The United States spent the first half against Slovenia digging itself into a two-goal hole and the second climbing out, settling for a 2-2 tie that saved their World Cup hopes. But will they spend four years ruing Maurice Edu’s disallowed potential game-winner, a blown call robbery that would make Bernie Madoff proud.
Knowing a loss essentially would eliminate them, the United States rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit, with Landon Donovan scoring a sharp-angled golazo, and Michael Bradley following with a sliding 82nd-minute equalizer. But it’s what happened in the 85th that will haunt them if they don’t advance.
Edu beat Bojan Jokic to Donovan’s free kick from just outside the box, banging it home to seemingly cap what would’ve been arguably the biggest comeback in World Cup history — the first to ever rally from a 2-0 second-half deficit for a 3-2 win. But the goal was waved off by Malian ref Koman Couilibaly for a foul in the box, a call falling somewhere inappropriate at best and incompetent at worst.
“I’m a little gutted to be honest,” Donovan said on ESPN. “I don’t know how they stole that last goal from us. . . . He wouldn’t tell us what the call was.”
In Kafka-esque fashion, Couilibaly — in his first World Cup — wouldn’t tell any of the players who he had called for a foul or what they had done, declining comment afterward. In truth, he was horrid all day, not insidious like Tim Donaghy, just plain incompetent like Jim Joyce.
He could have given United States midfielder Clint Dempsey a yellow card — or red — for an elbow in the game’s first minutes, then gave Robbie Findley with a yellow card for a handball when the ball clearly played him, forcing the speedy striker to sit out the U.S.’ win-and-in tilt with Algeria on Wednesday.
Couilabaly’s performance was so egregious that he will face an expedited performance review from FIFA and likely is to be excluded from the rest of the World Cup, according to Yahoo.com. Not that it will compensate the United States from the two points he essentially stole from them.
Aleksandar Radosavljevic was tackling Michael Bradley with more vigor than Antonio Cromartie showed against Shonn Greene, and Jozy Altidore was being grabbed as well, but what Couilibaly didn’t call either of those, likely seeing only Carlos Bocanegra jostling with Jejc Pecnik, hindering him from jumping.
“Honestly . . . most of what took place was that Slovenian players were holding our players,” coach Bob Bradley said. “There was one moment in the second half where it seemed a point gained, and another where it seemed two points lost. . . . At the end of the day the tie keeps us alive, and that’s the most important thing.”
The most important thing is the United States — which has allowed goals within the first 15 minutes of both games so far — somehow has kept their fate in their own hands. Their resilience, and England’s wretchedness, saw to that.
“We seem to play better when we’re behind. That’s got to change,” said keeper Tim Howard, a North Brunswick, N.J., native. “Sometimes it’s about throwing the game plan out the window and standing toe-to-toe with the next guy and winning your battles.”
Thanks to tying this battle, and England getting held to a scoreless tie by underdog Algeria, Slovenia leads Group C with four points, the United States and England have two and Algeria one. And the U.S. faces the cellar dwellers Wednesday knowing victory sees them through to the knockout stages.
“There aren’t many teams that could’ve done what we did, and arguably win the game. That’s what the American spirit is about,” said Donovan. “We need to start [Wednesday] that way. We have no choice but to win if we want to advance.”
They could advance with a tie as well, as long as England merely ties Slovenia, and doesn’t outscore the U.S. by more than two goals. Either way, it’s a tall order for a team that’s never managed a single point in the group finales over the years. Then again, they would never have erased a two-goal deficit in the World Cup before, either.