The United States came out looking like a different team today. They took the field with an air of confidence that we did not see in their World Cup opener against the Czech Republic. Bruce Arena had announced in a press conference that he was doing all the scouting for the Italy match himself, and the difference was obvious. He started McBride, Cherundolo, Convey, Donovan, Dempsey, Reyna, Bocanegra, Onyewu, Mastroeni, Pope and Keller. The team looked good; they were passing much better, getting more opportunities and had a better percentage of possession than Italy. Pretty soon, the major problem of the game became apparent. The ref was absolutley horrible. He started calling fouls left and right- some were legitimate, but others were just two teams playing a physical match. In the 22nd minute, Italy scored on a foul kick by Gilardino. Although this was not ideal, the US stayed strong and did not let the early goal affect them the way they did during the Czech match. In the 26th minute, The US had an opportunity to score with a foul kick as well, and did. The twist to the story is that the although Convey was in perfect position to tap the ball in, Italy’s Zaccardo actually beat him to it, and knocked the ball into his own goal. The Italian frustration was obvious when DeRossi slammed his elbow into who other than Brian McBride’s face (he should take out some kind of facial injury insurance) as McBride was coming down from a header. The ref immediately gave DeRossi a red card and things were looking up for the US. Team USA continued to attack and had several shots on goal and near scoring opportunities. Mastroeni was having a great game when the ref shocked everybody- I think the Italian players included- by giving Mastroeni a red card for a late tackle. The call was ridiculous. Mastroeni was sliding from quite a distance and just mistimed the tackle. There was no intention to take his man down or anything. The immediate red card for Mastroeni led to an erruption from the US fans (I’m sure our PCK founders included) and Bruce looked lke he was in disbelief. The US compensated well until the ref again handed out a red card for a “late” tackle. This time it was to Eddie Pope, who was already playing with a yellow card, but the tackle wasn’t really all the late. Bruce nearly expolded, as did the crowd, and was actually calmed down by a FIFA official. I like to think the FIFA official was apologizing for the horrendous calls but he probably wasn’t. The ref of this game isn’t qualified to ref my 5-year-old cousin’s soccer game let alone a World Cup match. I’d like to know where they got this guy. I liked the commentator’s remark that this is most likely the last World Cup match he will ref and that if they had sub refs he would have been out after the Mastroeni call. Play continued and down to nine players, Bruce used his substitutions to get some fresh legs on the field (Conrad/Convey & Beasley/Dempsy). Beasley had what looked like a goal, but McBride was called offsides for interfering with play. I didn’t see it, but apparently he was blocking the ref’s view. If anyone else got a better look at this, let me know!
This match was all over the place, and while exciting, disappointing. I can’t help but feel the US got cheated out of a win today. They were playing well: Dempsey brought some innovation to the field , Convey was looking much more solid than last match, Mastroeni was winning balls left and right, Onyewu was making his defensive presence known, Reyna was setting the tone and keeping everyone cohesive. Team USA looked like a team today and they looked like a team that could’ve beat Italy. I hate to think this way, but I wonder if some anti-American sentiment was behind these calls? It had to be either that, or really bad luck in drawing a ref. We could’ve won today and I hope the team knows that, so they come out to play against Ghana with a cut-throat “Don’t Tread on Me” attitude and blow right past them to the next round of play.
Good work Barbara!!! Keep it up!!!
UNCALLED HAND BALL IN BOX, *AGAIN*!
The U.S. turned in one of their best performances in World Cup play and it’s a shame that they were indeed, as Barbara put it, cheated out of a win. Besides the red cards, which have correctly received an inordinate amount of attention, there was an additional and just as important of a detail to note as well . . . there was a clear out-and-out hand ball in the Italian’s box during about halfway through the second half that would have led to a U.S. penalty kick and a quite probable victory.
This is unbelievably frustrating considering that a uncalled hand ball against Germany in 2002 prevented a goal from being scored and similar to the Italy game we watched yesterday, prevented a clear penalty kick opportunity for the U.S.
What is it about the U.S. that prevents it from getting hand balls in the box called in their favor? Is it because they aren’t a stacked European or South American team and don’t have a Ronaldhino on their squad? Or is it merely bad luck? Whatever the case may be, in analyses and coverage of the U.S. / Italy game yesterday, this tragic uncalled hand ball should not be forgotten, especially in the midst of critiques of the ref.
Speaking of the ref, his name is Jorge Larrionda and he hails from Uruguay. Unsurprisingly, it looks like this is his first World Cup and his previous int’l experience is limited as well (see http://worldcup.reuters.com/referee/larrionda.html ). Damn shame that he nearly completely ruined one of the best World Cup games that has been seen thus far this time around, we’re lucky the game was still salvaged by terrific play by both squads (especially our own boys, thankfully).
–AK
Ah my friend… you need to be a bit more neutral. Soccer news sites from other soccer-savvy countries describe Mastroeni’s red card as the result of a cleat-on tackle. Those kinds of actions are extremely dangerous to players, and if you think McBride looked bad, you should get some photos of how shins can look after being cleated through the shin guard. I am telling you, it is not a pretty picture. FIFA has been changing the rules to punish fouls that can have a serious impact in the players’ bodily integrity, and this red card seems to be based on that — just as De Rossi had to be shown the red card as well.
Regarding Pope, the commentary is along the lines of “strong foul when already having a yellow card”. If you have a yellow card, you need to be more careful and tackle perfectly. It is not ok to say “oh I got the ball first, and then broke the knees of the other player”. That is just not right, as again, it affects the physical integrity of other players.
Regarding hands in the box not being called as penalty kicks, keep in mind that accidental hand contact is not considered enough reason to call a penalty kick. It has to be clearly intentional, otherwise the ref is supposed to let play go on.
Note that referees usually do not have a long World Cup career. And this is not because they do badly and then they’re not called again. It is because each countries’ soccer federation sends the very best ONE referee to the World Cup. Rarely the best ref today will be the best ref in 4 years. Note that since a ref needs considerable experience to go to the World Cup, you won’t see very young refs at all. That means that in 4 years, chances are there is a “new” most experienced ref in their physical prime.
Larrionda has taken care of extremely complicated games. Do your research and find out why the Libertadores Cup is so tough to ref yourself — seriously.
One more thing… if you are so irritated at this ref’s performance, what do you have to say about the ref that took care of the penalty shootout in the 1998 Womens’ World Cup final? She should have not allowed the US’ goalkeeper to step forward like 10 feet on each penalty. That is clearly against the rules, and was completely obvious, and was absolutely embarrassing as well, especially because the US’ goalkeeper at the time blocked a penalty kick that allowed the US team to be champions.
Be more fair and don’t let yourself be so biased, my friend.
First, I’d like to thank everyone for submitting their comments. It’s great to see fans getting involved. I have been doing some research as suggested by “hmmm”. In a a press conference today Bruce Arena was questioned about the red cards given in last night’s match. Although he maintained his diplomacy and said it’s up to the ref in the end, he asserted that he did not think Mastroeni’s tackle was deserving of a red card. It was a misjudgment on Pablo’s part, but it was not intentional and was a yellow card at most. He also commented that he thought Pope’s red card was deserving of a foul but not a card. As for the ref specifically, I did look up some more about him. By the way thanks, Andrew, for providing his name. I’m housesitting right now and was having major problems with their wireless network last night. It took me so long to get my post up because every time I’d go to submit it, I’d lose the signal. I didn’t want to battle with it anymore to look up info on him last night. Anyway, back to Jorge Larrionda. According to Wikipedia.com, Larrionda was supposed to referee at the 2002 World Cup but was dropped from the list and suspended because of “irregularities that were denounced by other referees”. I’ve looked up some English sites to see their comments on the game to try and get a fresh perspective, and the results were mixed. Some responses agreed with the ABC commentators that the Larrionda did an awful job and others saw Mastroeni’s tackle as completely worthy of a red card.
I appreciate the input you guys have given. As John mentioned before he left, I haven’t been following US soccer for all that long so I do miss things more seasoned soccer fans see immediately. That aside, I really enjoy watching soccer and think I have a pretty decent understanding of the game. (I doubt John would have let me blog in his place if I didn’t). As for the being unbiased comment; that I don’t think I can do really. I feel passionately about the US team so my reaction is always going to be in support of them. I can look at their play critically, and comment on strengths and weaknesses I see and I can understand how certain calls against them are deserved, but I don’t ever think I’ll be copletely unbiased. I don’t know how any real fan is ever truly unbiased. I can’t really comment on the 1998 Women’s World Cup finals. I was only 13 at that time and was more interested in reading the Babysitter’s Club books than watching soccer. From what you’ve said about the call though, it sounds like she was wrong. It just goes to show that refs do make mistakes that dictate the fate of teams at the World Cup.
Other soccer savy countries, hmmmm, what does it take to become one of those? I think Barbara’s comments appear to be pretty soccer savy, so lets cut through the soccer elite attitude. Lets be honest, whether you are soccer savy or not there will always be a tendancy to be partial to your own team. It comes with the territory of team or national pride. If you check out an Italian (or Uruguay perhaps?) site, you will probably get a lot of agreement with Mastroeni’s red card. Most US sites will probably disagree, unless they love the popular fad of blame America first.
Hmmmm is correct in stating that FIFA has been changing the rules to prevent plays that will prevent bodily harm. With that said, the major changes have been coming with punishments for tackles from behind. One look at the video will show that this was not a tackle from behind. Red cards are also reserved for flagrant fouls where a player is trying to harm another player, which is usually obvious based on if they appear to be playing the ball. Notice, the elbow to McBride was a prime example of this. Mastroeni’s tackle was barely late, and his cleats were level with where the ball would have been had the Italian player not actually gone to the ball. Mastroeni was clearly trying to make something happen and took a chance that the Italian player would make the mistake of not going to the ball. Lets face it, had the first red card not happened, this would have been a yellow at most. To be fair to the referee, it is a common mistake for referees to be quicker with the cards to the team that is up a man. Larrionda has probably had some good games, else he would not have made it this far, but he has had a history of problems. I will be interested to see if he officiates any more games in this World Cup.
Hmmmm, your counter example with the Women’s World Cup is pretty weak. I’ll agree that the rules are there for a reason, but there are rules that are gradually relaxed over time until officiating organizations make a point to enforce those rules strictly. This happens in all sports. Can you imagine if referees would start enforcing traveling very strictly out of the blue in the NBA finals? Goalies are taught to come out just before the kick to cut down the angle because this has been a rule that has been relaxed. If they want to be consistent and state that it will be enforced strictly at the beginning of the cup, then fine, but they did not.