Cojones!

Now that's what a fan wants to see - non-stop effort, balls-to-the-wall defending, gutsy attacking, and heroic performances from top to bottom. The Americans came out strong, surprisingly taking the game to the Italians for the first 20 minutes. Despite a goal against the run of play by the Azzurri, thanks to some pathetic defending of a Pirlo free-kick, the US pushed onwards. Admittedly, the own-goal by Zaccardo was a gift, but after having all of their errors punished against the Czechs, the Americans will take it. Somewhere, Earl Hickey is smiling. And then, more good news: De Rossi decides to try to separate McBride's nose from his face & he's gone. Well done, ref, and more American pressure. But two rash challenges on either side of halftime, first by Mastroeni and then Pope, hand the advantage right back to the Italians. The announcers were up in arms over Larriondo's refereeing, but that's just one more example of the off-base, homer commentary that we've been subjected to this past week. Marcelo Balboa basically acted like the guy was Massimo De Sanctis doing a Juve game with the Serie A title on the line. Um, not quite. Larriondo wasn't flawless, but he got all four of the key calls exactly right. De Rossi's red was easy, Mastroeni's tackle could have been a yellow or a red (sure, you'd like to see the refs err on the side of leniency, but that could go either way), Pope's tackle warranted a second yellow, and McBride was clearly interfering with Buffon's vision on Beasley's disallowed goal. It's one thing to be slightly biased towards the national team, but as a growing soccer nation, it's a bad precedent to set to be blaming referees without clear and complete justification. Balboa, Eric Wynalda, and Alexi Lalas (all ex-US national team members) all agreed that Larriondo should not ref again in the World Cup. Brent Musburger went so far as to bring up a suspension that Larriondo served in 2002. The only voice of reason was Allen Hopkins on ESPN2. Hopkins, who commentates on Fox Soccer Channel (along with GolTV, one of two all-soccer networks in the US), was spot-on with his analysis. Gee, who'd have thunk it that the only rational, educated, reasonable comments would be made by the only seasoned, experienced soccer commentator? I'm shocked. The bottom line is that we should be concentrating on a heroic effort by the US team in the most important soccer game this country has seen in a long, long time. A loss today could have realistically set soccer back in this country years & years. Instead, the Americans played with the sort of spirit and determination that makes the World Cup such a special tournament, and soccer in general such a special sport. Arena, despite a rocky week, had his team ready to play (why he never made a third substitution, when half the team was reduced to walking for the game's last 10 minutes, I will never know). Now the US has it all to play for in the last group game against Ghana. After Ghana's impressive showing today against the Czechs, it will be no easy task. The US team still can't find a way to put the bulge in the ole onion bag, but with that spirit, that determination, and those cojones, this team can do it.