For the third consecutive World Cup, the U.S. has been the victim of poor officiating at the hands of FIFA referees.

In the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, the U.S. stunned the world in their first match with a 3-2 win over Portugal. The U.S. advanced to the Round of 16, defeating bitter rivals Mexico 2-0.

The U.S. then found themselves in a quarterfinal match with Germany. The game was scoreless until the 39th minute, when German captain Michael Ballack gave his team the lead with a header that beat keeper Brad Friedel.

The controversy came in the 49th minute. A shot by Gregg Berhalter was stopped by German keeper Oliver Kahn. The ball bounced off of Kahn’s hand, to the pitch and then hit Torsten Frings’ hand as the defender stood on the line. The officials declared it an unintentional handball.

Yet, in the 2010 World Cup, Australia’s Harry Kewell was sent off for an unavoidable handball on the line. In soccer, denying a scoring opportunity is an automatic red card. Ghana converted the penalty, tying their match-up with the Socceroos.

Speaking of Ghana, the U.S. needed a victory over the Black Stars in the 2006 World Cup in Germany to advance to the knockout stages. A crucial turnover by “Captain America” Claudio Reyna gave Ghana a 1-0 lead, but Clint Dempsey’s wonder volley quickly leveled the score.

Battling for a header at the edge of the area were defender Oguchi Onyewu and Razak Pimpong. With minimal 50-50 contact, Pimpong went down easily, much too easily. While not a through-and-through dive, Pimpong’s fall could have earned him a booking.

It wasn’t so. German official Markus Merk awarded the Black Stars with a penalty. American goalkeeper Kasey Keller dove to his left and Ghana captain Stephen Appiah smashed the ball to Keller’s right. Ghana won 2-1 on a penalty that shouldn’t have been.

Then in 2010, Malian Koman Coulibaly’s phantom foul call on the U.S. in their match-up with Slovenia last week cost the U.S. a full three points when he blew his whistle calling a foul an unknown American player committing an unknown foul. The call disallowed Maurice Edu’s volley in the 85th minute which would have given the U.S. a miracle 3-2 comeback victory. Coulibaly declined to comment as to what he called, as did FIFA. In fact, FIFA rules state that the official does not have to discuss any of his decisions with the media.

And, in the 1-0 win over Algeria on Wednesday, Dempsey was called for offsides on his 21st minute goal. Replays reveal that Dempsey was even with the last defender, and FIFA rules stipulate that the tie goes to the attacker.

Just complaining about these calls is not going to overturn them, and I’m not saying it’s some form of FIFA anti-Americanism. But these calls can really make U.S. fans wonder why is it always us? Why are we always on the short end of the stick? Is it favoritism to the bigger nations or favoritism to nations where football (yes football, not “soccer”) is actually respected?

Reputation and opinion do in fact make a difference in officiating a game, as much as anyone would like to say otherwise because officials are human beings. But with the state of America as a footballing nation, or lack of one, U.S. fans should expect a few more calls to go against us.