D6


S


KLMNO World Cup 2010


Referee wrongly disallows an English goal that would’ve tied the game


Associated Press KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/GETTY IMAGES “He did great with this


team.” — U.S. team captain Carlos Bocanegra on U.S. Coach Bob Bradley, above


After U.S. loss, Bradley’s fate is undecided


u.s. soccer from D1


back, there are also questions about whether he wants to come back. Successes aside, World Cup coaches often step down after a four-year cycle to pursue other opportunities. Bradley could decide to look in Europe, where head coaching positions turn over continually. Though no prominent Americans have landed jobs overseas, the level of respect for U.S. coaches is rising. Bradley’s portfolio includes an upset of Spain and a near-upset of Brazil in the Confeder- ations Cup last year, a first-place finish in World Cup region qualifying and a 1-0-2 record in group play in South Africa. Asked if he would be interested in a European


job, Bradley said: “I have always enjoyed new challenges. I believe that is what life is all about. So as I move forward, there will always be an open mind in that regard.” Captain Carlos Bocanegra spoke highly of


Bradley after the Ghana match. “He did great with this team, getting the most out of each player, and had us organized,” Boca- negra said. “Whether he stays here or wants to take a job and try his luck in Europe, I don’t know what he is going to do. But he did very well to push this national team in the right direction.” Gulati oversaw a coaching change in 2006, dropping Bruce Arena, the program’s most suc- cessful boss, after the U.S. team’s winless per- formance in Germany. Negotiations commenced with Juergen Klinsmann, Germany’s World Cup coach that year, but when talks unexpectedly broke down, Gulati turned to Bradley, a longtime MLS guide, on an interim basis before hiring him in early 2007. Klinsmann, a former German star who lives in Southern California and is working for ESPN dur- ing this World Cup, might reemerge as a candi- date should Bradley depart. As for the team, the roster will gradually


change before the 2014 tournament in Brazil. Starting defenders Bocanegra, Jay DeMerit and Steve Cherundolo, all age 31, will be past their prime, while others in their late 20s might be hard-pressed to maintain their status. Forward Jozy Altidore, midfielders Michael


Bradley, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden and José Torres, and defender Jonathan Spector form the roster’s younger generation. The USSF, though, will have to develop more interna- tional-caliber players in order to take the next step on the world scene. “You try to help connect the dots early with the


[junior] programs below, so that we are all work- ing together to try to move this along,” Bradley said. “Those things are happening. Part of the re- sponsibility in a World Cup is that, if we do take this thing further, then maybe that shows people the progress. And when you don’t, you have to keep going. We’re somewhere in there.” goffs@washpost.com


MATT DUNHAM/ASSOCIATED PRESS Mexico’s players protest Carlos Tevez’s first goal. “Everybody is human on the pitch,” Mexico Coach Javier Aguirre of a linesman failing to call Tevez offside. Argentina is lucky and good vs. Mexico argentina from D1


tional team in 2008. There were doubts about his skill as a tactician and doubts, as well, about his emo- tional stability given a decades-long battle with cocaine and alcohol that he insists is in his past. Above all, skeptics questioned


MATT DUNHAM/ASSOCIATED PRESS


American players are dejected after the loss to Ghana in the round of 16. Some hope to return in four years for the World Cup in Brazil. Others will be past their prime.


on washingtonpost.com/gog


Where to watch. Take a look at Going Out Guide’s full rundown of the best places in the


area to catch all the World Cup action. washingtonpost.com/gog


whether Maradona could sublimate his own ego sufficiently to enable the 23-year-oldMessi to stake his claim at this World Cup as Maradona’s heir. But after yet another dominant showing by his team, Maradona lav- ished praise on his players — Messi in particular, whose quickness bedevils defenders. “Lionel Messi is like a jet plane on the pitch,” Maradona said. “No matter what they would have tried — no mat- ter what [Mexico Coach Javier]


Aguirre would have fielded — we would have been able to overcome that resistance due to the quality of our players.” For Mexico, it was a bitter and fa- miliar result. Argentina bounced Mexico from the 2006 World Cup at the same stage. It was the fifth consecutive World Cup in which Mexico has failed to make it past the round of 16. Afterward Aguirre was muted in his criticism of the linesman’s non- call. “Everybody is human on the pitch


— referee, linesmen and players take decisions in split seconds,” Aguirre said. “And referees take split-second decisions, and they can spoil every- thing.”


A jubilant crowd of 84,377 was on hand, making joyful noise from start


to finish with their vuvuzelas, drums and song. Mexico got off to a spirited start.


But Argentina struck first. The sequence began with Messi passing to Tevez, whose shot bounced off goalkeeper Oscar Perez and back into the field of play. Messi chipped it back to Tevez, who knocked it in with a header. Replay showed that Tevez was clearly offside, but linesman Stefano Ayroldi failed to see it. Mexican play- ers pleaded their case to referee Ro- berto Rosetti, and a half-dozen Argen- tines joined the debate. But the goal had been recorded, and


Rosetti let it stand. The non-call clearly disrupted the


Mexicans’ concentration, and seven minutes later Argentina struck again — this time, indisputably and almost


effortlessly. Gonzalo Higuain pounced on a lackadaisical pass by Mexico’s Ricardo Rosario, and in a flash, dribbled around him and slotted the ball past Perez, who looked on helplessly from his knees. As players headed to the locker


room at halftime, a fracas broke out behind Mexico’s bench but it was soon subdued with Rosetti’s intervention. Argentina’s third goal came at the


52nd minute: a spectacular right-foot- ed blast from 25 yards out by Tevez. Mexico’s Javier Hernandez prevent- ed the shutout, sending a left footed blast over goalkeeper Sergio Romero’s left shoulder in the 72nd minute. Her- nandez beat Nicolas Otamendi on his charge toward the net, and help from defender Ariel Garce arrived too late. clarkel@washpost.com


bloemfontein, south africa — Germany’s latest World Cup victory over England will be remembered not for any of the brilliant goals, but for the one that didn’t count. Ask anyone — players, coaches, thousands of fans in the stadium and millions more watching on television — and there’s little question that Frank Lampard put a shot in the net late in the first half that would have tied the score. But referee Jorge Larrionda waved


play on, and two second-half goals by Thomas Mueller helped Germany run away with a 4-1 victory on Sunday. The Germans are headed to the quar- terfinals. The English are shaking their heads in disbelief. “It’s incredible,” England Coach Fa- bio Capello said. “We played with five referees and they can’t decide if it’s a goal or no goal. The game was differ- ent after this goal. It was the mistake of the linesman and I think the refer- ee because, from the bench, I saw the ball” go in. Germany Coach Joachim Loew


couldn’t argue that point. “What I saw on the television, this ball was behind the line,” Loew said. “It must have been given as goal.” It wasn’t. “The goal was very important,” Ca-


JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES


Germany’s Thomas Mueller, right, celebrates one of his two goals in his team’s win over England, which never recovered from an incorrectly disallowed goal.


pello said. “We could have played a different style. We made some mis- takes when they played the counterat- tack. The referee made bigger mis- takes.” Larrionda and assistant referee


Mauricio Espinosa were not made available to comment. FIFA said in a statement that it “will not make any comments on decisions of the referee on the field of play.” Soccer’s rule-making panel agreed


last March not to pursue experiments with technology that could help refer- ees judge goal-line decisions. Before the disputed play, Germany went up on goals by Miroslav Klose


and Lukas Podolski before England’s Matthew Upson made it 2-1 in the 37th minute. Lampard’s non-goal came a minute


later. After the ball landed across the line, it spun back into the arms of Ger- many goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. In 1966, England and Germany were tied, 2-2, in extra time in the World Cup final when Geoff Hurst’s shot struck the underside of the cross- bar, bounced down and spun back into play. That time, the referee con- sulted his linesman, who awarded the goal. Hurst went on to score a third goal in England’s 4-2 victory at Wembley.


MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2010


WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SOCCER The United States may be done at the World Cup, but The Post isn’t. Keep tabs on all the action, including Monday’s big Brazil-Chile game, at Soccer Insider.


Controversy clouds German rout of England


This time, it was Mueller who netted two goals, handing England its most lopsided loss in a World Cup. “We heard that the ball was behind the line, that we were fortunate,” Mueller said of Lampard’s shot. “Be- fore the last two goals, the game hung in the balance, England was putting on the pressure.” The 20-year-old forward finished


two quick German counterattacks within three minutes to sink Eng- land’s hopes of beating Germany at the World Cup for the first time since that 1966 final. Germany plays Argen- tina, which beat Mexico, 3-1, in the quarterfinals on Sunday. Mueller scored on the counterat- tack in the 67th minute, having start- ed the move after a long clearance by Jerome Boateng. Mueller passed to Bastian Schweinsteiger, who patient- ly dribbled upfield and ran across the 18-yard line to feed the unguarded Mueller, whose shot hit the hand of England goalkeeper David James and went in. Three minutes later, Mueller struck again after a break on the left wing by Mesut Özil. Klose scored his 50th goal in 99 games for Germany by outmuscling defender Upson to a bouncing ball off a goal kick. Podolski gave the three- time champions a 2-0 lead. Upson headed in a cross from Ste-


ven Gerrard to make it 2-1, then Lam- pard’s shot was not rewarded. “I think if you look back at the game as a whole, we’ve been beaten by the better team,” Gerrard said. But “at 2-1, if Frank’s ball had stayed, I think it would have been a nice turning point in the game.”


ROUND OF 16


Uruguay 2 South Korea June 26


1


Ghana 2 United States June 26


Netherlands Slovakia Monday, 10 a.m. (ESPN)


Brazil Chile Monday, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)


QUARTERFINALS Uruguay Friday, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN) 1 Ghana July 6, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN) Friday, 10 a.m. (ABC, ESPN) July 11, 2:30 p.m. (ABC) THIRD PLACE July 10, 2:30 p.m. (ABC) July 7, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)


Paraguay Japan


Saturday, 2:30 p.m. (ABC) Tuesday, 10 a.m. (ESPN)


Spain Portugal Tuesday, 2: 30 p.m. (ESPN)


SEMIFINALS


FINAL


SEMIFINALS


QUARTERFINALS Saturday, 10 a.m. (ABC)


Argentina Germany


ROUND OF 16


Argentina 3 Mexico 1 June 27


Germany 4 England 1 June 27


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