Comments on: Dempsey’s Foul: The Right Call

By: georg

georg — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:09:10 +0000

Regarding Coming Over.
You are flat out wrong in this case, I am a offical and I do live the game. This ball was open to be played by both players. Only when the offending player is seen as being behind the play, or late in his challange is this called a foul. The fact! that Dempsey was far ahead of the defender in playing this ball, would lead the great majority of officials to see this play as legal. “Week in” “Week out “this fact will be shown as true in every league in the world!!!!. As to having an American Bias? perhaps a quick look into the mirror may show you that bias may lay closer to home.

By: Rex

Rex — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:06:15 +0000

It’s not a conspiracy, per say, as the ref did not go into the game thinking, “im going t blow a call against the US” but when you go into a game with an anti-american notion, the 50/50 calls will always go against the USA. This biased, along with just plain bad officiated makes CONCACAF a joke. Anybody see Neal Brizan ref the Dynamo/Arabe Unido game? After that horrible outing (which in Europe would have had him out for a while maybe never to return), he was back to ref a WCQ this weekend.

By: LLCJ

LLCJ — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:56:54 +0000

It’s pretty amazing to me the variety of thought on this call and that indicates to me the referee was justified in pulling back the play. It was a fantastic piece of skill from Dempsey, but when you are at a distance from the play like the ref was, you have to judge intent and he flew in aggressively. It’s the same thing that got Bradley sent off versus Spain. Recall, he won that tackle also.

By: Coming Over

Coming Over — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:38:08 +0000

It is truly amazing the number of American fans who don’t get it.

I even find fault with Krishnaiyer because while he says the call was technically correct he is trying to say he wouldn’t have made the call.

Those who say this is never called in the EPL are flat out wrong.

I’ve seen it called numerous times. I’ve seen it called in leagues across the world. The Erevdiese, the Bundesliga and especially La Liga.

The Salvadorian defender cannot be blamed. He had every right to the ball as did Dempsey- it was Dempsey and not the El Salvador player who slid in aggressively. That is a foul. A ref can choose to ignore it, but it is a foul by the rule book.

Those who claim this is part of some sort of anti-American bias in CONCACAF, please tell the Canadians, Hondurans or Jamaicans that.

Some of you need to take your biased, American-centric blinders off. I dare each and every one of you, including Kartik who says he wouldn’t have made the call to watch 10 qualifiers today and tell me a similar call is not made in at least 2 to 3 of those games.

Anyone up for a challenge? Don’t spout off your mouths unless you really know the rules and watch enough of the sport from outside the US to understand them.

By: Ford Prefect

Ford Prefect — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:32:31 +0000

Gotta agree that it was a horrible call–The play would have been called a great pass/goal had it been Fulham vs Chelsea, and likely would make the end of season best goals highlights show–Don’t agree w/ any conspiracy theories tho–Refs are human, meaning sometimes they miss things, see things from a bad angle, or just f***-up the call

By: Mtnplay

Mtnplay — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:09:37 +0000

I was at the game, lower level, Kartik is wrong. Being there and watching it on the replays Dempsey never went in studs up and was well ahead of the ES player, it was a poor decision, not to mention the ref wasn’t even watching the play at the time. Fans had thought initially that it was incorrectly called offsides.I felt the game was called much in ES’s favor all night. You are correct that is the right rule, but it did not apply in this case.I don’ consider it a conspiracy, simply poor officiating as usual.

By: Joey Clams

Joey Clams — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:01:06 +0000

Let’s see. If it had been Garcia Aspe or Benjamin Galindo “charging” Mike Sorber or Alexi Lalas in the Azteca, how do you suppose the call would have gone?

There is no way on God’s green earth that that was a foul.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:20:16 +0000

Yeah, that play could have been called either way. It wasn’t like the referee was dirty or anything. He made his call and I think we can all live with it.

However, this play illustrates why soccer struggles in America. What the hell, seriously? That should never have been even an arguable foul. Dempsey played the ball forward. His feet and/or arms were not up. He didn’t attack the defender with a possible career ending injury. If he tripped the defender, it SHOULD be irrelevant since he had already come in, done his business, and put in a perfect assist pass. In fact, the defender was completely unimportant because he was about 3 seconds too late to do anything…but FLOP. So just because that ass decided not to jump over Dempsey’s non-high-flying legs, the spectator was robbed of a piece of beauty. Do we really want to reward the beaten flopper over the beautiful creativity of the goal scorer? I don’t. But apparently, soccer DOES.

That’s the problem with soccer. That defender has every incentive to take his dive when he’s beaten. The fan is deprived of the sweet release of success. And soccer gets to remain low scoring, fast kicking, and with plenty of ties.

Just like with the lame ass off sides rule, soccer needs to review its rules to ensure that offense is maximized; not squandered. Altidore’s finish is what people pay for. Not that ass’s flop. Don’t forget that, FIFA and CONCACAF, and MLStalk.com!!!

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:57:53 +0000

Kartik, this is why you don’t get a lot of credit among media – even the reporters who were there, and saw numerous replays, disagreed with you.

Yet you assert these are “conspiracy theories” from “American supporters.” Insulting everyone who’s not you doesn’t give you a lot of credibility – and it makes YOU look like the “conspiracy theorist.” I don’t think it’s that – but it might be time to grow up.

By: Kevin_Amold

Kevin_Amold — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:36:55 +0000

This comment said everything I wanted to. Bad call. Grasping wildly for a conspiracy is a little much though.