FIFA investigate Canada’s post-match comments following Olympic heartbreaker
Aug 7, 2012, 6:47 PM EDT
It’s definitely not over yet. Now FIFA’s involved in the latest fracas engulfing women’s soccer.
The controversy raging over the U.S.’s 4-3 win over Canada in Monday’s Olympic semifinal has now reached the highest level of the sport. FIFA today released a statement saying it will look into the events that followed the match.
The statement in full:
Following the Olympic women’s semi-final match between Canada and the USA played at Old Trafford on the evening of 6 August, the FIFA disciplinary committee is currently analyzing incidents that occurred after the conclusion of the match. Further information will be provided only after the committee are in possession of all the elements of the case.
The release comes on the heels of contentious post-match comments made by members of the Canadian women’s soccer team regarding the performance of match official Christian Pedersen.
Captain Christine Sinclair was particularly – and uncharacteristically – forthright with her views. “We feel like it was taken from us,” she said. “It’s a shame in a game like that, which is so important, that the ref decided the result before the game started.”
Forward Melissa Tancredi echoed Sinclair’s sentiments. “[Pedersen] could have done a better job. A way better job. This is the semifinals. We’re supposed to be professionals and they should act like one too. I feel robbed. That’s all I can say. I said to her: ‘I hope you can sleep tonight and put on your American jersey because that’s who you played for today.”
Head coach John Herdman has rushed to his players’ defense adding, “People should realize the game just ended and they had a camera shoves in their face. In the heat of the moment things are said. We just lost an emotional semi-final game and then they are asked to stand in front of the cameras. Things happen that both players and referees regret. Things happen, that’s football, we’re moving on.”
So, what exactly does the FIFA investigation entail and what kind of punishment is expected? And how will it affect Thursday’s bronze medal match against France? The details are still murky, but according to Canadian news outlet, there’s good reason to believe Canada will have its full complement of players available for the match.
Per the Toronto Sun, a source with the Canadian Soccer Association does not expect team members to be penalized. Vancouver Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi holds a similar view, according to The Province.
The time frame listed in FIFA’s statement (particularly the ‘Following the Olympics semi-final match…’ bit) likely precludes investigation into Tancredi’s supposed stomp on Carli Lloyd’s head. FIFA set a precedent earlier in the tournament by suspending Colombian player Lady Andrade for punching Abby Wambach in a group stage match.
Herdman’s side will have the chance to add the last word to all this when Canada meets its opponents on Thursday. France handed Canada a 2-0 loss in the final of the annual Cyprus Cup earlier this year.
The sour memories will likely linger, but an Olympic medal could go a long way in aiding the recovery process.
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- futbolhistorian - Aug 7, 2012 at 6:51 PM
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I hope Canada is able to field all their players for the third place match.
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- liebrich - Aug 7, 2012 at 7:19 PM
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I wonder if Tancredi sleeps well after stomping the head of a defenseless girl on the ground? What a disgusting act. Filth personified
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- lopsided - Aug 7, 2012 at 8:37 PM
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With how Tancredi was playing she was lucky she didn’t get at least a yellow that match, even without the stomp.
PS – Bad idea for your coach to criticize the officials prior to the match. Not a smart thing if you’re trying to ingratiate yourselves to the officials. You’re only drawing attention to yourselves. Here’s an idea: play the game.
Officials bungle calls all the time. This is why I am such a proponent of instant replay. They should find a way to have a ref in a booth during the game.
Arguably the biggest missed call was the red on Tancredi for the stomp. You guys are incredibly lucky you didn’t get caught for that and been down a player for minutes 55 through 90 (or more).
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- stevequinn - Aug 8, 2012 at 5:36 AM
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I watched the entire match and Tranredi should have been red-carded. Man she’s a dirty player.
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- dws110 - Aug 7, 2012 at 7:30 PM
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Oh goody, FIFA’s involved. We can all rest easy now knowing this is in capable hands.
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- gettingpwned - Aug 7, 2012 at 7:35 PM
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As a bit of a soccer newbie, and probably a bit of a US homer, I don’t think Canada is really looking at this all that clearly. Probably caught up in the moment.
At the very least, in the first half they had a LOT of borderline no-calls in their favor particularly vs Morgan and Rapinoe. They kept getting tripped and taken down all over the place. Plus the missed head stomp.
Like I said, newbie… But they definitely had their share of calls that went there way as well. Their play borderlined on physical/dirty a good portion of the game.
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- davego6 - Aug 7, 2012 at 8:08 PM
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The real issue: when was the last time any of us saw a 6 second delay of game called against a goaltender.? Likely, 99% of us didn’t even know the rule existed! I, for one didn’t know and have never seen it called. Bias, I think so!
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- jelliot1978 - Aug 7, 2012 at 8:16 PM
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Blame it on Abby Wambach! She stated she was counting loudly right near the ref and probably made the ref feel like it needed to be called. To be honest McLeod had many instances of having the ball in her hands for well over 10 seconds. If you are to believe Abby, she said she heard the ref warn McLeod. If warned, then it is on her and not the ref. the ref called something rarely called. If I recall Hope Solo had it called on her some 20 yrs ago.
As to Tancredi, she should be suspended for the head stomp and Lloyd should ask her if she can sleep at night!
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- chrishutchinson - Aug 7, 2012 at 8:24 PM
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Look at the first five seconds of the game. Tancredi comes out and immediately gives a senseless foul. Obviously, they were instructed to be very physical from the outset, and to send a message early on. She was lucky she didn’t get a second yellow by early in the second half, from fouls the ref did call. Not to mention the head stomp.
Sinclair played dirty too, though her goals were fabulous. But she blew it on the first US goal by being off the post. And take a look at the plays leading up to the second US goal — that also was fabulous as was the fourth goal by Morgan. The better team won — get over it.
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- billshoodie - Aug 7, 2012 at 9:03 PM
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It was obviously a poorly officiated game all around. Like golf with all of its obscure rules, even though everybody in the world knows that it is a dumb rule, it’s still a rule. I thought it was a terrible call given the circumstances, but a rule is a rule. The problem is, it is not called consistently and in fact rarely. Canada should have not lost the game on that call even though they were outplayed for the majority of the match.
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- stephencassidy - Aug 8, 2012 at 10:46 AM
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They didn’t lose the match on that call. They didn’t even lose the lead with that call. The PK happened because of the handball in the box. Which was absolutely a good call. Even then it only tied the game. Canada’s problem is that they had only one player seemingly able to score.
Here’s the deal with the 6 second rule… it does get called, cards are handed out all the time for delaying the game. This particular rule is enforced less, but Wambach was smart and knew that every second counted if they were to get back into the game. I’ve seen Thierry Henry count down the six seconds on his hand and got Red Bull arena counting it off too. It’s not that obscure.
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- acieu - Aug 7, 2012 at 9:11 PM
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Sidney Crosby is probably the whining coach for Canada’s
Women’s soccer team.
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- jkaflagg - Aug 7, 2012 at 10:25 PM
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A shame, Canada got an admittedly bad call against them in the 79th minute and lost the game…..
Wait….you say that 43 MORE MINUTES were played after the bad call led to the tying goal ? That instead of sucking it up, regaining their composure and trying to win the game , they basically tried to hang on to get to penalty kicks ? That in the final minute they fouled up a clearing attempt that led to the O’Reilly long cross to little Alex Morgan, a very average player in the air but was able to get clear in the middle of the box to head in the winner?
Gosh….sounds more like a loss of composure and a massive choke at the end than the ref ” stealing” it from them in the 79th minute…
If you get a bad call right at the end of the game with no chance to come back, that’s one thing…..but even had the call not occurred, NOBODY can say would might have happened in the last 10+ minutes of regulation – the Americans had already scored twice in the half, they might have gotten two goals in that time….we don’t know.
What we do know is that 43+ minutes were played, the USA team played to win, the Canadians tried to hang on and then tarnished their fine efforts whining about a tough call, and the better team won. If the Canadian girls really want to know who failed out there, don’t blame the ref – check the mirror……
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- timb12 - Aug 7, 2012 at 10:47 PM
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Canada probably get the short end of the stick on that call, but it did only tie the game at 3. It wasn’t the game winner. If I’m better than you, I’ll make sure I win the game. I’m sure that it helped Canada lose momentum but still, people are acting like this was the game winner at the end of the game. I’ll blame a loss in basketball on a wrong call in the 3rd quarter. Good teams don’t let the refs decide games.
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- garryjercia - Aug 7, 2012 at 11:25 PM
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Not surprising. The Canadians were crying before the match, why not after it too.
ProTip: if you girls want to play in a “fair” match, just get out of soccer altogether. The IOC and FIFA are two of the most corrupted bodies in sport. Just deal with it.
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- jamezyjamez - Aug 7, 2012 at 11:28 PM
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Horrible call, but so obscure and infrequently (aka never) called that even an incompetent official like that one could surely find a better way to fix the match.
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- schlom - Aug 7, 2012 at 11:57 PM
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It’s always funny when people start complaining about refereeing decisions after the fact. Clearly the most important mistake by the game officials was missing the head stomp by Tancredi – not the indirect free kick which led to the tying goal.
Mistakes are made in nearly every game and they tend to even out. In yesterdays game Canada, despite their complaining, got the break of the game, not the USA.
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- jimeejohnson - Aug 8, 2012 at 1:27 PM
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You’d laugh your butt off if you heard the Boston sports fans blaming every loss on the officials. Now the Red Sox fans are blaming umpires for their lousy play.
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- mervsvikes - Aug 8, 2012 at 1:07 AM
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Hey americans, flip this around for a minute. Pretend it all happened the other way around. You guys would be making such a large stink they would hear you from London. Missed trips, missed fouls, dirty footwork, it happens all the time in every soccer game and gets called as often as it gets missed. And I just watched that stomp 2 seconds ago. There is a chance it was on purpose but there is just as great a chance that it was completely inadvertent. It’s not like this was Suh or haynesworth-like. Nobody knows. It really seems blown out of proportion. The worst call of the game? Do you know that she wasn’t just off balance? Yes, the referee should never throw you off to a point you can’t win a game on your own but you have to admit that the delay of game call is the one of the strangest calls that you have ever seen. Have you ever seen it called? Would they call it on Spain in the world cup finals? How would you Americans feel if you were down 1 in the gold medal basketball game and lebron got called for traveling as he laid in the winning layup as time expired. It’s a rule too. Would that ever get called? Before you make any of your brash, American-like comments, try to look at it neutrally.
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- djrrockthepitch - Aug 8, 2012 at 8:16 AM
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Wow, you are asking us Americans to look at this neutrally yet you are trying to suggest that Tancredi’s head stomp could have been inadvertent? Not sure how many times you have seen the video, but you may want to watch it again and then NEUTRALLY reevaluate it. I understand soccer is a contact sport, think we all do. I can even rationalize and understand Tancredi’s excessively physical play as a tactic to knock the US team off their game. But to intentionally stomp on someone’s head…. That is despicable and Classless. Oh yea, then go check out Tancredi’s post-game comments when she criticizes the ref about being ‘professional’.
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- gettingpwned - Aug 8, 2012 at 2:12 AM
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Neutrally, the refs sucked both ways. Period. There was a lot that wasn’t called.
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- uspoika - Aug 8, 2012 at 4:24 AM
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whaaaaaaaa!!! we’re canada and we lost our soccer game because we couldnt score as many goals as America could, now we just need to cry about it… whhhaaa whaaaa whaaaaa!!! somebody get these chicks their pacifiers and diapers.
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- rico33rd - Aug 8, 2012 at 9:19 AM
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Bad call, should never have been made. US may have come down and tied it up anyway so can’t say it was the cause of the loss but trying to justify it by other calls or non calls proves that everyone agrees it was bunk. There was also a hand ball by Rapinoe in the penalty area but that’s the way it goes. Penalty kicks would have been great though. I hope both teams gain their medal games.
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- term3186 - Aug 8, 2012 at 10:32 AM
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People keep saying rapinoe handled the ball in the box. And it keeps not being true. That wasn’t a handled ball.
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- brakengo - Aug 8, 2012 at 9:45 AM
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So what you’re saying is that FIFA is getting involved … and how is that going to change the outcome of the game?
You can spout off all you want and lower yourselves but the bottom line is that semifinal game will remain a 4-3 U.S. victory.
Get over it!
