Ref in U.S.-Slovenia game facing punishment

Friday's game between the United States and Slovenia might have ended in a tie, but for many the game was won by the United States until an unexplained officiating call took away their third and game winning goal.

FIFA, the governing body of the World Cup will be reviewing the tape from Friday's game to see if there is any explanation for Malian referee Koman Coulibaly's call that disallowed a goal by Maurice Edu in the 86th minute. Many of the United States players asked Coulibaly for an explanation of the foul he called but none ever came. According to Landon Donovan, "We asked the ref many times what it was or who it was on and he wouldn't or couldn't explain it. I don't know what to think of the call because I didn't see any foul, just a normal free kick and a goal." The kick was waived with no explanation of who the foul was on or even what the foul was. FIFA requires that the referee submit a report after each match that explains incidents, misconducts, or expulsions. Still the rule does not require that a full explanation of why such a call was made. The FIFA rule book states: "The referee shall hand over to the FIFA general coordinator a match report at the stadium immediately after the match. On the report form the referee shall note all occurrences such as misconduct of players leading to caution or expulsion, unsporting behavior by supporters and/or by officials or any other person acting on behalf of an association at the match and any other incident happening before, during and after the match in as much detail as possible." This is not the first time that there has been controversy amongst the officiating during the World Cup either. During the 2006 World Cup in Germany the officiating was repeatedly condemned. Afterwards FIFA set up a training program to help prepare officials for the 2010 World Cup. Depending on FIFA's findings Coulibaly could find himself back on the sideline, but not as a line judge or in some other supporting role, not as the referee. Coulibaly has 17 years of officiating experience officiating African soccer games. He also called the finals for the African Cup of Nations between Ghana and Egypt.