Well, World Cup referee Koman Coulibaly has already been destroyed on his Wikipedia page; and once you’ve been trashed there, it’s only a matter of time before your career is over. Coulibaly of course called the phantom foul that disallowed a go-ahead goal for the U.S., which ended up tying Slovenia, 2-2, last week. Now, it seems, FIFA has issued a red card on the Mali ref, excluding him from the next round of important knock-out games.
But as always in the World Cup, questions linger.
Such as, why does the world’s biggest sporting event, where a single call can send a team home, have no procedure for instant replay? Why are relatively-inexperienced, little-known referees assigned to World Cup games? And why are referees not required to explain their calls?
This last one is most baffling to Americans, who are used to a sport’s governing body releasing a statement the day after a controversial call in a big NFL or MLB game. Statements from umpires (recent example, Jim Joyce) or football officials (Ed Hochuli) add an element of accountability, and salve wounds. In contrast, here’s Yahoo’s Martin Rogers, describing how Coulibaly — or any World Cup ref — ends a typical day.
First of all, he gets a chaffeur-driven ride back to the luxury base where all the World Cup officials are cloistered, away from the prying eyes of the media, or God forbid, the public.
Then, if he fancies it on Monday, he can get a nice massage from an on-site physiotherapist and some restaurant-quality room service before — and this is the best bit — consulting a ready-and-waiting sports psychologist to help him handle the stress of his exertions on Sunday night.
So we’ll never know why Coulibaly did what he did, but it appears that he won’t have the chance to do it again. FIFA has scrubbed him from the next round of matches, a tacit acknowledgment of the giant fiasco.
Also out for the next round is Stephane Lannoy, the French referee who ejected Brazil’s Kaka for a non-existent hand to the face of an Ivory Coast player on Sunday. This has been a great World Cup for the French, hasn’t it folks?
But for those of you wondering when FIFA will start requiring its referees to face the music, remember that they couldn’t even muster the fortitude to ban the vuvuzela. So don’t hold your breath.
***
Morning Tweet: World Cup officiating so far has been, in a word, Kaka[Out of Bounds]
World Cup: FIFA Drops Referee Koman Coulibaly [SportsbyBrooks]
Refs must face the music for bad calls [Yahoo Sports]
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- VelvetRevolution - Jun 22, 2010 at 1:28 AM
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I’m really curious as to how long it took you to gather the information for the poll that led you to the sweeping generalizations that you’ve made in your paragraph. Really, for many of you posting your comments on here. The article is in regards to calling question to a person taking responsibilities for his actions during what’s to be regarded as a world platformed sport and giving his opinion as to how it might be rectified in the future.
For every comment I read about how people have this magical working knowledge of a culture they’ve only gathered from television is kind of amusing to me; especially since a majority of the time America’s culture is made up of some of your very own.
The World Cup is just that; a spotlight on the world. If a team gets a bad call, let them be upset, no matter what the country. Just because it happens to be America doesn’t mean it’s whining. It just means they’re a team that’s irritated about a bad call.
I’ve seen far worse behavior in cricket and rugby from other countries. A team has a right to be upset over a bad call, no matter what the nationality.
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- mziwethu - Jun 22, 2010 at 1:40 AM
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The plastic vuvuzela has got nothing to do with being poor it is part of our football culture like the drums in in western africa, chants in england. As for those who have a problem with the vuvuzela get used to it cause its not going anywhere.
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- Rick Chandler - Jun 22, 2010 at 3:41 AM
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Hot Tub Time Machine!
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- Jaboo Tinynka - Jun 22, 2010 at 5:24 AM
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This comment is why there needs to be instant replay.
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- Getho Delva - Jun 22, 2010 at 6:02 AM
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Have you ever really soccer games before this world cup. I have seen lots of idiot refs or umpires in baseball and the so-called football for you. Baseball is boring and stupid sport, as well as golf. You say Soccer is lame is because that one of the sport that americans cannot dominate, no offense to the american soccer players who are doing their best, but US is a mile away from being a real competitive soccer team, well at least the men team. If someone don’t want to hear the Vuvuzelas turn off the sound of your TV. Every country has their culture, and the vuvuzelas are part of the south africans that made soccer exciting for them. We always ready to criticize. People make mistake, certainly the Malian Ref made one, but FIFA should not have keep him to the curve. He also owe at least the players an explanation for the call. That situation will create a precedent in the sport. I am all for replays but not the way it is being used in American football. Drunken fans, riots are the part that make the sport exciting. You have just seen a riot in L.A. after Lakers won the NBA finals, it is just a soccer thing. We can all agree that changes need to be made regarding FIFA regulations, but saying the sport is lame is the dumbest argument i have ever heard. It is the most popular sport in the world, and the world cup is the most watch sport event in the world as well. You may find it lame but billions of people find it exciting.
Soccer is the most backwards and stupid sport on the planet. No instant replay, constant player controversies, idiot refs, dumb drunken fans, ear-drum popping Vuvuzelas indiscriminately blown, drunken riots, stampedes, and you are bored to tears watching 1.56 goals average per game
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- Getho Delva - Jun 22, 2010 at 6:19 AM
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I agree with you my friend. Alexis Lalas is not very knowledgable when commenting on a soccer game. I did not understand why he was trying to minimize the Argentina Coach abilities to coach his team. Lalas, even though he was a player and definitely not a good one, doesn’t understand fully the game. He should not even be a commentator. He doesn’t understand most of the time what he is talking out. When he is talking I just turn off the sound of my TV. ESPN really needs better commentators that can analyze the game and Lalas is not one. He is always bias on his analysis. The ref made a mistake, people make mistake. He is human. He may thought he saw something. I have seen others referees make stupider mistakes at this world cup. They don’t get critiziced. African nation cup is a very competitive event. The Malian Ref got selected because he did a good job during the African nation’s cup. The fact that he never officiate in world cup before doesn’t diminish his ability to officiate games at the world cup. Most of the referees never officiated a world cup game before this one.
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- Florida727 - Jun 22, 2010 at 7:38 AM
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WRONG… goals determine who advances and who goes home. The fewer the goals (soccer, ice hockey, etc.), the GREATER the need for instant replay, to ensure the worthy team is the one that continues to play. You couldn’t be more wrong…
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- Florida727 - Jun 22, 2010 at 7:42 AM
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Over a soccer game? Hope you don’t ever make a mistake at YOUR job…
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- HOLadd1 - Jun 22, 2010 at 9:04 AM
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This is what I sent to the head of FIFA last night:
You blew it BIG TIME, but not necessarily due to Coulibaly’s grossly incompetent officiating — I’m talking about something MORE than that.
You see, before last year I had absolutely no interest in the “beautiful game.” In America, corporations and TV networks pretty much dictate that us Yankee imperialists get an unhealthy overdose of major league baseball, American-style football, NBA basketball, the Pro Bowlers tour, etc., etc. Essentially it’s all about what sells the most, umm, beer.
My shift occurred after a trip to Rio de Janeiro in September 2009. I’d never been below the Equator, let alone Brazil and South America. One event I had an interest in seeing was a futbol match at Maracana Stadium. No, I wasn’t as interested in the game as the stadium itself (it’s claimed Paul McCartney played to 110,000 fans in it a few years back). I simply wanted to walk around the stadium, mark it off my life’s to-do list, and if there happened to be action on the pitch, so be it.
The game was between two scrub teams with no hope of advancing to the next round in whatever championship they were competing — these teams were simply playing out the string. But walking around the stadium gave way to sitting and actually — wait for it! — WATCHING the game. Then I started to notice the line shifts and how the ball passed back and forth and the role of the wingman, etc. But more beautiful was seeing these unbelievably passionate fans on opposite ends of the stadium (and they all MOVED from one end to the other after halftime) blowing their whistles and waving their team flags as if their nation depended on it.
To be fair, I didn’t walk away completely converted…but having seen how the game is played and embraced made me APPRECIATE it more. So before the “Coulibaly Massacre” you could’ve counted 1 fan of the game you hadn’t had before.
Then came the disallowed goal in US v Slovenia.
You’ve probably gotten any number of messages telling you what you can do in no uncertain terms with Mr. Coulibaly so I won’t waste bandwidth repeating them here. But this is why I say you blew it big time…
…you lost a fan.
And an American fan at that. An American fan that along with his 20 million other countrymen with billions of dollars in sports-related disposable income now has absolutely NO interest in watching or participating in a sport as shabbily officiated as this. I thought the World Cup was supposed to be THE event that makes the sport shine on the world stage. I thought the game was about kids in shantytowns and favelas and slums kicking the ball around knowing there was a chance — albeit a slim chance — of becoming the next Pele.
But if THIS is the best FIFA and the 2010 World Cup has to offer, if the message you want to send to the world is go on, work your tail off only to have a dream taken away — or worse, shattered — by poor officiating, then I want absolutely no part of it.
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- ESKicker - Jun 22, 2010 at 9:17 AM
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uh…Craig? what was the subjectiveness of the call? it was an offsides call that cost the US the goal, so it falls perfectly within your definition of “acceptably reviewable calls”
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- jimaz - Jun 22, 2010 at 9:18 AM
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I disagree with those who say replays should not be allowed in Soccer. I was at the game where the US goal was disallowed, and the replays on the big screen made it obvious to the fans what had happened or hadn’t happened. And that is just the point. Viewing technology has advanced to the point where viewers all over the whole world can see more than the referee in some cases. We need to allow a very limited amount of replays to resolve crucial plays that change the outcome of the match. It would not slow the game down any more than the frequent play acting injuries. In some games we see countless players on the ground apparently in extreme pain, wasting playing time, and disrupting the game and then a while later we see them bound to their feet and resume their game as if nothing had happened. These are simply attempts to deceive the referee and win a free kick or control of the ball. In some cases, these play acting fouls result in a penalty kick and change the outcome of the whole game. It is often easy to see on the replay that there was no foul.
Come on Fifa. Please. We cannot eliminate human referee error, but we can reduce the impact of it in curcial plays. There are ways readily available if you would be willing flex and use the technology of the times were are living in–technology that wasn’t available not so long ago.
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- Soccer sucks - Jun 22, 2010 at 9:43 AM
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Soccer is dull not dynamic. Have fun watching the floppers. Every time one of these guys gets touched he flails around like he just got hit by a sniper. Total joke.
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- R.T. - Jun 22, 2010 at 10:00 AM
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Bad calls dont make the game any better. The game of soccer is already boring and replay wontmake it any less boring. The problem with soccer is that FIFA controls all aspects of the game like a big fat lazy dictator. That is where the problem lies.
The bad calls can be rectified with more officials on the field. It seems to me that the referee in soccer is always trailing the ball, never seeing what is in front of the ball. If there were 2 referees, this may be eliminated. Goal referees should be used as well. More eyes equals better subjectivity.
I dont care about replay on most soccer fouls, just ones that can impact the outcome of the game. The Mali referee had some other motive in his call (be it by FIFA or one of the world’s mafias. Only referees from the 32 countries playing should be there. The “best players and officials” on the pitch. FIFA wants small countries represented as that is what makes up the soccer world. FIFA is the one that is at fault, they need to change their style and get in with the way the world works. Until that happens, we should all boycott ANYTHING that FIFA has its hand in, that means all of soccer.
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- jimaz - Jun 22, 2010 at 10:01 AM
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Those who say soccer is not dynamic only reveal they don’t know anything about the game. It is no more dull than American baseball. That is one of the slowest games on the planet. When you know the game, the strategy, the players, the skill it takes to pull off good plays, then the game is one of the most fascinating on the earth. Otherwise you wouldn’t have 80,000 plus fans flooding in to a stadium to watch a match.
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- abe - Jun 22, 2010 at 10:18 AM
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why Koman Coulibaly bounces by FIFA from the next matches? he is not the firs to commit mistake there others why the rule is not applied on them? one testimony for this please see the Brazil- Ivory Coast referee was asking the player about his touching the ball by his hand. A lot of mistakes have been commited but none of the are not applied on any one of the except Koman Coulibaly, this is a shame for FIFA.
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- sgd21672 - Jun 22, 2010 at 10:38 AM
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FIFA Soccer – more corrupt than figure skating!
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- SPGG - Jun 22, 2010 at 11:09 AM
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To those of you who think soccer is boring, go jump off a deep end somewhere and stop watching!!!
I guess driving around one lap 500 times or walking around 50 acres of land hitting a ball is a sport in your country of dreams.
Football (soccer) is the biggest sport in the world. Our players earn millions of dollars every season not over a period of time. We have leagues and presidents and associations. How can you say that’s not organized? You start playing our sport for 2 years and now you want to express your opion like you know what you all are talking about.
I have never seen it where one country plays their own sport and calls their winners “world” champions. Guess what america? The world does not revolve around you. YOU are not our universe!
We dont need the USA’s approval for anything. Keep to your padded fake american football and golf . Its all you have. Leave the real sports like rubgy and football to the rest of the world.
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- russia - Jun 22, 2010 at 11:45 AM
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USA can`t admit, that they are loosers, pathetic!
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- Joe1 - Jun 22, 2010 at 12:19 PM
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The list goes on and on… Germany’s Thorsten Fink’s handball to stop a US goal in the 2006 quarterfinal game. Check it on youtube… two or three more referees on the field would go a long way. Just watch where the ref is standing on any free kick… not at the goal where everybody is tackling/pulling/biting/kicking each other… he’s out by the guy kicking the ball. What’s he doing there?
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- iwasthere - Jun 22, 2010 at 12:25 PM
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please don’t introduce instant replay to soccer. I was at the game and it was a bad call, but that’s the game. just like playing the refs is part of the game. good or bad. get over it fellow yanks as the boys in blue will when they face Algeria tomorrow.
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- kdog - Jun 22, 2010 at 12:26 PM
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true enough we all make mistakes…but FIFA lets him off the hook for having to explain the call. I just don’t get that he doesn’t have to explain it (like Joyce and Hochuli). What was the foul?
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- Tom6666 - Jun 22, 2010 at 1:06 PM
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We all are, more or less, subjective. US supporters, Slovenia’s supporters. You don’t have to look at this unrecognized goal only, there were some other calls in this match, too. Some of them in favour of the USA. One of them in the 1st minute.
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- D. Grace - Jun 22, 2010 at 1:53 PM
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In a word BullKaka!!!
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- Kick the Ball! - Jun 22, 2010 at 1:56 PM
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Uuummm, Did you miss the olympics???? Most countries wish they could do as well as us loosers. USA is not the only team in the world cup to speak out against bad calls, there was a “questionable call in a brazilian match. To say that we “are loosers” because of one match in one stage of the world cup is one person’s opinion, however let me ask you, have you watched the olympics for say the past 20 years?? Obviously not!
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- wd40 - Jun 22, 2010 at 2:13 PM
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Why did he make that call?
Anybody happen to check his bank account balance?
