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Our Readers Speak U.S. fans rue Italy match, are excited about Ghana game.(Wednesday, June 21, 2006) -- Here is a sampling of readers' comments about the United States men's 1-1 World Cup draw with Italy in Group E and their anticipation of Thursday's key match against Ghana. Readers had a variety of opinons on the three red cards handed out in the U.S.-Italy game -- two to Americans Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope -- only the fourth time in World Cup history teams played 10-on-nine. We love hearing from you. If you'd like to voice an opinion on any topic, feel free to write us at any time. We will run a letters column from time to time. Please sign your letter in one of these manners: 1. First and last name with hometown.
Your letter might be run in full or possibly be excerpted. Readers' comments on the U.S. match against Italy: Heart, passion, desire Now, this is what I have come to expect from this team -- heart, desire, passion and that never-say-die attitude. That was one of the most exciting, if not inspiring, U.S. matches in a long while. Everyone stepped up and did their part. Despite some dodgy refereeing decisions, the U.S. took the disadvantages, adapted, improvised and overcame. Too bad that (DaMarcus) Beasley's beautiful goal was disallowed. The USA is back and hopefully (will) win over Ghana on Thursday. Even if they do not make it to the second round with a win, (the Americans) have already restored the pride in the team and the development of the game in the USA. Gareth Downey
An inspiring performance The U.S. performance against Italy was exactly the kind of reaffirming, gut-check performance that was needed. There were many unexpected turns in the game, but the bottom line is that the team worked hard and got a result that gives them an opportunity to advance. That is as good as they could have hoped for before the Cup began -- a victory against the weakest team in their group (though, of course, Ghana is skilled and can play ball) -- and then go through. Of course, (the U.S.) needs an Italy victory, but I'd say that the odds favor that happening, particularly given the currently depleted Czech team. It'd be great to see U.S. goal scoring flair but, in all honesty, that hasn't been the case even through the various Gold Cup and other national-team games against weaker opposition leading up to the Cup. I like to think Eddie Johnson might help change this, but unfortunately that killer U.S. striker appears to continue to elude the U.S. team. Perhaps a little Hawaiian punch is in order. Ben Popkin
Were points left on the table? It's very hard to find too much fault with Arena's decisions in a game where we get a point versus Italy while playing nine-vs.-10 much of the match. That said, it's hard to fathom his decision to use only two subs under those circumstances. I would have loved to see Johnson in for McBride for the last 20 minutes. McBride played a whale of a game -- you've got to love his motor and his class -- but he wasn't contributing hugely on either end of the field at that point. He was legitimately gassed. It seemed to me that we had Italy on their heels and might have sprung a fresh-legged speedster like Johnson for a breakaway or two. Even if he had drawn a foul or two to set up dangerous set plays, it'd have been a worthwhile substitution. The tie was a spectacular result, but I came away from it feeling like there was something bigger that was within the men's national team's grasp. John Harris
U.S. is not yet among the elite While I am happy that our boys played with pure heart and spirit against the Italians, it still doesn’t erase the fact that we, in fact, got lucky. No own goal by Cristian) Zaccardo, we end up with zero points. Sure we pressed and pushed, but our attacks really led to nothing. Exciting stuff to watch, no doubt, but all that just masks two problems with the team: 1) Being that we can’t finish and have difficulty creating chances against top teams; 2) Our defense looks great against CONCACAF teams, but when it comes to Euro teams, they seem to always find a way to score on us. We have surrendered more goals than anyone in this group. Even in 2002, we gave up 7 goals, the bulk coming from two Euro teams, Portugal and Poland. And even if we do beat Ghana and Italy ends up beating the Czechs, we will go through as second place and have to face Brazil. Which brings me to another point. We haven’t been able to beat a traditional world soccer power since we beat Portugal in 2002. The game against Italy was great, inspiring, nothing-to-lose soccer, but we already knew that about our team. What we saw against Italy was nothing new. Our team can play against anyone with pure grit and hustle. We’ve proven that time and time again. We have a great team, but still lack the skills to be one of the elite. Jonathan
Crackdown is ill-timed. Calling the game tight is fine. It will make for more attractive soccer. However, handing out red cards and second yellows for plays that don't normally receive this kind of punishment, at present, is not fair in this World Cup. If FIFA wants to crack down that severely on these kinds of plays, it needs to send that message at the beginning of a league season, well before the World Cup. If FIFA had started this kind of crackdown last fall, World Cup teams, and the U.S. team specifically, would have made much better decisions when challenging for the ball in this competition. You can't start a crackdown in the middle of a World Cup. Rick Crow
A watershed moment While the tie between the U.S. and Italy with such high stakes on European soil is historic enough, it was a watershed moment, in part, because the match actually was winnable and the events contained therein. In contrast to the Czech match, in which Claudio Reyna's shot off Petr Cech's side post seemed to deflate the Americans, the team bounced back first from Italy's opening goal against the run of play, then two very questionable (ejections) to secure the tie in an emotionally draining affair. Thursday, the team, less than full strength itself, takes on a depleted Ghana squad. The Black Stars will miss both goal scorers from Saturday through yellow-card accumulation. They'll be dangerous enough with Michael Essien and Stephan Appiah on the field. Mastroeni's absence can probably be negotiated in the midfield, but Eddie Pope's experience and steadying influence will be missed in defense. The lack of goal-scoring opportunities is less of a concern as the Czech match is widely regarded as an offensively uninspired one and Italy is a notoriously stingy outfit anyway. Should both the U.S. and Italy both prevail on Thursday, the situation will be eerily similar to four years ago in which the Americans got to the second round. Stephan Kelley Number of cards is disturbing What troubles me with the high level of cards in this tournament is that to my knowledge I have yet to see a card for embellishment. If FIFA wants to cut down on hard tackles, etc., and not combat the diving and flopping, cards will only increase. The Italians seemed more that willing to embellish any and all contact in the game versus the U.S., especially since there was a higher potential of drawing a card. If FIFA wants to crack down on hard tackling defenders, they need to make sure officials show yellows to swan diving forwards as well. Galen S. Hoeflinger U.S. used bad judgment The United States showed grit, determination and pretty good soccer. Something to build off of and hopefully inspire them to play at their best against Ghana. As tough as they played against Italy, they can still turn it up a notch or two. But someone please put down on paper what really caused the U.S, problems. Both with Czech Republic and Italy, the U.S. cards were due to poor decisions by its players. Yes, the ref may have pulled a couple of cards a little quickly, but the tackles that the US were carded for were bad decisions. Very bad decisions -- totally unwarranted in the area of the field they occurred and at the point in the game that they occurred. . . Just flat out terribly poor decisions. The U.S. must make no more dumb mistakes. Robert C. Jeffries Where was third substitute? Why has no one questioned the misuse of the third substitution for the U.S.? It seems as if (U.S. manager) Arena was playing for a tie and not a win. Had someone, say Eddie Johnson for Brian McBride, been inserted into the lineup, fresh legs may have made a difference. And please do not tell me that Arena needed to save a substitution for injury reasons. Tom
Reason to be proud The U.S. should be proud of the effort they gave against Italia on Saturday. However, I think the tie result should rest on "The Bruce's" shoulders. Up a man with time left in the first half, he should have gotten word to his players to stop the needless hack jobs they had been performing in the first half and certainly it should have been a point of emphasis at halftime. Instead, two minutes in, Pope commits another pointless foul and is sent off. The decision to keep a gassed McBride on the field is defendable, but a fresh Eddie Johnson would have given the U.S. a great chance for the winner, especially had he entered around the 70th minute when the US was really pushing the attack. Jeff
Where are the strikers? Just thinking about it, it seems to me that soccer talent has followed a positional trend: from the back to the front. We pretty much started out with goalkeepers as players that made it overseas: (Kasey) Keller, (Brad) Friedel, (Marcus) Hahnemann, etc. (more recently Tim Howard). There were exceptions: (Claudio) Reyna, (Earnie) Stewart, (Eric) Wynalda. Then it seems like we have large number of defenders playing regularly in Europe, at all levels, and we're starting to add some midfielders. Most of the midfielders seem to be wing midfielders instead of the creative central mids. This observation came from a comment a friend made about why can't we score. So, maybe the next trend will be to start exporting creative midfield types and strikers? McBride is the obvious exception. And, maybe we'll start getting some players at really top clubs. Jon van Ark
Two horrendous mistakes The reality is how often do you see a challenge like Mastroeni's given a straight red card? Almost never. It may have been with studs up and two-footed, but I see have seen countless similar tackles in this years World Cup and in various professional leagues where this type of foul is typically awarded a yellow card. . . The tackle was late and slightly dangerous. This happens in every game. In regards to the other red card, the referee should have known Pope already carried a yellow card. This only goes to prove his head was somewhere else. These are excuses for very poor officiating. The fact that FIFA had a referee at the World Cup, who has previously been suspended for "irregularities" is alarming. Are you telling me of all the best referees in the world, they can't find someone who hasn't been suspended for questionable officiating. The referee should never have been in consideration. And our only consolation is that he hopefully will not referee another game in this World Cup. Awful. . . Those were two horrendous mistakes on his part that totally changed the outcome of the game. He needed to red card himself and FIFA owes us an apology. Karl Long [Editor's note: Referee Jorge Larrionda, who worked the U.S.-Italy match, could not be selected for the 2002 World Cup because he was serving a six-month suspension from the Uruguay Soccer Federation for "irregularities."] FIFA spurns fair play The card against Pablo was a red card because the referee said it was. The question is how many referees on the earth that would have given a yellow card in that situation? Probably not many. There have been many situations in this card-happy World Cup where this type of action would not merit even a yellow card. The problem, as always, is the "good old boys network" called FIFA. The Uruguay Soccer Federation identified (Larrionda) as a crook in 2002, yet FIFA allowed him to referee. They bring out a retinue of PR types to justify this pathetic referee. The self-serving United Nations looks like a choir boy besides FIFA. The U.S. has started with Germany, Portugal and the Czech Republic in the last three World Cups. This year, ranked fifth by FIFA, we end up playing the Czech Republic, Italy and Ghana. Are there two FIFAS? They can talk about cultural differences all they want and that America doesn't understand football, but anybody can see that FIFA doesn't even pay lip service to fair play. We will prevail in the end in spite of all of their efforts Alexmar
American fans weren't cheated U.S. fans feeling cheated is probably a result of the fact that the vast majority of Americans don't understand the yellow\red card system, the offside rule or some of the finer points of football (not soccer!). I live in Japan and if I had a dollar for every time I've heard people trying to explain the rules of the game to Americans in the last 10 days, I would be looking at a very decent night out in Tokyo! Admittedly, the offside rule is hard to explain and is so often badly interpreted by the game's officials -- just in the Italy-U.S. game there were at least three offside decisions that were not actually offside and Italy could well have scored from two of them. . . Italy is not as good a team as it once was and the U.S, is improving each year. Eventually, the U.S. will likely be able to beat the top European teams fairly regularly. I just hope that the American public doesn't let down the team and football in general by not bothering to understand the game and affording the players the respect they deserve. . . I hope the U.S. makes it through and I hope Italy does too. Unfortunately, I don't believe either will happen on Thursday Ghana is too strong and Italy was mentally scarred after Saturday's game. Marco Mallia Hand out more cards Contrary to complaints about harsh officiating, penalties and yellow cards should be given for more severe fouls to make games fairer and higher-scoring. At the top of my list are grabbing arms and shirts, wrestling before free kicks and corners, and pushing players down from behind. In particular, no player can argue to have grabbed another player's jersey inadvertently to keep him from running through or away, and more frequent yellow cards for such offenses would stop the practice. Erich Walka Upon further review The second half was a tremendous effort. When I watched the game, I thought the two red cards were bad calls. But after reading some of the post-game commentary, especially in England, I decided that the first red card on Mastroeni was a good call -- a two footed tackle with the cleats up. The call against Pope, though, was very questionable, because he got some of the ball and it was really more from the side than from behind. There has been much criticism of Arena, but I think largely without merit. He was wise to keep his last substitution in case there was an injury. But, while I thought putting in Beasley was a good choice for fresh legs, Beasley again did not put in the effort. For the Ghana game, we need to get some shots on goal --neither the Czech or Italian goalies registered saves. I would bring in (John) O'Brien to replace Mastroeni and would put in Eddie Johnson and move (Landon) Donovan back to midfield. Glenn
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