US done in by ‘wrestling ring’

By SIMON HAYDON

Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG

Modern soccer has turned the penalty area into a wrestling ring, and that’s what cost the United States victory in its World Cup match against Slovenia on Friday.

Maurice Edu committed no foul as he scored from just over 6 yards.

However, just about every other player in the penalty area was holding, grabbing, pulling or pushing as the U.S. free kick sailed in to the 18-yard zone.

Referee Koman Coulibaly of Mali saw one of several fouls. Unluckily for the U.S., he saw the only one committed by an American, defender Carlos Bocanegra.

Bocanegra had his arms around Slovenia substitute Nejc Pecnik and was preventing him from jumping for the ball.

Coulibaly was ideally placed to see the foul he called. He was 10 yards away from Edu as the striker hit the ball home, but the Bocanegra-Pecnik grappling took place just 1 yard away, in the referee’s direct line of sight.

Referees are under orders from FIFA to clamp down on the plague of fouls in the penalty area, but it’s proving virtually impossible.

Most referees are unwilling to penalize the defending team, preferring to reject goals rather than give them. This is what Coulibaly did Friday.

FIFA has rejected the use of video technology, preferring to try to maintain the spontaneous nature of soccer and, in the process, inherently rejecting U.S. sports like football and, to a lesser extent, baseball, that have incorporated replay into the sport.

The only nod FIFA has made is to allow the use of two extra assistants to police the penalty area in some European competitions and help the referee.

Who knows if they would have helped Coulibaly reach his decision at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park.

Simon Haydon is a referee who has officiated amateur English soccer leagues for 10 years.