Hey, the storms in the Meadowlands really helped with the atmosphere for the final 15 minutes of play

Well, obviously in the good column is that fact that we have the best soccer blog in the US of A right here in DC!

Coyote Ugly: Does italy's worst defeat in my lifetime count for this week or next? 11:30 has me all mixed up. :-)

A hailstorm?

Not sure if just bad or really Coyote Ugly, but the Fire's defending against Emilio on the last goal was incredibly lame.

Speaking of lame there was a kid waiting for the Metro tonight -- might've been coming back from the Nats' game -- wearing a Fire t-shirt. I don't even see United shirts on off days...

Finally: what's it like to be Canadian, and watch the Dynamo take apart Toronto, with D-Ro scoring and setting up a goal, and Onstad making that great double save?

Coyote Ugly: Does italy's worst defeat in my lifetime count for this week or next? 11:30 has me all mixed up. :-)

Posted by: LeesburgSoccerFan | June 10, 2008 12:07 AM
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Are You kidding? That definately goes in the "Good" section, and maybe Goffinho will create an "It's a beautiful thing" section for that entry as well!
Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Alles!!

You cannot praise the Dutch and then root for the Germans. Now there is a real rivalry.
Hup Holland Hup
Aanvallen Holland

Good: Italy getting their collective @sses handed to them to open up the tournament. A beautiful game.

Bad: The same happening for my boys the Polska, especially after all of that (Coyote Ugly) negative build-up before the match

Coyote ugly: Stucked at work while Euro games. It's painful sit like that. I can barely catch the second highlight at 7 pm.

I'm with td. Should have planned to take the month of June off.

Uglier than ugly: The Mistaken Identity red card awarded to Pablo Mastroeni in the USA-Argentina game when he was mistakenly booked for his second yellow, after a foul committed by Maurice Edu. Unconscionable.

Here, here AMT. That red card debacle has to go down as the ugliest Coyote of them all.

Thanks Steve. Limarzi's call on Luchi's goal got the day started on the right track.

The Worst - Payne still with DCU

The Good - Emilio's goal is up for Goal of the Week and currently leads the voting.

The Bad - De Rosario's goal on a clearly offside play is second in the voting.

Not defending Italy, and I'm always glad to see the Orange do well, but Van Nistelrooy was so offside on that first goal and I think the Azzuri just never recovered from it.

Not defending Italy, and I'm always glad to see the Orange do well, but Van Nistelrooy was so offside on that first goal and I think the Azzuri just never recovered from it
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You can disagree with the rule, but the call was correct. Panucci on the ground behind the goal line played van Nistelrooy onside.

The Tony Limerazo goal call was cool but nobody can beat Andres Cantor. Univision has absolutly sucked since Andres left. Where is he...donde esta???

@BadNews

Payne is has an equity stake in the team - he's not going anywhere.

The Worst - Payne still with DCU

Posted by: BadNews | June 10, 2008 8:08 AM
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Idiot.

Add my vote for putting the Mastroeni mistaken red card in the Coyote Ugly list.

Plus, given the seemingly short rotation list of refs in CONCACAF, what are the chances this same guy refs one of the USA's qualifiers?

Does anybody have stats on United's success rate from corner kicks compared to MLS? Maybe it's just me, but I can't recall a penalty kick converted in recent memory, and they tend to get 10+ chances a match.

United's corner conversion rate is pretty terrible, but they scored off one in the win against Toronto last month.

the ref from holland-italia

Add my vote for putting the Mastroeni mistaken red card in the Coyote Ugly list.

Posted by: Rob | June 10, 2008 9:10 AM
___________________________________________

My understanding is that the Ref gave Pablo the second Red because Pablo gave the ball to a team mate instead of giving it to an Argentine player. Basically he was saying Pablo was un-sportsmanlike for wasting time which is b.s because Argentina was making a subsitution anyway.

GOOD:

Goffhino flying from DC to Chicago to NJ and bringing us home-made reports, not that stale, store-bought stuff from the wires.

The 4 or 5 year old I saw this morning wearing a DC United jersey.

My non-soccer-fan co-worker watching the USA-Argentina match.

Lots and lots and lots on live soccer on TV and telecommuting privileges (All of you need to tell your bosss that driving to waork is very bad for the environment and your health on these hot, hot days).

BAD
Thinking that Deutschland refers to Holland instead of Germany. But I'll give you a mulligan for that.

You can disagree with the rule, but the call was correct. Panucci on the ground behind the goal line played van Nistelrooy onside.

---------------

The rule obviously doesn't envision the inclusion of a player beyond the playing field in the determination of an offside position. This is from the FIFA Laws of the Game 07/08:

A player is in an offside position if:
• he is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent

It merely uses the term "nearer to his opponents' goal line" - that's certainly referring to the relative position from the center line. Panucci was on the ground behind the goal and to the side of it so, his position is irrelevant in the determination of an advantage. You could also argue that Panucci was farther away from the goal line than van Nistelrooy who was sitting three yards from the goal line when the ball came in.

Like I said, I like to see the Dutch do well, but that was a ridiculous no-call (or goal call).

the the ueber-coyote ugly: the romania-france game. must go down as the worst game in long, long time. can't believe i took an extended lunch for that one. ouch!

mizage- I did the same thing, and I agree that it was absolutely dire. Ah well, I'll be taking off early for France-Netherlands on Friday, and it just HAS to be better than yesterday's waste of time. Allez les Bleus!

Love Tony's call on Radio!

in german television they said there is a special rule, so van Nistelrooy wasn´t offside. In situations like this, the referees still recognize the players as part of the action. otherwise, every player who crosses the sidelines couldn´t come back in the game immediatly without drawing a yellow card or asking the referee if he was allowed to come back. (sorry for the grammar)

Ugly: 22 white jerseys

Coyote Ugly: I caught this last night -- I think it was Mexico's fourth goal vs. Peru. The keeper came out to the top of the box, the ball bounced right over him, and Mexico tapped in an easy goal. Que verguenza.

Good: the first goal against Italy not being called back because of offside;

Good: Most of the officiating in the Euro has been great; they are letting the guys play;

Bad: Julie Foudy in the booth... ugh.

an attacker can step off the field to remove himself from the offside equation but a defender may not. It's a sensible interpretation because otherwise defenders could put opponents in an offside position by jumping off the field at opportune times. So, in a case such as this the defender who is off the field is interpreted as bing on the goal line for offside determining purposes. The officials got that play exactly right.

It might be useful for UEFA or FIFA to put out a statement about this since no one who isn't a referee seems to know about this judging by all of the uninformed commentary on TV and elsewhere.

This should satisfy you, then:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldFootballNews/idUKL106975820080610

It's a sensible interpretation because otherwise defenders could put opponents in an offside position by jumping off the field at opportune times.

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Panucci was knocked over by his 'keeper and completely out of play before the sequence materialized. This was not the case of an opportunistic defender jumping off the field of play to expose a cheating forward. There is room for interpretation, and in this case, Panucci should not have been considered a defender for purposes of determining an offside advantage. But, that's my opinion. It differed from the linesman's, the ref's, and many of your's. At least Andy Gray agreed with me!

I can't believe that ESPN still trots out Julie Foudy for men's soccer coverage...she's awful!

Taylor told reporters: "Even though the Italian defender (Christian Panucci) was off the field because of his momentum, he is still deemed to be part of the game and is therefore taken into considersation as one of the last two defending players."

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Because of his momentum?!

That statement by UEFA kinda blows off the fact that Panucci was lying there on the ground, not trying to get up or anything - he had been knocked down and was not considering the run of play at all when deciding to stay down.

It's funny, I didn't really care - so I'm not sure why I'm carrying on. I'm done.

BAD
Thinking that Deutschland refers to Holland instead of Germany. But I'll give you a mulligan for that.

Posted by: I-270, Exit 1 | June 10, 2008 9:37 AM
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Actually, I have no such illusions, being German by heritage. However, I follow a variation of the old Redskins/Cowboys theory, in that "I root for Germany and anyone who beats Italy."

Bummer. For some reason the Limarzi audio won't work. I'd like to hear that.

... the Ref gave Pablo the second Red because Pablo gave the ball to a team mate instead of giving it to an Argentine player...

Posted by: Smitty | June 10, 2008 9:33 AM

Thanks for the update. In that case it seems within the bounds of what a ref might call, but like you mentioned the circumstances didn't seem to warrant it.

I hope this ref doesn't have an ax to grind in any future games with the US team or with Mastroeni.

How did you not count the pitch invsation to get to Beckham Sat night in the Colorado match as among the uglist?

How did you not count the pitch invsation to get to Beckham Sat night in the Colorado match as among the uglist?

The match report shows the ref booking Edu and Mastroeni separately, a minute apart. I don't know how this mistaken identity urban legend got started.

http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_6684675.html

Of course, we're probably stuck with the misnomer "Pennsylvania Dutch" until the sun goes nova.

Actually, I have no such illusions, being German by heritage.

Posted by: Throwin | June 10, 2008 11:50 AM
=================

I guess that since you posted in response to the Netherlands victory I connected the two.

Being German by heritage though, you should know that they dropped the U"ber alles verse from their anthem after WWII.

Coyote Ugly
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7444420.stm

Good: Foudy, Andy Gray and even Tommy Smyth in the ESPN booth. At least they know the game, and Foudy says fewer dumb things than anyone else they've ever had, regardless of gender.

The Bad: All three being wrong about offside call

The Ugly: The first 2 ESPN talking head hosts (Saturday and Sunday) who were clearly watching their first soccer matches.

Being German by heritage though, you should know that they dropped the U"ber alles verse from their anthem after WWII.

*****************************

It's a little more complicated than that...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Lied_der_Deutschen#Use_after_World_War_II

Sara Jessica Parker Ugly-

Washington Post's print edition having DC United still in last place in the Eastern Conference Table Sunday *and* Monday, even though we clearly had more points than Kansas City both days.

Thx,

Jay!