Jav's thoughts

I'm sick of ESPN running highlights of the cards, and Lalas complaining about them. Of course he's going to say Italy's was legitimate and USA's were bogus. Bottom line, if you go in cleats up, it's an automatic yellow (and possibly a red). If you tackle from behind and so much as touch the player, it's an automatic yellow (and possibly a red). If you recklessly tackle a player from behind and lift your cleats or leg up, then don't be surprised if you see red. It was a reckless challenge. As for Pope's, come on Lalas, even someone as bad as you knows the difference between a yellow and a red. Pope's was definitely a yellow card, and that's what the ref called. It was a second yellow, NOT a straight red. ESPN only referring to it as a red is just poor journalism/reporting. All three cards in this game were legitimate.

As for the goal, I'm on the fence on this one. McBride was offside. The shot came towards him. If he doesn't move, it hits him and the offside is called. If he moves, then he might affect the goalie's view of the ball, in which case the play is affected and the offside is called. The question then becomes - if McBride was not standing there, does Buffon make the save? My inclination is yes, because it wasn't that hard a shot. If that's the case, then the offside is legitimate. If the ref believes he wouldn't, then the goal stands. I believe it's just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Honestly, McBride cannot blame the ref for this one, since he was obviously offside. When in doubt, the ref will ALWAYS side with the defense. I copied FIFA's "laws" relating to calling offside or not below...

A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by:
• interfering with play or
• interfering with an opponent or
• gaining an advantage by being in that position

Decision 2
The definitions of elements of involvement in active play are as follows:
• Interfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate.
• Interfering with an opponent means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or movements or making a gesture or
movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent.
• Gaining an advantage by being in that position means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position.


My final note - you can't complain about the refs when you get shelled 3-0 in the first game and your only goal in the 2nd game is an own goal and questionable goal called back on a controversial offside call (when no one is in doubt as to whether he was offside). No doubt the U.S. played better, but if the ref really wanted the U.S. to lose, would he have really ejected a Italian player first? The good news is that the U.S. can still advance by beating Ghana and Italy beating Czech (both possible).