Watched every minute of today's Olympic semifinal between Canada and the US. It was, as every article i've read says, one of the greatest sporting events in Olympic history, certainly Canadian sports history and maybe all of sports history. What a shame to have the win stolen from the Canadian team by terrible officiating by Norwegian refree Christiana Pedersen who chose to ignore a clear hand ball inside the box on American midfielder Megan Rapinoe and then, in the 81st minute, made the unheard of delay-of-game free kick against McLeod and gave the resulting indirect free kick just inside the Canadian area.
Then, after that unbelievable call , the resulting free kick hit Marie-Eve Nault on the chest and arms and referee Christiana Pedersen of Norway ruled it a hand-ball. Experts worldwide, even in the USA, are saying It was a shocking call, given the strength of the drive and the fact that Nault made absolutely no move with her hands beyond pulling them into her chest.
The US played a great game, they controlled the ball and the game throughout. In that sense the US deserved the win. But they didn't control Christine Sinclair who scored a hat-trick and they wouldn't have won without the help of Norwegian referee Christiana Pedersen who should never be allowed to referee another big match again. I know this sounds like sour grapes and i'm almost always rooting for the non-winning team [or individual] because i love an underdog but i'm not a whiner and today the Canadians were robbed.
