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Thanks to Ghana's for a fantastic 2-0 upset over the Czechs. With that upset the US is still alive with its draw against Italy and remains in contention to move on. No thanks to a red card happy Uruguayan referee however who tried to cost the US the match.

If Italy hadn't spent most of the match lying on the green carpet crying they might have had a chance to score against a US side who was down 9 men to 10. Regardless thanks to Cristian Zaccardo for the lone US goal.

Mp3: Reggie Rockstone - "Mapouka"

A little Ghanaian hip hop to celebrate the upset thanks to Call Me Mickey.

4 interested person(s)

Jim Hendry said... @ 6/17/2006 10:45:00 PM

Dude, sorry, but I really don't think the ref was trying to cost ya the game. I realize that when it's yr team and yr country, the emotion is high [believe me, I'm just waiting for my English lads to get screwed by the officials, and it will happen], but all three cards were completely spot-on in my opinion.

De Rossi absolutely deserved to take an early bath for that elbow. It was unnecessary, and dangerous considering the play.

Mastroeni deserved red for that tackle too, as it was a dreadful challenge. The most recent FIFA rules that I can remember were all about cracking down on those tackles from behind and from the sides like poor Pablo's. The ball was nowhere near the play, he came in late and fast, his boots were up and aimed right into the Italian's ankle, and regardless of play-acting and whatever else you want to call it, it was a dangerous tackle.

As for Pope, he deserved a yellow for another clumsy challenge and was unfortunate given that his 1st yellow in the game wasn't entirely smart on his part.

You can say what you want about the ref and his motives, but putting all patriotism and passion aside, I feel it's hard to argue that those red cards were unnecessary and/or harsh calls.

I'm just proud of the US to hold Italy off and get the point, and now they can look ahead to the Ghana game on thursday.

[Note: I am not looking forward to hearing ESPN bitch about the refs all week, as their commentating and "expert" crew know seemingly nothing about the game, even though they have a World Cup winner in Foudy and two US soccer guys in Wynalda and Lalas. Dave O'Brien, the main commentator for ABC -- this is his first time EVER doing soccer, and it's piss poor.]

Sorry for the long post, I'm just a little fired up too.

K said... @ 6/18/2006 08:51:00 AM

Valid points JT. However I wondered why this referee was even officiating a world cup game given that he was suspended for questionable calls for the 2002 world cup (I believe).

ESPN's "expert" crew is pretty much crap. Especially the announcers, I like the games with Adrian and Tommie but the others.

Just odd that they have Reese Davis and Musberger two guys that I doubt know much about soccer (or at least thats how it seems). I don't know why they couldn't have hired somebody from your motherland or people that do only soccer.

Thats just my take. Again bravo for the US for hanging in with a good Italy side and getting a draw given the circumstances. On to Ghana.

Jim Hendry said... @ 6/18/2006 10:38:00 AM

I guess they hired who they hired because they think the best way to get more Americans into soccer is if they treat it like American sports -- US personalities, US sports terminologies/analogies, and really by trying to change the way the game is perceived to make it more pallatable. I mean, Dave O'Brien is a play-by-play guy for the Atlanta Braves and previously the Marlins, and he just can't seem to grasp the game. Musberger barely knows how to wipe his own arse, let alone speak thoughtfully on soccer, but I guess he's there to be a pretty grandpa-type character.

Yeah, I was pleased for the US to hang on, and Ghana will be tough without Mastroeni [who I think is the US's best player]. To Ghana!

[I'm also kinda nervous, as based on things stand right now, my Limeys will face ze Germans in the 2nd round. We'll get screwed by the ref in that one, I can just feel it! J/k.]

chrome said... @ 6/20/2006 08:18:00 AM

great post. more ghana hip hop to keep it rolling

wanlov - "in ghana"
ambassadoz - "Kumasi"

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