My Right Hand (Erin McLeod Book 2)

My Right Hand (Erin McLeod)

Slowly all my teammates walk out and grab what's theirs off the counter. Don't forget to lock up when you guys go! I look around and see how we're all wearing oue soccer sweats and our team sweater. Minutes after walking outside, Kelley and Abby came out looking worse than the other four. I hear giggling behind me after Tobs comment and I couldn't help but chuckle at my teammates.

After an hour weight training and conditioning in the fitness room, Coach Kina made us go to the stadium where they have the basketball courts so we can do some running and training in there. Cut the gym in from hoop to hoop, one side is the yoyo test, and on that same side, some of you will be running up and down the aisles of stairs at the bleachers.

The other half will be the goal keepers doing some training on part of the court and the other side of the court is going to be all on controlling the ball with juggling with a partner. After, we're going to play soccer tennis! Forwards on the stairs, keepers you know where to go midfielders on the yoyo first, and back line defenders on juggling!

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After two hours of switching circuits multiple times so everyone did everything at least once if not twice, we decided to play soccer tennis to somewhat cool down. We got to pick our teams, it's usually five on five but we had to expand the amount this time since it was one big court. It was upper classmen versus lower classmen. The games we played were intense! First, lower class won, then upper class, and now it's a new game.

Everyone is super competitive which makes the game that much more fun. I don't normally do this but when I do people know it serious. I took off my shirt and tucked it into the front of my shorts so it was hanging down. Instantly, everyone even the coaches on my team started oohing. Everyone, it's getting serious! I look down at my body to see a six pack. I don't like to flash my body around that.

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I don't know why but I just don't like to. So it's rare for me to just look down and admire myself. I'm proud of my body, it shows a lot of work from training. Sara, one of the freshmen on the team, extended her leg enough to barely tap the ball over the net. As usual, my natural save the ball instincts kicked in and dove for the ball. Once I felt the ball touch my hands, I pushed it up and hit back over the net before I hit the ground.

The entire lower class team cheered while the upper class booed me. Immediately, the game started back up, everyone on the lower class team rotated so Keelin, a sophomore, kicked it over for the serve. I wanted to make up for the point I gave away so I ran and jumped up to head the ball down.

Luckily for me, I hit it perfectly and spiked it down with my head, giving us a point. Right away my team cheered and the lower team booed. We heard footsteps and chatter starting to fill the stadium that didn't belong to any of us. Our heads snapped towards the sounds to see the women's basketball team starting to fill up the gym.

Everyone groaned and whined as some helped put the net away and everyone else started to grab their stuff. I grabbed my soccer bag and put it on my back. I chugged down a water only to choke when I heard the familiar voice of the girl from the night before. Next I just need your number. I got to go practice now and your team is leaving. Just In All Stories: Story Story Writer Forum Community. After the Wambach PK, Solo could not be penalized with a foul until after she had received as many warnings as McLeod before the call was made.

And the handball was called on the 2nd player not the first one. I would not have made the call on the first player because the strategy on the indirect kick would have been to aim at a player creating a live ball in front of the next. There were calls and non-calls galore in the game and we don't know how many warnings were given. Both teams were committing infractions and if all were called, we would have seen 4 ejections for double yellows. When the US was behind, its fans were angry at the referee for the non calls on Canada. If the outcome were reversed, the USA fans would be calling for her head.

Let's give the credit to the players for a wonderful game and salute Sinclair for being the best striker in the game and Rapinoe for being the female David Beckham for her long ball accuracy. I watched the entire game. Did u hear the US complaining when the ref missed numerous calls for fouls against them? The Canadian coach is a cry baby so apparently is his team.

It was a great game!!! The US Women fought hard and came out on top. The US would have tied it up without the free kick from Wambach anyway. Look at their hisory and look at the second half of that game yesterday. The US players who were on the pitch the entire minutes just had more then the Canadians who were on for minutes. Bottom line - it was a great game!

The kind of intensity you expect to see during the Olympics. The US just wanted to re-match with Japan more. So, Canada, get over it, aye! The "iffy" red cards by the ref in this game threw the game to the Brazilians. In fact, the Brazilians should have lost this game. I timed it at 8. I stopped the stop watch when I heard the whistle during a replay. Even if McLeod was warned this was not the time to do it.

It could be said on this one McLeod was trying to comply. The flag went up. The American never got within 5 yards of the ball and the ref. Karma's rough, isn't it? All that talk from your coach about the USA's "highly illegal" tactics and your own player, Melissa Tancredi, intentionally stomps on the head Carli Lloyd and got away with it when she should have received a red card and been ejected! Go drown your tears downing a Molson! Its always the Ref's fault when losing How many of you have been Ref's and no what it is like to make a call?

USA Won and now its time to move on! To all the referees. Is the reason Solo was not flagged for holding the ball longer than 6 seconds,in the spirit of the game, her team was behind so therefore not taking advantage of the opponent. It wasn't 7 seconds. Look at the clock as she gets up and is in control. They then show a replay and when they go back to the live action 14 seconds are gone from when she was standing up in control. The ball was in the air, but realize even for the best NFL punters, the ball is usually in the air for less than 5 seconds.

The ball was probably no more than 3 seconds in the air. It was at least 10 seconds she held the ball.

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Even with that said I don't like the call. Imo she should have been given a warning on the field. The handball was a handball, if you're questioning that, you're just wrong. I say no call should have been made at that point, so no indirect kick and no ensuing handball.

However, Alex was clearly taken down in the box twice. They were calls that undisputedly should have been made. In addition Abby was literally tackled on a corner kick which even though it's rarely called should have been. Take away the 1 penalty shot and give 2 for the take downs on Alex and the US wins in regulation. If you add in the tackle of Abby it's 3. Tancredi should really shut up though as she probably the dirtiest player in the women's game today.

As for the rest of the game. Had the US handled Sinclair as roughly in the box as Abby gets handled, she only has 1 goal. The US had better do a better job in the future. The US was clearly the better team. Canada has a fair gripe on the one call, however, it's not fair to complain about one while ignoring the others that clearly went your way. The refs aren't perfect? Would the Candians have been upset if similar calls had gone their way, depriving them of a pure victory?

The US may play a physical game, but they aren't out to injure their opponents. Tancredi stomping on Lloyd's head--straight red that wasn't called:. Better to say the ref was not wrong-exactly. Where all the whining led to in American football was to do so much reviewing it is destroyed as an in person experience!

Play on, get over it, may as well gripe you weren't born ambipederous. Maybe it's because I never have a bet on. Ramon Creager makes some accurate and responsible comments. Interestingly, the recertification classes this year for referees, including those still in their early teens, specifically refers to criteria used to determine what should be called as a hand-ball and those that should not, as well other more general points which are raised about application of the spirit of the laws of the game game which affects matters such as the 6 second requirement.

This was introduced some years back simply to prevent goalkeepers from deliberately delaying releasing the ball in order to gain an unfair advantage such as wasting time when their team was leading. These situations are outstanding teaching tools for referees of all ages because so many have seen them and have an opinion to offer.

Whatever the 'best' decision was, there can be no denying that this was a really good competitive game, played to a good technical standard, with totally committed players, on a world stage. Leland above hit the nail on the head. I would be willing to bet that all the officials got a 'talking-to' after ridiculous over-calling and one-sided calling of fouls gave Brazil a win over Honduras, who obviously outplayed Brazil the entire match.

Hence the non-calls on Tancredi's multiple fouls. She should have earned a red card. And did Canada's coaches statement affect the officiating? Proper officiating should have had Canada with only 9 players by halftime. I'm guessing that maybe, just maybe the officials were talking amongst themselves or got a 'talking-to' during halftime and a decision was made to start calling fouls and infractions. I was overjoyed at the call for intentional delay because she was doing that every time she had the ball and Canada was ahead.

Also, when you are inbetween an on-target shot at the goal and your hand contacts the ball, its a legit call. Unfortunately, Honduras men's team ony outplayed Brasil but couldent beat poor officiating. Now that that is out of the way, Canada got wrecked by the official with the delay call.

I won't argue the handball, it is different all the time for different refs and even the same ref from time to time. I will simply ask you this question: How many of you knowledgeable soccer watchers have seen that called in a Professional or National Team Match in the last decade? I can honestly say for me it has been once, in the game yesterday. With all of those high level refs and high level teams there wasn't one time in the last decade that a keeper cheated the clock? Thousands and thousands of games without that call. Correct calls were made, and as always a few were missed but not this one.

Looking at the stats, I would posit that the USA were the better team on the night, but I would also grant that the delay call was bogus. Erin McLeod may have taken more than 6 seconds, but when was the last time anyone has seen this called, at any level, let alone an Olympic semi-final? The referee's job is to facilitate fair play, not become the focus of play. She would have accomplished the desired purpose by simply verbally admonishing the goalkeeper. As is all too common in soccer, more so than virtually any other sport, the officials have an inordinate influence on the outcome.

If you gripe about the delay of game call, fine I get it. Don't the Americans have an equal gripe as to the 2 takedowns of Alex in the box? If you're going to complain about 1 call which I acknowledge was imo bad for the US. At least admit the Canadians got the benefit of at least 2 and probably 3 non calls in the box that would have had the US taking penalty shots anyway. I'm not talking about all the missed calls outside the box throughout the game, just the ones that did or should have caused a penalty shot.

Canada got the better end of the officiating in this game not the US. I am a proud American, former collegiate player and a long time supporter of U. My heart goes out to the Canadian supporters.

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My feelings on the matter have been pretty well expressed already by a writer from The Globe and Mail, namely…. It was an English Premiership match. Nault crossed her hands over her chest as the ball struck her and was called for a hand-ball, a play that you can see overlooked many Saturday mornings. Ramon, I appreciate you trying to inject your interpretation of the rules in here, however, there is a 6 second rule. It is still a law of the game.

Also the warning does not have to come at the time of infraction. The assistant warned her to stop wasting time and she did multiple times after the warning. At what point is it her fault for ignoring warnings? I'm not sure where you got your certification but where I'm from that is always a handball. If you have time to raise a hand any question of you being too close to the ball to avoid it is eliminated.

If you raise your arm to guard your body you have handled the ball. There is no need to prove you were trying to cheat or any of the rest. Handling the ball when you could have avoided handling the ball is deliberately handling the ball. The ref was over her head for sure but those calls were both good. The, at least, penalties that should have gone the USA's way that weren't called were just as bad. We'll call it even on that one. Tom, I'm completely with you on the delay call. On the hand ball I disagree, her elbow was out and she was turning away.

However, no delay call, no handball. I'm still curious as to how the 2 obvious missed calls on Alex aren't viewed as just as poor when they in fact are. You can't act like the only bad call that affected the game was the 1 delay call when there were 2 for sure and probably 3 other fouls in the box that would have resulted in penalty kicks that were in favor of the Canadians. The fact is this official was just bad, but the Canadians were not the only ones seriously affected.

The US lost 2 maybe 3 penalty shots due to missed calls.

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She was treated with kid gloves and the record shows that. She also was warned contrary to the comments of some of the people posting here. In my experience, when a keeper gets to six they are treading on thin ice and especially after I've warned them, when they hit ten I blow my whistle. The indirect freekick is their fault and their fault alone. This part of the discussion is a non-discussion as far as I am concerned. Now, if you want to talk about the handling call there is no such thing as a handball in English rules football we can have a legitimate debate because that was infinitely more controversial and arguable than the goalkeeping infraction in my opinion.

Boo to the trash talking haters posting in this thread. Do us all a favor and grow up please. I can tell you that the easiest calls are the obvious ones that don't require interpretation. For the others, you typically have some infractions that have your attention or ones that are your signature calls. In lacrosse, plying without your mouthguard draws a severe penalty and it's usually never called but I worked with an official who enforced it to the letter.

He would penalize players yards frrom where the ball is for taking their mouthguards out so they could talk clearly to each otther. It was to the letter but not the intent of the rule. I warned the coaches about his tendencies so they could warn their players. I would listen to calm on-field complaints from the captains about infractions, look for them, warn players, then penalize them if the violations continued.

Why is it not called on the team that is behind? Because it is not in their interest to slow the game. As for the handball, she was looking for it because indirect kicks inside the box cannot be scored unless touched by another player. The kick was perfectly executedas it was.

Aimed directly at a defender with the intended result. Had the Caanadians allowed the ball to get into the goal, i5 would have been disallowed. I believe I have never seen so many comments on an SA story. My own thinking is along the lines of my friend Caroline Lambert. Pedersen was having an off day as Megan Rapinoe had had as a player in the two preceding matches or this match simply was beyond her, as there was more than enough, even without the three most significant decisionsthe IFK for McLeod's delay in releasing the ball into play, the subseqent handling call and the no-call on Rapinoe's more subtle handling in the US penalty areafor a LONG discussion between the match assessor and Ms.

Given the number of times she whistled Tancredi for a DFK foul, why did she not at least caution her for persistent infringement? Why did she not think Morgan was fouled in the second half of regular time when she was brought down on the left side of the penalty area? Why was there no whistle when Wambach, albeit not malicously, which is irrelevant to a foul-not foul decision, stomped on I don't remember who's foot in the second overtime period.

I am a USA fan and feel that the better team won the game, but please don't imply the delay call was anything but a one in a million mistake by an overzealous official. To those arguing any other call in the entire game, you've lost the plot. Every other call can be argued and is on a weekly basis in every league around the world. It was a mistake in judgement by the official, not a mistake in the letter of the law, but in the spirit of the game.

Everyone who works or plays a game only wants consistency from the officials, when you make a call that hasn't been made EVER in the Olympics and once a decade in a Senior League Game, you have made a mistake as an official. None of the other calls were outside the bounds of normal match duty for an official, but this howler will be scrutinized for years and years, and tarnishes the reputation of OUR US TEAM. Poor, innocent canadian players are being accused of horrible crimes!

What a piece of crap article. If that had happened to the American Hope Solo would be crying from here to Mars. The Americans played with 12 players yesterday. They should be good enough to win with 11 but they weren't. Incredible sad and unjust. Just pathetic and now you're trying to excuse the ref. What a joke you are Wotoilla.

FIFA and their slow adoption of goal line technology. It would have required little effort and perhaps taken 10 sec. Totally agree with Bill Anderson. They won with 12 players, not 11, and an injustice was done which sadly, most of them did not recognize after the match. This calls into scrutiny the whole tournament. Woitalla you've completely lost the plot and you are an absolute clown for writing this article.

I'll never read your stuff again in the same vein. You don't deserve to have your job and I hope you're fired. Now THAT would be just. That's what makes this sport great. It's played around the world by the same standards. Rapinoe's handling of the ball in her penalty area was more intentional than the ball striking Nault, yet which call was made which call was not made?

Additional sponsorship money that FIFA will get from the gold medal broadcast will somehow find its way to Sepp Blatter's pocket. Also, please don't lose sight that the referee's errors should not in any way reflect poorly on the US WNT. They didn't do anything wrong here. Pedersen just had a terrible, no good, very bad day. If she truly were biased towards the Americans she could easily and with justification have tossed Tancredi for her stomp on Lloyd's head and that would be that.

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My Right Hand (Erin McLeod Book 2) - Kindle edition by R.K. Bernard. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features. 1. One Hand For Myself (Erin McLeod Book 1) by R.K. Bernard (May 31, ) 2. My Right Hand (Erin McLeod Book 2) by R.K. Bernard (January 13, ).

No one would question her on that one. Fact of the matter is, the Laws of the Game state that the GK is allowed six seconds to release the ball back into play. As I've seen mentioned numerous times, Olympic-level GKs should know this law -- it's been drilled into them since U or U-8, or U-6, depending on the age of the GK ; anything beyond a reasonably-counted six seconds is an infraction, a deliberate attempt to slow the play of the game.

A GK whose team is ahead is attempting to gain an unfair advantage by infraction of Law 12; a GK whose team is trailing and violates Law 12 is, well, a stupid or b desperate. In the old NPSL indoor league, the referee counted out the six seconds using an arm gesture while counting so the keeper was aware. Along with goal-line technology, perhaps FIFA should consider such a radical adaptation and actually enforce the six-second rule on a regular basis so that keepers would not be surprised when it is actually called. FIFA brought in the six-second rule in to replace the four-step rule previously in place which, when abused had a second provision added to it.

The key issue here isn't that the rule exists but rather that it isn't applied, except in extreme cases at this level. By the way, when was the last time obstruction was called in a senior game the lack of this rule being called has led to the practise of sheparding the ball out of bounds. I wouldn't mind hearing Paul Gardiner's take on the whole situation. He might be able to provide a clearer point of view than Canadians or Americans. Lets face it, McLoed was timewasting. And while one rarely sees that call one rarely sees a tight World Cup semi-final with a shootout looming.

McLoed had held the ball too long several times and this wsa the straw that broke the camles back - similar call one sees in "persistent fouling" when seemingly an indidual call is not a yellow card but part of a pattern. I'll leave with two final observations. First, as a fan, when I watch my team, and it's behind, and the other 'keeper takes 30 seconds to take a goal kick, or field players take forever to take a throw in, I feel every second that ticks by. This is a natural thing. I don't feel the same thing when my team is ahead or tied and doing exactly the same thing.

The only way to look at this is through a neutral perspective; either watch the game and time both GK to see if one is wasting time and please spare me the nonsense of "but it's different if one team is ahead"; it's not; keepers shouldn't have to work faster than their counterparts because their team is ahead. What an absurd notion! Or watch other games you don't have a rooting interest in and learn what is the norm. I get the feeling that rabid USA supporters don't do this, unfortunately, but they should. Second, as a player and ref: I don't believe this is a problem, let alone one that requires visible countdowns, etc.

And I disagree with the contention that the rule isn't applied. It is, all the time; it's a potential sanction all keepers know about and respect. I don't recall instances in any games I've played, refereed, or watched where I saw the keeper really holding on to the ball excessively.

Referees in pro leagues all over the world seem to have no problem whatever with this law. So why mess with it? Good game by the USWNT from start to finish dominating the game with much better tactical play than Canada, who are sore losers, they should consider themselves luck that the US missed many opportunities to put the ball in the net, The US was by far the better team and deserved the win, GO USA. Every game so far in this Olympic had questionable calls for both the men's and the women's games, though I think it was far worst on the men's side as far as bad calls especially if you look back at the GB vs.

Senagal match which Senegal should of had at least 3 red cards and 4 yellow given against them in this match. Life will go on for Canada and they should beat France for the Bronze medal. Hey Tom, appreciate the response. As we've found out since this article, Abby probably influenced the official by her counting out continually.

She clearly felt pressure to make the call as Abby made it very clear to everyone around that she was stalling. I'm with you on the call, I believe the official's first step should have been to give the GK a caution herself during play.

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Had she then continued, fine, make the call. However, where I disagree is that the 2 trips of Alex should be looked on as just normal missed calls. They were both obvious and should have been called. When you are considering that one call shouldn't have been made which changed the outcome, how do you overlook 2 others and I say 3 others that would have given the US the same action, a penalty kick.

In the end the US lost 2 clear penalty kicks plus another that imo should have been called and gained 1. The level of the missed call shouldn't be a question. Had the delay call not been made and Canada one, the US would have every reason to feel like they got ripped off. In the end had all the calls in the box been made correctly, the US still wins.

This official was clearly in over her head. A bad day at that level isn't acceptable. After hearing that Abby was counting the seconds aloud near her and had done it 5 or 6 previous times plus the fact the keeper had been cautioned at halftime, I get why she felt she should call it. Like you said though at maybe the 2nd or 3rd time she hears Abby counting and can clearly see the GK is stalling she should have issued her a warning personally.

The hand ball on Megan was imo clearly not a foul as her arm was at her side and not extended nor did it change the real path of the ball. On the Canadian, she turned her body and her elbow extended and it hit it. Had I been officiating I'd have made the call on that one. In the end I wish the calls had been made correctly and we didn't need to have this entire debate. The person who says the US should have just kicked the ball out of bounds, you're kidding right?

One lesson I hope was learned, do not let Sinclair run free in the box on a corner or set play lol. What referee lets a player continualy count in her ear or near her to be heard The referee should have warned Wambach and should have cautioned her for dissent if she persisted in the gamepersonship. Bottom Line Pederson a part-time daycare worker from a town of 3, who referees two sports to make ends meet, in a family of referees got on the Fifa list please note the Norwegian head referee for the Football Association is a Pederson A throw-in is awarded to opponents of the player who last touched the ball when the whole of the ball crosses the touchline, either on the ground or in the air.

An obvious one to anyone, the US were awarded a corner kick after the US kicked the ball out of play. There were many instances in this game where Christian Pedersen violated the rules as a referree and ruined the reputation of the sport, unjustly giving the Gold Medal game to the US team. Her actions should be questioned and accounted for. The Canadians were indeed robbed. Entirely too much criticism of the referee here, and completely unfounded allegations as to her "bias" among other ridiculous conspiracy theories is that being redundant?

The "blame" here falls to the Canadian keeper, who repeatedly held on to the ball too long despite warning s. All keepers know the rule, and count to themselves. Why risk what happened here? You don't see the call made, because keepers don't want to defend indirect free kicks in the box. They punt or throw it away, or if not pressed drop it and dribble it around a bit.

No sympathy to the Canadians except for this bad decision by their keeper. The Norwegian referee made the right call and warned the Canadians twice. Canada was a little unlucky but was still out shot by Americans 2 to 1. The US was robbed when there was no call for Tancredi's deliberate 'head stomp' on Lloyd's head while she was down on the ground in the Canadian PA box.

A red card and subsequent PK should have been awarded, the Canadians are such hypocrite's in complaining against alleged US "illegal tactics" and "Canada being robbed". Here's the video of the deliberate head stomp by Tancredi. Ashe, here's a decent short article on deliberate which doesn't refer to intent. Megan's by any interpretation of the rule wasn't a foul. The Canadian's could have gone either way. I would have never called the delay without a warning from me during play not at half time but I would have called the hand ball as she was turning and her elbow extended away from her body, however, I can see it either way.

Since you feel so strongly on this one poor as you see it call, I'm wondering how you feel about the non calls that should have given the US penalty kicks? Are those off limits and not to be discussed, did the decisions not to call them not affect the outcome of the game? Games are rarely decided by 1 call made by an official and this one wasn't either. I was so disgusted that I turned off the match at the end of regulation time and just recorded the remainder to watch it when I was in a better mood.

Someone is obviously lying now. As a soccer player myself I would say it would suck to enter a Final Game knowing our victorious semi was more heavily influenced by an incapable ref than by my team's own abilities. I wouldn't be proud of it. The ref really should have left that honor to the teams to battle out themselves and call the game consistently and fairly. There were calls missed against Canada, as well as calls missed against the US, and perhaps this is the only consistency the ref had.

But a handball in the box that is called against one team and not against the other is clearly not fairly made especially when the award is as large of a game changer as a penalty kick. If she chooses to ignore one, she should ignore the other, and vice versa. I don't think there were any other handballs in the box in the game for comparison. Still the people that believe that this call was a simple one are not considering this official interpretation. Above it was posted, "By the way, when was the last time obstruction was called in a senior game the lack of this rule being called has led to the practice of shepherding the ball out of bounds.

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A player within playing distance of the ball has every right to shield an opponent from it even if they don't actually touch it. They have no bearing or authority during FIFA competitions. Secondly, Solo often retained possession of the ball past the 6 seconds, but by dropping the ball to her feet, not holding it in her hands. Solo's exceeding the 6 second law happened, but was rare. McLeod did it constantly which is why she was warned and then penalized.

In watching the clips of the handling infraction in slow motion, it appears, at least to me, that Nault used her arm to push the ball to the ground after contact which defines intentionally handling the ball. Maybe in slowMO but no way in hell can you do that in real time. If FIFA decides that it's in error, they would direct the federation to rescind it because it is their aim that the game be played, and officiated uniformly throughout the world.

It's like a circuit court's decision being upheld by a higher court. So USSF directives, and positions are in fact applicable. Much is made of a player's intent,in this case you clearly had a player intending to injure another player,when THIS CALL was not made,that had a direct effect on how ALL the players played the rest of the match. The Referee had lost the high ground.

There were take downs and hand balls in both boxes but when you know a player is out to injure,that card is called for, end of story. The fact that this didn't happen tells me a fair bit about Pederson. This was Gamesmanship and the USA was allowed to get away with it. As far as giving a PK for handling the ball,well that is a judgment call but again when the ball is being driven into the box from close up, most officials tend to give the defender the benefit of a doubt as to whether or not the player could have avoided that shot. This was a very competitive match and the Canadian Coach made statements prior to the match that were ill considered if not just plain stupid,again this was gamesmanship.

These decisions have the effect of making the match less a contest between the two sides, than of the official making or not making key decisions,if De Jong had been properly sent off, likely that final would have opened up and the Dutch would have been forced to go out and actually play.