When Colombia’s Lady Andrade punched U.S. Women's national team forward Abby Wambach during the 39th minute of Saturday’s Olympic game, the referee didn’t notice. Andrade could have received a red card, but went unpunished and played the entire game, which the USA went on to win.
Andrade wasn’t so lucky on Monday, when FIFA handed down a two-game suspension for what Wambach called a “sucker-punch.” While the USA didn’t file a formal complaint, they did contact FIFA, leading to the review and punishment.
This means that Andrade will be suspended for Colombia’s final Group G match against France, and the quarterfinals should they advance—which will be tough, as they currently sit at the bottom of the group with no points.
Andrade claims the incident was “an accident.”
What do you think of the decision? Fair punishment or should she have gotten a lengthier suspension?
Share your thoughts below.
That is hilarious!
Props to Wambach for responding with a goal. That’s how a true champion responds to crappy reffing and cheating opponents. Take note Iker Muniain.
Well said.
ha ha. I apoligize to all Columbians and Colombians alike.
As far as fortunate only, I am really sorry since I seem to have sent you on some kind of mushroomed-fueled mythical geographical journey by merely substituting one letter. weird.
Not enough. Why do I say this? It keeps happening. Harsh tackles, pushes from behind, etc. all happen in a chippy game. Outright assaults, like this, have nothing to do with the game and should be handled swiftly and harshly. The penalties should be enough to dissuade others from doing the same thing in the future. You could argue that it was intentional, had nothing to do with the play of the game and therefor was a felony assault. FIFA’s message is that outright assaults only warrant 1 game more than not getting the ball on a tackle in a scoring situation. Ridiculous.
I was trying to think of a way to make slow motion video really annoying and nearly unwatchable.
They DID it with that stupid zoom in and out effect.
Jesus, I have a head ache now.
3rd times the charm… “during”
You mean the El Salvadorian defender who punched Terrence Boyd in the CONCACAF U-23 Olympic qualifying tournament?
Because that dude did receive a 3-game ban, although whether it was for punching Boyd, biting a Canadian player, or both, no one really knows.
Should read durring not furring.
Watched the match online by NBC shows a 30 second commercial every few minutes even furring a soccer match. Lame. The replays were clear that she had the hand to the face intentionally.
Colombia womens team is rubbish and this is the last anyone will hear of this “lady.”
hahaha! excellent story
lots of male soccer players I can think of who would need said box of tissues
We really need to wait until the MLS Disciplinary Committee has had enough time to fully vet this incident.
Where was FIFA during the World Cup Qualifiers when Terrence Boyd got bludgeoned across the face by that d**** from Costa Rica
I think they should let Abby take a poke at her. You know, some eye for an eye type of punishment…
“…an hour, a box of tissues and an ambulance…”
Love it
I’ll turkey slap Hope Solo.
Watched the game with my friend (a ManU fan) and his wife. She’s watching the game because it’s the Olympics and its Team USA (generally, she could care less about soccer). They show the replay and she looks at my friend and goes:
“That girl is tough. Punched in the face and she’s back up and playing pretty quick. Imagine if that Nani guy from that team you like got punched? They’d need an hour, a box of tissues and an ambulance to get him off the field”
High fives ensued.
Where is that again? Is that next Vruzil and Ufghanistan?.
I’d be in favor of both Columbia and Colombia suspending her. Just to be safe, I’d toss in Lower Columbia as well.
http://lowercolumbia.edu/athletics/womenssoccer/
I don’t think anyone’s ignoring them, it’s just that getting sucker punched with a closed fist to the eye is a hell of a lot different than sticking an elbow out in someone’s general direction. Wambach is big and physical and uses it to her advantage, and sometimes takes it too far. But in no way does it, or should it distract from the fact, or somehow justify, that she got punched in the face.
What Wambach did was a foul. What Andrade did belongs in a boxing ring.
Columbia’s football association should be suspending her also.
**Wambach
I’m a supporter for the U.S.Womens national team and I’m hoping they win gold but is everyone ignoring Walmbachs 2 deliberate elbows she delivered????? Watch the same incident where she got hit, and pay close attention to her throwing the elbow a split second right before she gets smacked in the eye, same thing when she goes down a few minutes later…. she’s lucky she didn’t get called for her dirty tactics!! ….anyways GO WNT!
who cares? the post wasn’t literal. Someone should at least smack Solo with some common sense…curb stomp her with it even
win the Gold…the answer!!!
if the team ever needed somehting to bring them together in the midst of Solo’s distractions, this is it imho
I know this is silly but Hope is a lot of mouth. Brandi was a lot tougher then Hope will ever be
absolutely
not keeping with the Olympic spirit much is it
Nobody asked me, but I would suspend her for 10 games. At least.
One game would have been enough in this case. I doubt Colombia makes it out of the group stage. And if they did, there’s even less chance of them winning a game there. It would have sounded better if FIFA had just tossed her out of the games, even if that only meant one game.
Lady? Not really. She should be banned for the duration of the games.
Check out Wambach’s twitter account. She’s already posted a picture of her black eye.
That was easily as bad as anything Barton did to get a 12 game suspension… maybe she doesn’t have the reputation but that was ridiculous and she certainly can’t complain about 2 games…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9-aVwv8Ro0
It was a sucker punch and no accident. Andrade is no Lady!
Hope would curb stomp Brandi…no way would Brandi attempt that
The IOC did not make those decisions, it was the Olympic Committee of the nations those athletes were representing. It would have been proper had the Colombian Olympic Committee stepped in before FIFA to issue a punishment, but as long as someone did it that’s the most important thing.
The irony of her name is priceless.
best punishment ever.
How big will the ban be if Brandi punches Hope?
She admitted accidentally hitting Abby with an open palm. Accident my @$$. Abby’s eye was swollen later. She will probably have a shiner tomorrow.
IOC forces out two competitors for ‘racist’ tweets yet does nothing when a player ‘sucker punches’ another.
It took FIFA to take action and they did what they could.
Ms. Andrade should have been escorted to the airport on Sunday and kicked out of England.
I find it funny that supposedly revamped and accountable IOC needs corrupt FIFA to take action on this matter.
Wow. 2 games is a good start, but for a blatant punch I think we have to talk longer. Here is a link to a video of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89T2H3utA8U
I’d like to see a video as well.
Should have been at least 3 games, but it won’t make a difference, as Colombia won’t move on.
I agree. 2 games isn’t enough. This wasn’t just a bad tackle gone wrong. This was a strong PUNCH to a woman’s FACE. They should force her to enter the women’s boxing competition instead.
+1
Agree. Rarely do you see such a blatant and intentional attempt to injure, and with a fist no less. They should have banned her for the balance of the Games.
Hey Lady Andrade… See you next Tuesday!
Not long enough! Her excuses and denials were laughable.
The suspension is really for one game, the first one is for the red card that Jacqui Melksham chose to ignore. She can see infringement, but can’t see someone get punched in the eye.
video?