Koman Coulibaly, the Malian referee who gained infamy for whistling a potential winning goal dead during last Friday's USA-Slovenia match (to say nothing of other struggles throughout the match), may have refereed his last game for the 2010 World Cup. As Yahoo! Sports' Martin Rogers reports, sources within FIFA are considering action against Coulibaly:
Referee Who Disallowed USA Goal May Be Excluded For Rest Of World Cup
The referee who disallowed a potential game-winning goal for the United States will face an expedited performance review from FIFA and is likely to be excluded from the rest of the World Cup, according to a FIFA source.
FIFA’s refereeing committee will review footage from the Group C clash on Saturday to evaluate Coulibaly’s performance after several USA players complained about the way he had struggled to control a fiercely contested match.
That this is happening so quickly suggests FIFA is taking the complaints about Coulibaly seriously and is likely to leave him unassigned to referee further matches, according to the source. He could still appear as a line judge or other supporting role.
"If he is found to have made a serious mistake, especially one that affected the outcome, then he would be highly unlikely to play any further part in the tournament," said the source, who is close to senior figures on the refereeing panel. "FIFA is determined to keep refereeing standards high and does not want high-profile mistakes."
It’s slight comfort for the Americans, who would already have a spot guaranteed in the field of 16 if the goal had stood. Those extra two points aren’t coming to them, regardless of what FIFA determines. And yet still, it’s sort of nice for the American team to be told by FIFA that yes, what happened was an injustice.
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