While I was pleased to see the USA restore its reputation somewhat, it was very disappointing to see the first truly bad refereeing of this World Cup. In the past, I’ve often wondered if FIFA instructs its referees to do any homework about the teams involved in the games they will be working, I particularly remember a Turkey-Italy game wherein Pippo Inzaghi dove to draw an absurd penalty and the commentator speculated that the referee had obviously never seen Inzaghi and his award-winning dramas before.
The red card shown to Mastroenni was absurd. The tackle was rough and it was a foul, but it was a yellow at most. I told Spacebunny that I wouldn’t be surprised to see a make-up red given to Italy after the break; the last thing I expected was for the US to pick up another red.
As always, the Italians were both skilled and shady. Pope’s second yellow was deserved, but his first was a textbook example of the quality that the Italians call “furbo”. It means “cunning” and Gilardino showed it in spades as he grabbed Pope by the jersey and dropped to the ground, drawing both the foul and the yellow card. FIFA has done an excellent job in cutting down on the diving, now it’s time for them to start handing out yellows for grabbing jerseys, there’s simply no good explanation for ever having a fistful of an opponent’s shirt in your grasp.
It was infuriating, but it was also a compliment of sorts that the Italians felt the need to resort to the customary international practices against the USA. And while it pains me to say it, the offsides call against McBride was correct, as McBride was definitely potentially involved in the play. Had he thrown himself to the side or even held still, the linesman might have held his flag, but that little reverse stab he made at the ball as it went by assured the foul call.
Kasey Keller was fantastic in stopping Del Piero twice, Beasely was tremendously improved over the Czech game, as was Landon Donovan, the only real disappointment besides Eddie Pope’s temporary insanity was Claudio Reyna. I would have exchanged him for Josh Wolff earlier on, there’s not much call for a midfielder who won’t make that last critical pass to the strikers in the area and can’t come within five meters of the goal when he shoots either. He also stood and watched Gilardino head the ball in for Italy’s goal rather than mark him, all in all, a shoddy performance by the USA’s overrated captain.
As for the Italians, it’s amazing to see how Totti simply cannot replicate his club form with the national side. At this rate, Lippi will be sitting him after the group stages. Italy’s problem is that while they have scorers, Lippi leaves his much-needed fox-in-the-box, Inzaghi, on the bench. Since moving to Milan from Juventus, he’s reduced the play-acting and is the perfect compliment to more proactive forwards such as Tino and Iaquinta.
While I don’t see them getting out of the real Group of Death, the USA can play with Ghana. If a victory is unlikely, at least the team will likely claim some of the respect that looked so unlikely after the Czech debacle. Drawing with Italy while down a man is a significant accomplishment and should provide the squad with genuine confidence going into the final group game.