Canadians accuse referee of bias after soccer defeat by U.S.

Now you already knew this was bond to happen.

@bass4funk How many times have you seen a goalkeeper called for this, at any time in the game and at any level of play (let along in a tight game in the Olympics)?

I'm thinking never, right?

The refs were watching closely because of suspicions the Canadian team was using delay tactics to run out the clock.

@aedfed

I have to agree with paulinusa about this and I'm going to say this, this is NOT about nationalism, but the Canadians DID do a lot of staling and just running the clock, I mean, come on. It was so obvious and now they are crying foul???! That's their own fault. The game was good, both teams played well. I don't get it. And also what I don't get it is, what is Canada's obsession with the US anyway, as if they always have something to prove. Most Americans don't care. Canada is Canada, nice country, but the other way around, my god! This reflects very poorly on Canada. Where is their sportsmanship?

I normally don't watch soccer... and could find no good reason to ever watch women's soccer - but it was on at the gym so I caught it. The ref didn't look so much biased as just incompetent. She missed far too much for an Olympic' match. But that is all part of sport. Just ask the All Blacks who suffered at hands of referee incompetence in the RWC2007

Ok. Let's talk about sportsmanship. How about pulling a piece of paper out of your sock when you win? How about doing some kind of line dance or standing on your hands when you win? And now the U.S. players are diminishing the Canadian efforts in the game. Apparently Sinclairs 3 goals were mostly lucky. Apparently the Canadian team was unfit and hardly deserving to be on the same field as the mighty U.S. There is a term called 'ugly Americans' used at the Olympics. It arises from their inability to win with grace and sportsmanship. If they lose, it is someone else's fault. If they win by a narrow margin, the opponent was lucky to come so close. If they blow the opponent away, well, that was just destined to be. They almost never have the grace to say the other team played well or that it was a close match. Canada does not have an obsession with the U.S. Rather, I think the U.S. lack of sportsmanship is starting to rub off on them.

@Onniyama

You just proved my point again. Thanks

bassfunk I did?

I've seen goalkeepers yellow-carded for taking too long to put the ball back into play but for the opposition to be awarded a kick was a bit of a headscratcher. But I saw a typical match between rivals: full of controversy, hard tackling, good hustle, complete with the moaning after the match. IMO, both teams left their all on the pitch.

@w8

I agree.

I don't think it was about bias as much as there were just some bad calls made. I doubt the woman favoured the US team any more than she did the Canucks -- the calls just happened to go against the latter. In any case, since some of the calls were indeed bad they have a right, same as with any other event, to contest. Won't change anything in terms of results, but it might make people like the Norwegian ref try a little harder to make good calls.

Note that the "Rune Pedersen" who is defending the ref with such enthusiasm also happens to be her father.

Brings to mind the advice of a Japanese friend who said, "Never choose a doctor here whose father was also a doctor" implying that chances were he'd bought his son's way into medical school.

The Canadians need to get past this and focus on France or else they will leave with nothing.

Did not see it but poor Canada!!

SuperLib - you're right, we Canadians have to get behind our Team Canada for the Bronze match with France - all this discussion/anger, etc will distract our team. I have never watched soccer but watched the game yesterday live - it was a heartbreaker but there, unfortunately, have always been terrible calls by referees at Olympic events. Look at that boxing match last week with the Japanese clearly winning the bout but the referee obviously blind as a bat .... well, you get the picture. Onto the Bronze Canada! And, Japan, onto the Gold!!! Women's soccer - wow - better than hockey!!!

@dbuurman....

"Getting behind our team"..... That's kind of funny isn't it? I'm surprised these girls were able to take enough time off from their day jobs. Sports Canada... what an embarrassment!

Onto the Bronze Canada! And, Japan, onto the Gold!!! Women's soccer - wow - better than hockey!!!

No doubt, it will be a good game either way, but I hope and think the US gets the Gold, if NOT, Ill be content with Silver.

Well of course they're gonna make accusations like that and point fingers at anyone else but themselves. I kind of knew this would happen. Yes, it's bad sportsmanship, but human nature. Now had Canada won, I'm sure the coach would change his tune and say the game was called fairly, puff out his chest and proclaim them better than the U.S.

SuperLib: "The Canadians need to get past this and focus on France or else they will leave with nothing."

True dat. I imagine it's quite hard, though, and the bitterness of it is something that will never be lost. Still, you're correct, and it'll be even worse if they can't beat France.

Yeah? Did the coach have anything to say about Melissa Tancredi, who finished the match with just one yellow card despite being called for at least seven fouls, intentionally stomped on the head of Carli Lloyd while she was on the ground in the box?

Canada’s beaten women’s soccer players accused Norwegian referee Christiana Pedersen of bias ...

Rune Pedersen, the head of refereeing for the Norwegian FA and a former World Cup referee came to her defense

Related, perhaps? Maybe she wasn't the most qualified coach Norway had to offer.

@onniyama

would you care to provide any particulars to back up your anti-american diatribe? im especially curious to find out how the americans caused the canadians to show bad sportsmanship.

Maybe she wasn't the most qualified coach Norway had to offer.

She wasn't the coach. She was the referee.

Well, rules state that the goalkeeper must get rid of the ball within 6 seconds. The Canadians game plan was to slow the game down, and the goalkeeper did this a number of times. Abby Wambach caught on to this and began counting out loud everytime the goalkeeper got the ball and held on to it. She often got to 10 seconds and sometimes even to 15 seconds. By the 80th minute, the referee had enough and called the foul. In other games, I've seen goalkeepers hold on to the ball a few times in a whole game, but never made it their routine and gameplan.

Maybe she wasn't the most qualified coach Norway had to offer.

She wasn't the coach. She was the referee.

Ooops, my bad. Indeed, I meant referee. Thanks for pointing out my obvious mistake; much appreciated!

Hahaha, OK, here's what I think happened:

The Canada coach told the media that the USA were using illegal physical tactics. So, the USA coach told the refs that Canada were using illegal time-wasting tactics. So even-stevens!

You lost. Take it like a man and live with it.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/canada-melissa-tancredi-got-away-stomping-carli-lloyd-173222381--oly.html

So... We can now tell that both Canada is ignoring facts, insulting a ref that saved them from humiliation, and stirring anti-US sentiment for no reason.

That and that Reuters is biased like crazy for publishing the article as is.

Thanks for pointing out my obvious mistake; much appreciated!

No problem!

As to the Canadia reaction, the Olympics are supposed to be a place where countries can compete in a friendly atmosphere. Win or lose, it should be done with humility.

The judging at quite a few events this year has been head-scratchingly poor, with appeals being upheld and medals being denied (yes, Japanese gymnast who fell off the Pommel Horse in the men's team event, lol). The ref in the Canada/USA game is just another example.

Never mind... Go Team GB... more Golds please ^_^

@Thunderbird

Go Team GB...

Can't believe these are the words of a British person. Go Team GB??? What part of the States are you from??

First off I am a Canadian and yes I was disappointed by the ref deciding the game with not one but 2 controversial calls. That aside let’s look at the game logically.

Some of you are defending the refs call to award a free kick because the Canadian goalie had held the ball too long. Most would agree the call is never made but if a rule is a rule then you believe it should be enforced. Okay then why was Hope Solo not called for the same infraction. I had taped the game so I went back to review it after it was over. Hope Solo the American goalie could be seen on more than 5 occasions holding the ball in excess of 20 seconds. This was what you could clearly see on the TV. Anyone watching the game saw it. If a ref is doing their job they make the identical call for both teams. This was clearly not the case. You may be thinking that any ref can miss the occasional call – okay I agree but miss 5 calls. How could the ref miss more than 5 instances of the same infraction - that my friends is doubtful.

Next let's talk about the penalty awarded for the inadvertent handball. Anyone who has ever refereed a game knows this was a poor call but again for the sake of argument let’s say it was the correct call. Now fast forward to the final game for gold with the US against Japan. Japan was awarded a free kick on the edge of the 18 yard box. Japan kicks the ball and it goes off the hand of the American player. This was identical to the handball by the Canadian in the prior game. Clear as day shown on many instant replays. The result - no call by the ref. So now we need to decide. Did the ref make a right call in the US - Canada game or the right call in the US - Japan game? They both can't be right. Different ref but the Americans once again get the call their way. In each game it could be argued that the US team would not have won the game were it not for these controversial calls.

In the same US - Japan game on another occasion Japan was close to scoring and had passed the ball towards one of their strikers right in front of the goal. The US player tackled the Japan player by wrapping her arms around her waist like a bear hug and dragged her to the ground. Clearly an offense and clearly it should have been awarded a penalty kick. Again this was shown over and over again on instant replay. So what was the result of this instance. The result - no call by the referee.

So in recapping. The Americans tied the game and went on to win against Canada due to not one but two controversial calls that went their way. Canada was upset and some cried that Canada was a sore loser. In the gold medal game against Japan the American team had not one but two controversial calls go their way that had they both been awarded penalty shots as they should have been – the Japanese would have at the very least tied the game if not won it with the one or two penalty shots that should have been awarded.

Maybe it’s time for FIFA to take a closer look at the apparent undue influence the Americans had over the referees at the Olympics.

One controversial call their way - okay perhaps a mistake. Two controversial calls their way - suspicious. Three controversial calls their way - this does not look good. Four controversial calls their way - well folks if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck I believe it's a duck.

Wake up FIFA - investigate this or risk losing all credibility for your sport. If the referees were unduly influenced then the wins by the US should be overturned. If they were overturned then Japan and Canada should be allowed to play for gold.

As a last note I believe that players and teams should be allowed to win or lose a game based on their own skill. A close game should never be decided by a referee making controversial calls. It’s just wrong.

Hi Wayne, I'm a Canadian as well. Your points are almost all in line with my thoughts — except on the hand balls. Canada's was an inadvertent touch = not deliberate = no foul. The player Nault was cringing away from a rocket blast and the ball hit her arm.

On the American (uncalled) foul, you see the woman face the ball and deliberately raise her arm to stop its progress. Unlike the later bear hug tackle, this was the ONLY play happening at the time. The ref had to see it.

Sadly, the interpretations by the refs were bass-ackwards... and favoured the Americans both times.

I don't support the claims of pay-offs or collusion. I do agree with claims of incompetence of refs or intimidation by mouthy American players. They are a great team but twice they did not win on merit.

Funny, how it's only the Canadians that are always crying foul. You guys need to stop, it makes you lookalike a punch of petty, childish sore losers, had the tables been turned and you guys would have won and the Americans complained, you guys would have told us to accept it, suck it up and that's sports deal with it. I have no horse in the race, i just love the sport. Had Canadacwon, so be it. At the end of the day, it's all about sports and performence. How you think and no matter how much you try to dissect it, US won and Canada didn't, ref called it and that's it. Complainning will not change anything. Move on!