On Friday, while still attempting to come to grips what happened on the field in Johannesburg, I made the statement (on Twitter) that the sport of soccer might pick up a few converts because of the controversy. "Americans do indignation well" was the basic point of the comment.


The supposition isn't particularly clever, but it appears I was right; casual fans picked up the "we were screwed" in a big way over the weekend. That doesn't mean they'll all stick around, but if their curiosity is piqued, that's step one in growing the game's fan base. If the U.S. can win on Wednesday and roll into the knockout round of the tournament, most of those people will be along for the ride.


But Friday's events are a double-edged sword when it comes to attracting fans. Righteous indignation pushed them into the figurative stadium, but the murky nature of soccer officiating could very well pull them out. Discussion about the controversy on sportstalk radio this morning (a positive sign) turned quickly into a loud lament on officiating standards and accountability. ESPN's morning team simply could not get over the fact that the referee can call a foul without ever having to explain what the foul was or who committed it. Instead of reveling in the U.S. comeback or talking about the potential for making the second round by winning on Wednesday, uninformed soccer neophytes chose to rail against FIFA's nonsensical rules.


I don't blame them, and I wonder how many potential fans might be turned off by the same issues. American sports require that officials clearly explain their calls and identify the perpetrators; even if they get something wrong, we at least have the ability to hold the call up to scrutiny. Not so in soccer, where even a post-match report is likely to omit a call like the one in the Slovenian box on Friday. Invested soccer fans might be able to swallow hard and deal with this problem, but how many new/potential fans might decide it's not worth it?


I've reached the point where I've stopped worrying about what the casual/non-soccer fan will make of the sport. The game speaks for itself, and if most American choose not to listen, it's truly their loss; for me, none of the negatives are so great as to make the game unpalatable, and I chalk up intransigence to pre-conceived and flat out incorrect notions about the game. But this little problem, where referees have total control and are rarely accountable for their decisions, and never within the match, is tough to explain away as just a quirk of the game.