Referee Koman Coulibaly disallowed Maurice Edu’s potential game winning for the U.S. match against Slovenia, resulting in a 2-2 draw, and has since been dropped by FIFA from further participation in the tournament as of Monday morning.
“They stole a goal from us,” said Landon Donovan of the unfortunate event that has American fighting to the death to see themselves advance out of the group stage. Edu, the second half sub, gave the U.S. the lead with his 86th minute goal, a close range shot he scored after a free kick from Donovan. U.S. team mates were stunned and confused by Coulibaly’s call, uncertain about not only who the foul was called for but also why it was called in the first place. Donovan told reporters “We asked the ref many times what it was or who it was on and he wouldn’t or couldn’t explain it . . . I don’t know what to think of the call because I didn’t see any foul, just a normal free kick and a goal.”
A FIFA committee had been appointed to review the Mali referee’s performance in the match, their final decision was based on “a series of factors, including his condition, positioning and decision-making” ESPN reported, who received the information from an inside source close to top FIFA officials. “FIFA is determined to keep refereeing standards high and does not want high-profile mistakes.”
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has refused to comment on the issue, but has said in the past that “FIFA’s goal is to improve the quality of refereeing” and that “We want to make referees more professional and better prepared and to assist referees as much as possible”
The committee’s decision to drop Coulibaly from continued participation in the tournament also affects Redouane Achik and Inacio Candido, the two other referees in Coulibaly’s three-man crew, who will be disallowed to participate in the rest of the tournament as well.
The FIFA referee committee held an open press conference in an attempt to quell negative press but the committee refused to answer any questions regarding their specific decision regarding Coulibaly, or French referee Stephane Lannoy whose mistake of sending off Brazil’s Kaka in a match against the Ivory Coast is also under scrutiny. Inacio Candido, Coulibaly’s assistant, was present and when asked to comment about Coulibaly, Candido stated that “A referee is like a player. When they lose and opportunity to score a goal, they put it behind them.”
Coulibaly refereed the final match between Ghana and Egypt in the African Cup of Nation and has been officiating for 17 in African soccer competitions.
U.S. Coach Bob Bradley tried to make sense of the refs decision, rationalizing that “There are times when a referee blows a foul and now thinks either he didn’t make the correct call on the foul or the previous play . . . Then literally, as soon as the free kick’s take, he blows his whistle.”
The U.S. team will be officiated by Belgian referee Frank de Bleeckere in their Wednesday match against Algeria. The team is poised to advance to the last 16 if they can defeat the Algerians.
The highly respected De Bleeckere was specifically selected by FIFA for the American game because of his extensive experience. His most recent high profile match was a match between Chelsea and Barcelona, a Champions League game held in 2006. Of the match he is to referee on Wednesday, De Bleeckere said “I will watch the previous games of the USA and Algeria to help me understand their tactics and work on my positioning.” The ref, who doesn’t “look at reputations or anything that has gone before” will prepare hype himself up for the match by watching the DVD ‘Gladiator’.
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