2006 FIFA World Cup

[Brent Burns]

Half time and Ghana is leading 1-0! What a great game on their part! I have to say though i'm pretty disgusted of how one sided the calls are going against Ghana's favor. The last break before the half was a very possible goal oppurtunity, 11 was slide tackled from behind, and not EVEN a yellow card. Ridiculous.

Both yellow cards for Ghana were a joke of officiating.

This may not mean anything to us, but the referee of the game is from Argentina and his staff is from Argentina and South Africa.

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

to quote my comentator, "¡GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!"
2-0 Ghana in the 85th minute.

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

So for us less savvy world cup observers or for those of us who dont speak the same language as the commentators, what does this mean for USA's chances of advancing?

[sohotrightnow]

It is actually great that Ghana won. Even if the US loses to Italy, they are technically not out. If Italy beats the US, they will be 2-0. Ghana and CZR are both 1-1 and the US will be 0-2 if they lose today. If the US beats Ghana (which is not a given) and Italy beats CZR, the US, Ghana, and CZR will be 1-2. It will then come down to goal differential. However, I think the US should just beat Italy today to avoid this mess

[KnoxVegas]

Because getting by on technicality is as American as our justice system. Oops!

[Brendan Barry]

Im in Italy right now watching the game. The Italians aren't happy with "our goal."

[Brendan Barry]

But damn they loved that yellow-red.

[Brent Burns]

But damn they loved that yellow-red.

What did Eddie Pope get yellow-red for? What about Italy's DeRossi's expulsion? What did he do?

3 expulsions in this game which is really high at this point since the World Cup began on June 9, isn't it?

[KnoxVegas]

DeRossi's was the only one that was warranted since his threw an elbow to McBride's left cheek, rather than contest the header.

[jessexy]

you guys know that i referee soccer, so its really hard for me to critisize other referees, but that Uruguayan referee that did the US v. Italy game was absolutely atrocious. his decision-making was suspect and i even yelled "he's flat-out cheating!" in the bar after the second yellow card to Pope. what a disgrace. Pablo's red card was a mystery to everyone, even the Italians. there were 5 or 6 other fouls just like that in the game and nothing was given. for a while, it seemed like he was blowing his whistle every time someone fell on the ground (i think Marcelo Balboa the commentator even said this on air).

and when they took back the goal, i was in bad shape. i just couldnt believe that they took it back, even when they replay showed that it was the right call. the assistants did almost everything right....from the offsides to their fouls and the goal taken away from Beasley. but the center referee mustve woke up on the worng side of the bed this morning. i would not be surprised if we dont see him on ANY more matches in this World Cup and he may lose his FIFA badge after this debacle. thanks for nothing.

[JosueSays]

Oh yah, he's not going to be officiating again in the world cup. Terrible, terrible job by the ref. Pope had been playing pretty agressive so even though it was a bad call, slightly more understandable than Pablo's... Speaking of PAblo's that was the WORST expulsion I have ever seen given to a single player (well, that i can think of). If anything, it should have been a yellow card...

I thought the US deserved a victory after this game, but that 1-1 will definitely help them in the next game.

[Brent Burns]

It was plain to see Bruce Arena so livid when Pablo was red-carded, and a few minutes later, Univision was showing a FIFA guy trying to tell Bruce to cool off and even patted him on the back. I can imagine Bruce spewing some expletives at that time. I agree with jessexy and JosueSays about the terrible officating. The linesmen did a good job of calling appropriate offsides. Man, I sure missed that goal taken back when my son was telling me about that when I woke up from my 15 minutes nap. I had to watch Univision because ESPN and ESPN2 were showing something else, but it was fun figuring out Spanish when reading captioned Spanish.

[bste_lax]

I had to watch Univision because ESPN and ESPN2 were showing something else, but it was fun figuring out Spanish when reading captioned Spanish.

It was on ABC today.

[bste_lax]

Italitan National Team Practice

[Brendan Barry]

Just in case anyone was wondering. I was talking with some of the Italians and he was saying that they play more with their feet and that the US is more of a hustle team. I have to admit, we aren't exactly the best ball handlers in the tourny, but we sure did play hard last nite.

As for the McBride elbow, the Italians say that No. 4 is a very good player who usually plays very fair. I said the same thing about Pope... even though I'm not a soccer fan.