Americans earn a tie but are denied a win

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Maurice Edu kicked the ball into the net.

American players jumped around wildly, thinking they had capped a historic comeback, turning a two-goal, first-half deficit into a 3-2 victory over Slovenia in the World Cup.

"Then I heard the whistle," Edu said. Referee Koman Coulibaly of Mali had called it off.

Over and over, American players asked, "Why?" In English. Then in French.

"He just ignored us," Landon Donovan said. "Or he didn't understand."

Perhaps Coulibaly, working his first World Cup game, will never explain himself. By the rules, he doesn't have to speak to the media on game days, and his next availability isn't until Monday.

What's known for now is this: Donovan and Michael Bradley scored second-half goals that did count, and U.S. hopes to reach the second round remained alive with a 2-2 tie Friday night. Now it comes down to Wednesday's match against Algeria.

"My guess is there's not many teams in this tournament that could have done what we did and arguably won the game. And that is what the American spirit is about," Donovan said. "And I'm sure people back home are proud of that."

Slovenia (1-0-1) leads Group C with four points and would have qualified for the second round with a win. The U.S. and England (both 0-0-2) are tied for second with two points each following England's 0-0 draw with Algeria (0-0-1).

The top two teams in the group advance, so the U.S. would make the second round with a victory against Algeria, The Americans also could advance if they tie the Algerians while England draws Slovenia, provided the U.S. maintains its advantage in goals scored over the English, currently 3-1.

Said goalkeeper Tim Howard said: "Being down 2-0 in a game, I've played long enough to feel very lucky and fortunate to come out of it still in the World Cup."

If not for the whistle, it would have gone down as the greatest comeback in American soccer history.

"I'm a little gutted to be honest," Donovan said. "I don't know how they stole that last goal from us."

Donovan took a free kick from the side of the penalty area in the 85th minute, as players jostled in front. Aleksandar Radosavljevic held Michael Bradley in a bear hug, and Edu spun away from Bojan Jokic and, one step into the 6-yard box, stuck out his left foot and put the ball in.

It was unclear to the U.S. what Coulibaly called. At the time of the whistle, American captain Carlos Bocanegra, who was a few feet from Edu, had an arm around Nejc Pecnik, preventing the Slovene from jumping for the ball.

"Whistles were blown very early. No explanation," Bocanegra said.

"What I've heard is that there were three fouls in the box, and all of which were against Slovenia players," coach Bob Bradley said.

"In the midst of the game with everything that's going on, it's rare that when a tough call is made that a referee at that moment will give you an answer," he said. "When you're involved in the game long enough, there are moments where you are frustrated, because you feel that situations have not been handled 100 percent correctly or fairly. But that's the way the game works sometimes, so you move on."

Slovenia went ahead when Valter Birsa got into open space from about 28 yards and his uncontested shot caught Howard flat-footed. Then on a counterattack, Zlatan Ljubijan took a pass and sent an 8-yard shot under Howard.

"Now we have to win," Donovan said. "Period. End of story."