians and human beings everywhere, but chances are we won't have to deal with him again. And, in the end, we still have to do what we would have been trying to do anyway: get a win against Algeria. Despite this draw, a win against the Desert Foxes all but assures us of a spot in the knockout rounds. Only a 1-goal win and a high-scoring draw between Slovenia and England (2-2 or more) would deny us a place in the Round of 16. If we win by two goals or more, we're in regardless of the result in the other match. And all of this is assuming that England beats Algeria; if the Three Lions drop any points this afternoon, then any win will put us through.
We can't change what happened, we can only hope that it doesn't happen again (or that FIFA instructs the next set of refs to give us some make-up calls. If you're reading, Sepp, (and I expect that you are) pass on that suggestion to your boys with the whistles). We can also just accept that we played a very good half and a very bad half, and we probably shouldn't have put ourselves in the position that we were in to begin with. Let's just hope that against Algeria we turn in a complete 90 minute performance and get the kind of win that we need to keep this run alive.
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Well, that was somewhat therapeutic (okay, not really). Now, on to the Algeria game. I can't bear to watch highlights of Maurice Edu's goal anymore.
Feel free to get out any anger you have in the comments section. No racism will be tolerated, but I'll let bad language go.
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8 comments:
I agree. The ref was horrible. He gave a yellow card when it should have been a red
One, and missed calls he should have made.
This is completly outrageous. FIFA should comment
On this one.
USA won the game but lost against the ref. He
Should be fired. (From www.yousavirtual.com)
Good take, it is unfortunate. Poor mental and tactical awareness first half, great response.
Unfortunately, the one who needs to be fired is Jozi Altidore. Tremendous potential, but has shown little improvement in work ethic, positional awareness, ability to hold the ball, etc. from last summer. Too young and mentally weak to be starting. His weakness in these areas contribute directly to opposing teams counterattacks and particularly to exposing center of US team.
Don't blame Torres (only one besides Fahlhaber who can hold the ball). Benny is equally weak in defense. If the US could hold the ball they wouldn't have to resort to silly long balls and constantly be backpedaling
Cherundolo, Bradley, Bocanegra and DeMerit played well. They need some support up front. Team defense, not constant isolation of defenders.
Argentina's defense is horrific, but at least they know that and play up the pitch.
First off, loved this post. That's the exact process I went through after this tragedy. We are gonna RUN Algeria. We have to. It's the only fair outcome.
Second, in response to the second anonymous comment: 1) His name is Jozy, not Jozi, 2) did you watch the game? Ya, he was up and down in the first half and needs to be more consistent, but he was outstanding in the second half. He worked his ass off, drew free kicks, and perfectly set up Bradley for the second goal (great run by Herc helped too), 3) we shouldn't blame Torres, he is young, but BB shouldn't have had him in there. He should know his players better, and 4) Compairing us to Argentina is ludicrous. We are completely differnt teams. Be smarter. Thank you.
Bring on the Algerians!!
I heared from a guy at work that said he saw it on the internet that the Ref made that call so USA wouldn't win to protest USA's treatment of Muslims.
Isn´t Mawi where Madonna was adopting kids ? I heard that many people there don´t like that. Maybe this is payback.
Harshbarger - spot on about Altidore, he was very good in the Slovenia game, when he had any sort of service to speak of... how do you assist on the game-tying goal and have "anonymous" people calling for your head? wow.
As for the post itself, I have seen on other blogs that the foul called which led to Edu's non-goal was a "blatant dive" by Altidore. I can't find a replay of the foul; any thoughts on this?
You said you would avoid racism but what if racism was at the root of the call? I don't refer to the race of the two persons involved, I refer to the majority race of the country that was victimized ... America. Yes we are a mixed nation and all that bs but most people would think White when they think of the United States. This was a Black man apparently blinded to what most everybody on the planet witnessed. What else could it have been? Reverse the scenario, racism would definitely had been plead had it been a White ref making a totally outrageous call victimizing a majority Black country. Worst of all, the FIFA backed protest denial smears the beautiful rainbow nation of South Africa. I still love soccer and I adore the host nation but am incensed at the nature of judging at this, the grandest sporting stage of them all. It reminds me that Whites do not have a corner on the market when it comes to racism.
Just wanted to respond to this none sense: "Jozy Altidore Should get fired?" Stop the bull shit. this kid make things happen for USA. He's got talent and might be the quickest one one the team. People are saying that USA needs a big TOP Striker or they not going anywhere... My question to them is: how many goals does MESSI scores for Argentina in the first round? ZERO. but he made things happen on the field. Just like Jozy did for USA, he used his body and we had a lot of free kicks because of him. So don't post any bull sh$t if your don't know what your talking about.
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