What a match!

The Italy-USA football match today was amazing! The US carries the play, but gets down a goal after an Italian free kick. Then they get their own free kick, which an Italian defender fluffs his clearing attempt into his own net, and we are level!

In the next minute an Italian attempts to head the ball, and in the process flagrantly elbows McBride in the head. McBride goes down and comes up bloodied. The referee from Uruguay gives the Italian a red card. Italy's down to 10 men.

Play continues, and the US has most of it. However, just before halftime a Yank slides into an Italian player with both feet, studs up. The ref gives the Yank a red card, and they are down to 10 men.

This was a controversial call. The ABC - American - coverage thought it was wrong, unsurprisingly. The Canadian coverage was divided: Craig Forrest thought it should have been yellow only, while Dick Howard thought it was deserving of the straight red. The English play by play guy was non-committal - it seemed to me; he didn't say it was wrong or right, although I think he was perhaps surprised that it was a direct red.

My opinion is that it was a technically correct, although harsh decision. The American commentator thought it was a make-up call, which may have some validity in the sense that the ref might have gone directly red if he hadn't already given one out.

The interesting play came just after the half-time restart. American defender Pope made a late challenge on an Italian just outside the US box and got yellow carded. However, he had also been booked in the first half, so Pope was sent off and the US was down to 9 men.

What was interesting to me was that the ref didn't pull out the red card immediately. It was only after he went to write Pope's number down again that he realized Pope had already been booked and had to be sent off.

I wonder if he would have booked Pope for that second infraction if he knew that Pope was already in the book. The second tackle was a bookable one, but it wasn't so bad that it couldn't have been overlooked.

Of course, this had an influence on the game, or at least how the rest of the game was played. However, neither team scored, so the final was 1-1. If anything that result flattered the Italians.