The Canadian women’s soccer team feels “robbed” and “cheated” after what its coach described as two “bizarre” calls in a 4-3 U.S. victory in the Olympic semifinals.
Canadian players were upset about a second-half sequence in which Canada goalkeeper Erin McLeod corralled a loose ball, and the referee determined she held it for more than the allowed six seconds as she searched for a place to throw it. She was assessed a foul, and the U.S. was awarded an indirect free kick inside the penalty area.
U.S. midfielder Megan Rapinoe took the free kick and spiked it off Canadian Lauren Sesselmann’s arm, eliciting a handball call and a penalty kick, which Abby Wambach converted to tie the game 3-3 before extra time.
Yes, they were both bizarre calls. Sad that it came to this. But it might not have mattered so much if the Canadian players had been guarding the inside post on the second American goal that was bent from the corner. Christine Sinclair played a whale of a game – the top women’s striker in the game today in my not-too-biased Canadian opinion.
I was listening to a guy on a sports talk station here in St. Louis this morning who’s played soccer and who pays a lot of attention to the game(he did the games for the women’s team we used to have here, the one Hope Solo played for). He agreed that those calls are rarely ever made. Canada got robbed.