The U.S. men's soccer team made one of the most unlikely advances in a tournament than I have ever seen any sports tournament on Sunday.
After starting the Confederations Cup with two losses, the U.S. had to defeat Egypt by three goals and needed Brazil to defeat Italy by three goals in order to avoid elimination. Ironically enough, it happened exactly the way it needed to for the U.S. to advance. The question is, was it really fair?
Brazil easily ran through Group B going undefeated. However, the U.S. lost to Italy to open up the Confederations Cup and still advanced over them despite having the same record. The rules decide tie-breakers by total number of goals rather than what we're use to in the states, which is whoever won head-to-head.
As happy as I was to see the U.S. move on, this does not seem fair to me the slightest bit. So what if we scored four goals during the course of the tournament and Italy only scored three. The bottom line is Italy beat us just a week prior to the U.S. advancing and they deserve to play Spain in the next round.
Either way, now the U.S. gets the gift of playing Spain, which didn't give up a single goal in their three games in Group A.
As long as the U.S. doesn't get embarrassed then they still have a lot to be proud of and should have a good idea of where the team is at as the World Cup gets closer and closer.
I may not agree with the rules, but I still can't help but chant...U-S-A, U-S-A!!!!!!
Vandy fan, eh? Please allow a Vol fan to explain this to you.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with comparing Italy and the USA head to head is that you also have to consider Egypt. Egypt, like the USA and Italy, also had one win and two losses. Who did Egypt beat? Italy! So should Egypt deserve to move forward over Italy based on their head-to-head game?
But wait, USA beat Egypt. So it's circular.
USA beat Egypt. Egypt beat Italy. Italy beat the US.
The first tiebreaker is actually goal differential (how many you scored minus how many you gave up), and if that is tied, then the number of goals scored is compared. I believe FIFA does this in order to encourage attacking play, and to try and avoid 0-0 draws.
Anyways, these are the tiebreaking rules, and they've been around for awhile, and are not a secret, so I disagree with your use of the word "controversy" in the title of your post.
Take care and enjoy the game!
-chuck