And This Is What I Hate About the World Cup

Although the united States was able to garner a 1-1 tie out of their match with Italy and stave off possible elimination, the fact that three players, two Americans and one Italian, were sent off by red cards just makes me wonder what the heck is going on with the officiating. In a tournament where yellow cards are flying as much as national flags,

Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda began flashing red cards at a pace seldom seen in World Cup play.

First it was Italy's Daniele De Rossi, just a minute after the Americans tied it. After the game he apologized for an elbow that split McBride's left cheek. But after playing with a man advantage for 17 minutes, it was the Americans who were seeing red.

Midfielder Pablo Mastroeni was sent to the locker room in the 45th minute for a cleats-up tackle on Pirlo.

"I think that foul anywhere in the world is a yellow card," Mastroeni said.

Coming out of the locker room 10 against 10, it took just two minutes of the second half for defender Eddie Pope to get his second yellow card of the game for a tackle in which he got the ball first, then took down Gilardino.

"I thought it definitely was a harsh yellow," Pope said. "I thought the first yellow was harsh, as well. He was holding me the whole time."

After the game concluded, ABC color commentator Eric Wynalda, himself a former U.S. National Team Player who got a red card in the World Cup, made this comment, "Players win the game, coaches lose the game and referees ruin the game." To be sure, the players put themselves in the position. Of all the cards shown in this game, only the red given out after the elbow to McBride was deserving of a card. The other fouls, while they should have been called, certainly did not warrant a card, particularly Pope's transgressions.

Although no team with nine players on the field ever scored a goal, it looked as though the U.S. almost made history,

[f]or a few brief seconds, it even appeared the United States had gone ahead in the 66th minute, when second-half sub DaMarcus Beasley slotted the ball in off goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. But with Arena pumping an arm on the sideline, the whistle blew for an offside call on McBride, who had screened Buffon.

It is my hope that FIFA will take a good hard look at the officiating in this tournament, and look for referees with better skill at maintain control of the game without having to resort to the card. The kind of quick draw on teh cards that we have seen in this tournament does more to damage the game than the fouls they are designed to punish.