Best and worst

Today's win by the US women's soccer team was an incredible event.  How incredible?  Of all the bloggable topics - our vacation visits to Fenway, the baseball AND basketball halls of fame, Boston and Vermont; the Nats being 500 at the all-star break despite Jayson Werth(less)'s terrible return on their investment; Greece's on going crisis and the parallel one here in Washington on the debt ceiling - I have to blog on that stirring win on penalty kicks.

The game was the best and worst of soccer.  Watching soccer is always kind of tough; there is so little scoring that you don't want to turn away in case you miss an actual goal.  All that tension is magnified in an elimination game against a rival like Brazil in the World Cup.  

And the tension was even higher and crazier this afternoon when the referees blew call after call, and as a result the U.S. was down 1-2 to mighty Brazil AND were down to 10 players.  

One of those goals and the player deficit were both the result of a questionable call against Rachel Buehler that resulted in a red card AND a penalty kick goal. Of course, things got even worse when Brazil was awarded a second penalty kick by the referee after Hope Solo blocked the Samba Queens' first attempt.  Predictably, Marta nailed the do over and the U.S. was tied 1-1 and a player down with 40 minutes of soccer left.

The U.S. defense finally cracked in overtime when Marta scored again after the referees missed a possible off sides call on Brazil.

The calls on German soil were so bad, especially the penalty kick do over, that they reminded me of the 1972 Munich Olympics basketball game against the Soviet Union. In that game an Olympic official, not the referee, ordered a do over for the Soviet basketball team, a chance they converted with a basket to defeat the U.S. for the gold medal.

Despite trailing by a goal with only a few minutes left and only 10 players on the field, the U.S. was determined to go down swinging and displayed that epic American trait - for better (men's and women's world cup) or for worse (Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan) - of never giving up, and assuming that one way or another we will figure out a way to win.

And they did.  First Abby Wambach scored a dramatic-is-an-understatement goal with 2 minutes left in overtime to send the game to penalty kicks.  Then goalie Solo and the U.S. squad won it 5-4 on penalty kicks.

It was an exhausting and dramatic couple of hours, and put on display the best of the American spirit and the best of high-stakes soccer. 

But it also displayed the worst of soccer: the terrible referring which seems to crop up with shocking regularity, the diving and flopping athletes  - most sports value and reward toughness; soccer rewards acting, flopping and theatrics - trying to kill time late or fool the referees, and of course the stupid and inconsistent off sides calls.  

I would love to ref a soccer game. 

One, I would only say two words to any player who is not bleeding or does NOT have a bone sticking out of their skin, yet falls to the pitch: "get up." Or "get up you flopping ass hole; I'm not calling that a foul unless you are bleeding or have a bone sticking out of your skin.  Soccer is a physical game sometimes, so buck up!"

Brazil whined and complained and  flopped and stalled so much that the crowd booed Marta most of the game and was clearly on the U.S.'s side as the contest progressed.

Two, I would never call off sides.  Why is that even a penalty? Isn't there a goalie back there?  If an offensive player is behind the goalie it's off sides.  If they're not, then it's not.

Three, one rule change world football should adopt is prohibiting backwards passes once the ball has crossed the midfield line.  Once you cross midfield you have to stay on offense, period. When George Mikan and other big men entered the NBA in the 50s scoring plummeted as teams were afraid to go inside, so they passed the ball around the perimeter for minutes at a time (learned that at the Hoops Hall of Fame this weekend!).  That prompted the use of a 24-second clock.  A shot-clock in world football is impractical, but forcing teams to stay on offense would help increase the action and scoring.

Then again, the current rules produced a tense and taut game, so maybe we don't need THAT many rules changes.  But better refs would help keep the focus on the players, who were pretty fantastic to watch today.  

GO USA!