My Thoughts on the Canada-USA Match and Post-Game Reaction

If you all didn’t know by now, the United States pulled out a 4-3 win in extra time in the semi-final of the Women’s soccer Olympic Tournament from an Alex Morgan header in the last minute. I’ll spare you a full tactical analysis because I personally find it boring and you can get that from many media personalities and analysts. I’ll say this; Canada showed an astounding amount of heart in that match and Christine Sinclair put in one of the most memorable performances in recent memory in the women’s game. But all too often, Canada easily gave away possession to the USA, and didn’t mark very well, which showed in the USA’s 1^st and 4^th goals. I would call the match pretty even between the USA and Canada.

Now on to the controversy, when the match was 3-2 for Canada, the Canadian goalkeeper got called for the 6-second rule, and the USA got a free-kick inside the 18-yard box. When that free-kick was taken, the ball struck a Canadian player in the arm and a penalty was called, which Abby Wambach scored to tie the game up. A lot of Canadian supporters were incensed at those calls, as well as at other decisions the ref has made. Also, a lot of Canadian supporters (and even some players) thought that there was “a fix” for the Americans to win the match, because of the perceived bad decisions that the referee has made.

Okay, my thoughts on the post-game reaction…

There was no “fix” in this match. I think that was nothing more than emotion coming from the angry Canadian supporters. Don’t get me wrong, the Canadian supporters have every right to feel angry from this match, but to say that there was a “fix” for the USA to win is a bit rubbish. What exactly will FIFA profit from this if there was actually a “fix”? TV Ratings? Money? I really don’t know. To those Canadian supporters who continue to believe there was a “fix,” I want to see some hard evidence of this. When I actually see it, I’ll believe it, but until then, this match wasn’t actually a “fix”.

A lot of Canadian supporters are understandably upset at some of the refereeing decisions made in this match, but it wasn’t like Canada didn’t get away with tackles that the referee didn’t call, because they certainly did. It seems like almost every single match, Canadian supporters (and other fans of clubs and countries) are upset with the referee about something. The referee isn’t likely to call a perfect match between two teams, so then why do we demand perfection from the referees? Maybe it is because in this time we live in, we get more and more access from soccer matches, such as camera angles, crowd reactions, and interviews. Did the referee in that Canada-USA match ref a bad game? That is debatable, but it seems like every time a match is played, supporters get upset over something the ref calls or hasn’t called.

For the 6-second rule that was called on the Canadian goalkeeper, I have never seen that rule implemented in a match in all my years of watching soccer, but no matter how obscure the rule is, it is still a rule of the game that has to be observed. But there were also instances where the USA goalkeeper Hope Solo held the ball for more than 6 seconds, but that is the failure of the referee to spot, not because of some “fix”. As for the handball call, the Canadian player clearly blocked the ball with her arm. That’s a penalty, no debate. There are some people who attribute inexperience as to why the referee made those calls, but there has to be a time where a referee makes that step to reffing an important match such as this one, and for that Norwegian referee, that time was this match.

I even saw some tweets from actual Canadian players saying basically that it “was already decided that the USA was going to win this game” and that “FIFA should look over this match”. I thought those comments were a bit classless and rather emotional, but once again; the players have every right to feel angry about the outcome of the match. Some of the American players, coaching staff, and supporters weren’t exactly graceful in victory, but I think that pales in comparison to Canada’s “outrage”. This is merely a minor gripe.

Well, there is no use crying over spilt milk right? We can talk about a “fix,” or bad refereeing decisions, but the only thing I will remember from this match is that the Canadian Women’s Team played their hearts out and gave their absolute everything. That is what I am proud of. Next is the bronze medal match against France, and we need to give the ladies all our support and will them on to a medal.

As for the events that happened against the USA, let’s put all of this behind us, shall we?