2012 Summer OlympicsSoccerVideo

That Delay Of Game Call Against Canada’s Goalie Was Terrible, But It Didn’t Decide The Match

by Evan Sporer | 12:44 pm, August 7th, 2012

Yesterday, during the Olympic semifinal women’s soccer match between Team USA and Canada, a controversial sequence led to the USA scoring its third goal, tying the game in the 80th minute. The United States side would go on to win in extra time, while the Canadian team felt it was cheated out of a spot in the gold medal game.

Yes, the call made by the referee that led to the United States’ third goal was the incorrect call, but no, it was not what lost Canada the match.

First, let’s begin with the call. I’ve played soccer for over 10 years. For the majority of those years, I was a goalie. I have never once, in my entire soccer career, seen that call been made.

Basically, the Canadian goalkeeper was called for a “delay of game” penalty, and the United States was given an indirect free kick inside of the penalty box. The referee said the Canadian goalkeeper held onto the ball for over six seconds before distributing it, which, yes, is against the rules. But that delay of game call, for lack of a better word, was wrong:

In soccer, there is plenty of gamesmanship and time wasting toward the end of matches. Players will feign injuries, take longer on deadball plays, and do whatever they can to kill some time on the clock.

But again, I have never once seen this call made in my entire life.

Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod said she was warned about time wasting at the beginning of the second half by a linesman. But still, no warning from Norwegian referee Christiana Pedersen was ever given, according to McLeod. Even if McLeod had been warned by a linesman, and by Pedersen, this call is still utterly bizarre. I’ve seen plenty of yellow cards handed out for delay of game penalties, but never once, at any part of the field, have I ever seen a free kick awarded for time wasting.

On the ensuing kick, Megan Rapinoe took a shot that hit a Canadian player in the arm, and the United States was awarded a penalty kick. That was the correct call. Many people criticized that call and said the Canadian player had no intent to handle the ball. Well, that is not how the rule is written. Any unnatural motion resulting in a handball should be called. The Canadian player raised her arm, the ball hit it, and that call was black-and-white. But the call that put Canada in that situation? Absolutely, and utterly, atrocious.

That is not what lost Canada the match, though.

If the game was tied when this sequence occurred, I would be more inclined to attribute the result to it, although I still probably wouldn’t. What lost Canada that match was that it wasn’t able to regroup and rally in the face of adversity. The Canadians had thoroughly outplayed the United States up until that juncture, but were unable to collect themselves mentally after that very unfortunate call.

And there’s no telling what would have happened if that call had not been made. The United States would have continued to up its pressure in the attacking third, and could have very well found an equalizer. There’s no use speculating what would have happened if the call was made correctly. It was the wrong call, but it wasn’t to blame for Canada’s loss.

I think Hope Solo actually put the situation into context pretty well after the match. (And I tend to disagree with her, so that’s saying a lot.) In the 2011 Women’s World Cup, the United States found itself in a similarly odd situation against Brazil. After a questionable call gave Brazil a penalty kick opportunity, Brazil was awarded a second penalty try after Solo stopped the initial strike, but was ruled to come off her line early. That call is similarly rarely made, and was another horrendous misinterpretation. In Solo’s words:

“I’ve never seen [a six-second penalty] called without a warning. That was interesting. But you never know what’s going to happen. In soccer, you see the most bizarre things. I always refer back to our game against Brazil [in the 2011 World Cup quarters]. You never know what a ref will give you or take away. But you can’t use it as excuses. We gutted it out. We found a way to win.”

The difference, as Solo noted: The United States rallied, and came back to win that game against Brazil.

The call was still terrible, though. Just to highlight how bizarre and incorrect it was: there are many instances across sports where the rules are “bent” but not often enforced. What comes to mind immediately is the Euro-step in basketball, the phantom tag of second base on a double play in baseball, and some continuation foul calls in the NBA. This rule in soccer is like inverse Bigfoot: it is there, but you rarely, if ever, actually see it used. I’ve seen goalkeepers take significantly longer than McLeod did to distribute the ball and not get whistled. Considering the stage of this match, and the moment at which is was made, there’s no way around it: It was the wrong decision.

But still, in the final analysis, it wasn’t the call that lost Canada the match.

Follow Evan Sporer

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003933747731 David Wong

okay seems like a momentum changer for me
http://profile.yahoo.com/XWCYRW5EE45XTNS2JPEKXUU26Y Tank

no worries, World Cup Repeat with Japan taking the Gold
Anonymous

“it wasn’t to blame for Canada’s loss”. You can’t talk about this in yes/no black/white terms. It is about probability, and I think most people would agree that without this call there is a good chance that Canada would have won the game. Therefore, a large amount of blame can be attached to the call.
GoalieGloves

I too play goalie (I’m 45) and just last season I had a referee tell me I was taking too long (this was the end of the first half!) to put the ball back in play. I disagreed with him, but I went and made sure to speed up my tempo so I didn’t get called for delay. Since it was said to the Canadian keeper to “watch it”, she should have picked up her pace, it’s that simple. Yes, it NEVER gets called, but when an official says something to you , line judge or referee, you need to heed the warning.
Randy

Canada was absolutely robbed. Unfortunately, we’ll never know why the ref made that call. We’ll never know if she was debriefed by her governing body, and possibly disciplined, or was told it was the right call. More evidence piles up every day regarding how blatantly inconsistent officiating is in sports. Did the Americans deserve this victory? Who knows, but they were, in no uncertain terms, assisted by this lame referee.
Kevin

I dont understand why you think the Canadians had thoroughly outplayed the US up until that juncture. I watched the entire game and did not think even for a second Canada was dominating. Yes they capitalized on their chances and were constantly going up a goal but thoroughly outplayed, or really even outplayed the US?? Dont think so.
Randy

Doesn’t matter if she did hold the ball longer at previous times during the game. There was no warning, no yellow card. And will you try to tell me that Hope Solo never held the ball longer than six seconds? What an utter crock of poo. Pedersen blew it, and blew it badly on the second call. An intentional handball my ass. Pedersen missed a clear hand ball, as noted below, by an American a few minutes earlier. Incompetent refereeing at its most blatant.

Three of the many comments from the page to which GoalieGloves directed us:

1) “Folks, as an American born GK, who has played at the professional level, and a ref for many years. I was pulling for the US to win this game. However the Canadians have a beef here. If for no other reason than the ref in this game did not enforce the same standards on both teams. Solo was clearly in violation of the ” 6 second” rule on multiple occasions after this call was made on the Canadian GK. As for the hand ball, there was a an obvious one ignored by the ref on the US, about 10 mins before she called the one on the free kick. So my issue was not so much what she called, but that she didn’t make those calls on both teams. It is a shame to have such a great game overshadowed by a bad ref! ”

2) “Here is part of the USSF’s take on this: “The six-second count does not begin until the goalkeeper is clearly in possession of the ball and ABLE to think about releasing the ball into general play. Not while the goalkeeper is on the ground; not while he or she is recovering from a fall; not while he or she is rising: Only after the goalkeeper is clearly alert and ready to function. Anything beyond that time is a matter for the individual discretion of the referee, who is the sole judge of the passage of time in a soccer game. [...] Finally, a point we emphasize in our answers to this and similar questions about goalkeeper release of the ball: Most of the time the offense is trivial as long as you are seeing an honest effort to put the ball back into play.” (http://www.askasoccerreferee.com/?p=754) Again, what we see here is that the intent of the rule (“an honest effort to put the ball back into play”) is what matters, not the letter of the law (“6 seconds”). Since in the USSF’s interpretation it is the referee’s judgement here that counts, if both GKs were releasing the ball in similar times, and the referee only called one GK for the violation, then it’s a bad call. She’s not applying the same standard to both teams. Further, Mr. Woitalla says “She took at least 11 seconds — from the time she got to her feet — to punt the ball into play. Based on that alone, the call was correct.”, but based on the USSF answer above this is not so. The referee did not have to start counting from the moment she got to her feet, and 11 seconds is pretty typical in any case and doesn’t represent a non-trivial offense. Cheesy call. ”

3) “Thanks, Ramon Creager, for the best analysis I’ve read of this controversial incident. I’m a retired referee assessor, and while watching I take note of moments that will contribute to the post game discussion with the game assessor. There was a high number of such incidents in this game. Although she did make some very good calls, I felt that overall referee was inexperienced with play at this level, and probably should not have been given such a high level game until she has more games at this level. The standards of refereeing for women have improved greatly over the years, but it’s still tough for women referees to get the same level of experience that the men get, that allowed us to see an almost error-free Euro Cup this year. I just hope the Canadians get a really good referee, like Keri Seitz (the best in the world), for the bronze medal game. ”

Imagine if this call had gone against Solo. The American fans would be screaming for Pedersen’s head on a platter.
Hectorius

She didn’t have a chance to kick the ball… the ref called the play dead while the ball was in her hands… I counted the seconds from the time she had possession of the ball untill the ref blew the wistle was barely 9 secs.
Hectorius

Every annalist I’ve seen so far (CNN, NBC, CBS, CTV, TSN, etc) thought that the Canadian team outplayed the Americans up to that point.
Gaia2ca

We will never really know the outcome of that game if there had been decent refereeing. To be honest, I am totally put off even tuning in to any more Olympic coverage. This is a shameful day for sport.
Whome_95

Not able to rebound in the face of adversity? Are you high? They were screwed by the ref from the word go and took the lead 3 different times while battling the number one team in the world and an official who was obviously in way over her head.

Ps check the replay, her hands were protecting her chest ( totally legal) which makes the second call as bad as the first
Phil

What kind of a title is that? Terrible journalism… I cannot think of a more inappropriate title. At 3-2 near the end of regulation time, it definitely decided the match.

Keeper was in possession of the ball for 7 seconds when she’s not on the ground after establishing control, plus the call being made AS the keeper is kicking the ball? Absolutely terrible all around.

It’s a shame because this was one of the best matches in recent history and all that will be remembered is the terrible performance of the match official.
Kingston

Christiana Pedersen was with the Americans all along because she did not made a call of hand ball against the Americans. She was bought out by the Americans and the call was deliberate. She is just terrible and incompetent
Randy

It will also be remembered as an American victory, because in the end, isn’t that all that matters? I don’t believe Pedersen was bought out by the Americans at all – she just refereed with one eye occasionally closed. How else could she have missed the hand ball by the American? And yes – the women are allowed to protect their chest, which is *exactly* what was going on during that kick. If the American player actually targeted the Canadian player(s) in hopes of such a call, then I applaud her abject genius for doing so. Pedersen should be reprimanded and banned from further international play until she learns how to ref fairly and with no bias. Oh, and with both her eyes open.
Sam Carroll

How many times did Hope Solo hold the ball for longer than six seconds? In that game, or in this entire tournament. Should those have been called also perhaps? The rule seemed to be arbitrarily applied, and the call seemed petty given this was such an epic match.
Alexrunxcountry

ummm…you mention ‘Well, that is not how the rule is written’ in regards to intent, but clearly you didnt even look at how the rule IS written ‘the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an infringement’ (FIFA laws of the game law 12, under the heading handling the ball) to go along with the main point of the law that “Handling the ball involves a DELIBERATE act of a player making contact with
the ball with his hand or arm” And I will be the first to admit that many refs would have indeed made the same call and given a penalty shot, but that is a result of the fact that no one seems to actually read the rules anymore and just go off of what they’ve seen happen before.

No argument on the six seconds call…that was the concensus worst call of the match
Barryrowlandmtl

I fully agree with Alexruncountry the rule reads: A direct free kick is also awarded to the opposing team if a player commits any of the following three offences:
holds an opponentspits at an opponenthandles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area). There was certainly no deliberate attempt to handle the ball, therfore no direct penalty kick should have been awarded. I disagree completely that the delay of game penalty did not decide the game. At that point the USA was a goal down with 10 minutes to go. The subsequent rediculous calls allowed the USA to tie the game and certainly upset the Canadian team. You can say that they should have controlled themselves and come back to win and when you look at the replay they manufactured chances but by then the USA was in a position where one lucky shot would win it, not just tie the game. Unfortunately the terrible calls did decide the match.
Brightmoon

yess I wish Japan trounce USA soccer team
Brightmoon

you are very right/ This woman was bent upon to make America soccer team win. Match result was pre decided.
Brightmoon

No Pedersen was sure bribed by US
nicky

guys, i watch professional european soccer once a week and i regularly see delay of game calls. this is not that unusual. yes canada outplayed the usa but the ref was not horrible. she called what she saw. there were misses on both sides. but this call was not nearly as atrocious as people make it out to be. it happens. often. keepers are aware it can be called and if refs have told you to watch it, then you watch it. you can always find a bad call. the game goes on.
TWOCENTS

To my knowlege, there is no timed sport that has a more “loosey-goosey” time keeping system than soccer. The stadium clock is not official. There are no injury time-outs or rules about players leaving the game for a series of plays after delaying play with an injury. The referee has sole discretion over “added time”.
Soccer has struggled to become a popular spectator sport in North America but who can really take it seriously until it enters the 21st century?
Like it or not, in this day and age, technology has to be part of organized sport. Officials have to be accountable to instant replay. There must be a challenge system of some sort in place or human frailty makes officiting a joke.
Fairness

Shame, shame, SHAME on that ref and FIFA! What a disgusting travesty, an appalling violation of the Olympic spirit, and an insult to the Canadian players and the Americans as well. The US may well have earned the victory – if they had been given the opportunity rather than GIVEN THE GAME!

I was just starting to become a fan of women’s soccer, but if that is what FIFA thinks is true and fair sport, take it off the air. That Norwegian cow would be fired for such incompetence in any other job. The whole world saw what she refused to. She is a lowly thief - not good enough to warm the bench for Canada or the US.
mstrunn400

The author of this biased article states that he has played soccer for a number of years; well you too missed the hand ball call, you must make an effort to get out of the way of the ball, she would have had to have had superwoman reactions to avoid that ball, she turned her head and the ball hit her ELBOW, hello! A terrible call which did cost Canada the game, as far as the Canadian goalie holding the ball, the commenters are correct, another blown call, I’ve see Solo hold onto the ball much longer. These calls were definite game changers, the IOC wanted a US vs Japan final from the get go.
Kmrod

”More evidence piles up every day regarding how blatantly inconsistent
officiating is in sports. ”

translated, “My team(s) keep losing to ‘THEY MUST BE OUT TO GET US’!!”
James Valle123

The missed call on the canadian player who stepped on Loyds face was proof enough for me that she was a bad ref but certainly not bribed.
Jkohlet

Lol as someone who has played soccer for 25 years both in north America and europe, I can tell you that yes it is called but no it’s never been anything more than a yellow card and continuing on with play. Never in my life have I seen a free kick awarded from the spot where the goalie is standing when the ref decided to blow the whistle. Say all you want to defend her but she took on the job of an Olympic semi final knowing that if she blew a call (or seven) that she would be under this kind of scrutiny
Kmrod

”Doesn’t matter if she did hold the ball longer at previous times during the game. There was no warning, no yellow card. ”

when you’re wrong in the first line am i still required to read the rest?

1. there was a warning, and
2. yellow card would NEVER be the appropriate call for that situation.
Kmrod

again, “My team lost (or “The americans won”) so THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A FIX!!!”

stay classy.
James Valle123

What’s the rule for stepping on a players face as its written the rule book? Or are we overlooking that bad call that would have meant Canada would have been down a player for a large portion of the 2nd half?
Randy

Hey, thanks for trying to read my mind. While your response to my comment is predictable, I was actually referring to blown calls in professional sports such as baseball, hockey, football, etc. Consider Jim Joyce’s blown call that cost Detroit Tigers’ Andres Gallaraga a perfect game in June 2010. This kind of crap happens on a weekly basis. And I am not a Tigers fan, so your response is meaningless. One of my “teams” actually won a game this week that ended on a blown call by an umpire because he was in a position NOT to see his error.
James Valle123

If that was the case then calling that face stomp would have been the best call to have made. It would have put Canada down to 10 players for almost the entire 2nd half with 10 players, which would be a clear advantage for any team.
Justpoorref

Often? Surely reflected on game sheets then – please find 3/4 documented examples and post here! We’ll wait on line…
No one that I have seen mentioned the corner awarded late in 2nd half that was clearly out – US did not score on it but it led to sustained pressure and far more time in Cda end zone than goal kick would have.
BTW – how much time does a keeper have to take a goal kick? Hmmm
Beaudees

You think that the delay of game call and subsiquent in advertant hand call wasn’t why Canada lost? What planet are you from? Canada didn’t rally; that’s why they lost? Like the USA could have under similar circumstances. And if this had been in reverse and Canada had been the beneficiary of these obviously bias calls. The American media, especially NBC would still be crying about it. Let’s face it; a USA/Japan rematch was in the cards here, whether it was Canada or any other team as their apponent. There’s more to this than meets the eye and no one will ever be the wiser here. It’s just unfortunate that this type of bias (let’s add Olympic boxing into the same mix) spoils what otherwise would have been a gem of a game.
Nope

Calling the 6 second call is like the FBI deciding to arbitrarily track down random kids who download the odd CD. Sure it’s against the rules, but it’s certainly not right to only apply rules arbitrarily to an unfortunate few.

The thing that made the play particularly suspect was not only the nearly unheard of 6 second indirect free kick, but then calling a handball seconds later for a non intentional ball to hand play.

Great teams may bounce back from adversity, however having the ref clearly causing the tying goal in the 80th minute in a soccer game against a team on the verge of upsetting the best team in the world very well may have cost Canada the game.

No one knows for certain what would have happened in the last 10 minutes if the call wasn’t made, but there is a very possible chance that it would have finished 3-2 Canada.

All of that said, nothing is changing, so best to move on. Hopefully the regulatory bodies that be, clarify the nature of the rule.
Temp Email

Are you kidding me? Didn’t decide the game? You have absolutely no clue. The US played very well and I wish them well but the referee’s two mistakes with time winding down cost canada the game. It was their game period and it was stolen by one very questionable call and one clearly wrong (penalty shot). Please get your head out of your a$$.
Anonymous

The call was completely absurd and cost the game. Randy stated the rule in his previous comment – IT IS NOT PURELY 6 SECONDS. I live in England, where we sleep, dream, breathe and eat football for breakfast (not soccer). No one that I have spoken to has ever seen this rule applied, ever. Yellow card. Plain and simple. Happens again – then second yellow and off.

Secondly, in the big leagues here in Europe, there has been a massive crackdown on intentional and unintentional handballs in the box. There is no way in hell that Pederson could have confidently said that was an intentional handball… therefore it’s PLAY ON. It has to be CLEARLY intentional for it to be a penalty. At that speed from an indirect freekick in the box – impossible.

Third, and not as ridiculous as the first two, but still bizarre. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a match with over 3 minutes of Injury time be played after a full 120 minutes??? Where the hell was the whistle? At that stage it should’ve clearly gone to pens.

The refereeing during the whole of the Olympics has been shockingly poor, but Pederson should be awarded the Gold Medal in that discipline for sure.
Anonymous

delay of game yes… but not indirect free kicks given.. they give a yellow card but they still keep possession. I doubt you have ever seen an indirect free kick given because of a delay of game… cos I live in England and watch football (not soccer) at every opportunity i get and I’ve never seen it. Then followed by a handball that was unintentional. Terrible ref.
TWOCENTS

Still ragging on about that rotten call? This was just another example of poor and/or biased officiating that happens at every Olympics. It happens every time the Olympic Games come around yet everytime corporate sponsors are willing to spend millions to plaster the media with coverage and we get suckered into watching. I too enjoy watching the best in the sports world perform but until those of us who support the Olympics, through our tax dollars and allowing ourselves to bombarded by the corporate advertising that these companies are willing to fork over, demand change it will not come.
Perhaps the Olympic Games have become so big, expensive and politically charged that we who pay the bills, in one way or another, have to withdraw our attention and our dollars until we are able to convey the message that Olympic Sructure is broken and we refuse to host, attend and watch the unwieldly and essentially meaningless spectacle that the Games have become.
Randy

Well-stated, Twocents. Thank you.
http://profile.yahoo.com/FNGWAWCRFLLI2EKHHVCCNUTTWM Boris

I don’t think it’s anymore of a game changer than Tancredi not being red carded for her 7 fouls and head stomp.

Canada’s 3rd goal was an assist from Tancredi to Sinclair.
http://profile.yahoo.com/FNGWAWCRFLLI2EKHHVCCNUTTWM Boris

Not true. NBC analyst thought US outplayed but Canada played far better than expecting.

Anyway the stats speak for themselves. Possession was 54-46 in favor of US and shots were 22-9 in favor of US according to FIFA.
http://profile.yahoo.com/FNGWAWCRFLLI2EKHHVCCNUTTWM Boris

Do you watch soccer at all? Six second doesn’t get called against the losing team because there is no feasible reason why they would be purposely “wasting time”. They’d be trying to come back wouldn’t they?

McLeod on the other hand had every reason to waste time. She wanted the game to end without giving the US another chance. Her defenders were getting destroyed and the US shot at her goal 22…let me say that again…22 times.
http://profile.yahoo.com/FNGWAWCRFLLI2EKHHVCCNUTTWM Boris

Wrong again @3b16086e4f8449861f3a230e1e68cc34:disqus . Her elbow was out and in an unnatural position. That’s a handball no matter how you see it.
http://profile.yahoo.com/FNGWAWCRFLLI2EKHHVCCNUTTWM Boris

“Deliberate in this doesn’t mean DELIBARATELY trying to make a hand ball. Or else every player would simply run around with their arms spread open like chicken wings because it creates a bigger defending area. If the ball hits their hands, because they weren’t “deliberately” trying to do it, it should be ok?

“Deliberate” means a player who should consciously be able to get their hands out of the way but doesn’t do so. In this instance, though it could be argued that she didn’t have time as the ball was coming towards her to move her arm, it’s still considered deliberate because she was defending an indirect free kick. That means she KNEW the entire time that the ball was going to be flying, and her arms should’ve been at her sides.
Kmrod

anytime there’s a judgement there’s going to be controversy, but for most decisions that need to be made in sports i’d still rather have a referee (or multiple referees) than a machine.

i do think the should make better use of instant replays but i don’t think it woudl have changed the outcome of the US/canada game
Anonymous

Obviously Mr. Sporer knows nothing about comptetative sports as witnessed by what he has written above. Such a call is mentally trying & devestating, especially when it was an incorrect call(s) as borne out by FIFA subsequently removing the official from duty.

Can you honestly say there is not a difference in having 10 minutes to go in a match being up 3-2, as opposed to being wronged by the official twice in a row and find yourself now in a draw 3-3 with 10 minutes left?

Really?
Anonymous

point blank shots are exempt from the handball criteria, especially if the player is moving in order to protect themselves, there is insufficient reaction time to position your hand to deliberately make a play on the ball.

“The ball played the player, the player did not play the ball”, therefore the ONLY correct call here was “PLAY ON”.

FIFA has removed this official from the tournament, that was not done as a reward for making good and correct calls in this match.
leiris

True that. I was rooting for the US but that call was certainly a game changer and a shame.
Tim

Yeah, it did
Live with it…

Remind me NOT to be a referee in the Olympic Games!!!! ;(
Anonymous

Japan lost. USA won the gold. In case you missed the game.
bke

Played goal keeper for some years. Never see it called. But a rule in the book is always a rule. When it is called, it is never a bad call. With the ball in her hand, waving another hand to let players move forward. A kids trick used in 1980s wanted to fool the refs after 2010. Common man.