Phantom foul mars comeback

Soccer is a tale of two halves — and that sure was true Friday.

The United States came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie Slovenia 2-2 and even had a seemingly legal goal in the 86th minute by Maurice Edu that was disallowed.  

While the poor refereeing and the controversial call will stay in the spotlight, the actual game was one of the most exciting seen so far in this World Cup.  

In the opening moments of the game, Slovenia took control and forced the U.S. squad to run and chase all over the field.  

“We started the match poorly,” U.S. midfielder Landon Donovan said. “We were tentative. I think we sat too deep, which caused us problems.”

The Slovenes were the first to get on the scoreboard with a laser strike from midfielder Valter Birsa, giving the tiny nation a 1-0 lead after 12 minutes.  

The U.S. lacked many chances going forward, as Jozy Altidore and Robbie Findley had few touches.  

Things went from bad to worse when U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu allowed Zlatan Ljubijankic to get the ball as he passed him. He went one-on-one with U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard before scoring into the far post.  

Slovenia was up 2-0 at the half, and the U.S. was left wondering if it would go home early for its second World Cup in a row. U.S. coach Bob Bradley had the difficult job of lighting a fire under his players after a tough and disheartening first half.  

“(I told the team) the starting point is to understand that there’s 45 minutes to go, and everybody needs to understand how we’re going to push the game,” Bradley said.

It was a time of soul-searching for a team facing not only a tough opponent, but also history. Never has a team come back from a two-goal halftime deficit and won the game.  

Howard praised teammate Michael Bradley for stepping up.  

“I think he was pretty energized at halftime, as a lot of us were,” Howard said. “He wanted all the talk to stop and for us to put our money where our mouth was, and in the second half, I think he did a good job of being that example.”

A rejuvenated U.S. team took the field in the second half and showed a newfound determination — and it paid dividends very quickly.

Just three minutes into the second half, Donovan found himself with space in the penalty box, and drilled one into the top of the net. Just like that, the score was 2-1.

Substitutions continued to work in the American’s favor, as Michael Bradley scored, sending the pro-U.S. crowd of 55,000 into delirium.

In the 86th minute, Edu sent the ball into the back of the net, seemingly giving the U.S. a 3-2 lead.

Edu and the rest of the team celebrated, having just become the first team to come back from a 2-0 halftime deficit.

But the head referee, Koman Coulibaly, whistled the U.S. squad for a foul in the box.  

It was a dubious call, as replay seems to show Edu was not offsides. If anything, some say, Slovenian defenders appeared to foul the Americans going for the ball.  

“I’ve heard a few things,” Bob Bradley said. “Honestly, I think that on that set piece, most of what took place was that Slovenian players were holding our players.

“The one thing I’ve heard was that one player from Slovenia had his arms around Michael (Bradley), Michael was trying to break loose from being held, and the foul was called.”

But while the squad was upset about the disallowed goal, it was content with the outcome and the way the team overcame the odds to get a point.  

“My guess is there aren’t many teams in this tournament that could have done what we did and arguably win the game,” Donovan said. “And that is what the American spirit is about, and I’m sure people back home are proud of that.”