USA v Italy

Some changes in the line-up, but still some questionable decisions. The US came out in a 4-1-4-1:

Keller

Bocanegra
Onyewu
Pope
Cherundolo

Mastroeni

Convey
Donovan
Reyna
Dempsey

McBride

In discussing his line-up Arena said people overrate the importance of team formations. Arsene Wenger has basically espoused a similar philosophy with Arsenal, claiming it only really matters on defense, so this penis-like lineup with a flying wedge of attacking midfielders and Brian McBride at the tip looked interesting. Not so interesting, starting Brian McBride. He did well four years ago of receiving and holding the ball up top to start a lot of US attacks, but he hasn't gotten service in this world cup, and about the only time I ever noticed him on the field was when he stood offsides like a moron to deny Beasley's goal. When the game was 10 on 9 with huge amounts of space and the US having to sit back and hit on the break, leaving the lumbering McBride in with Eddie Johnson and Josh Wolff on the bench was also a bit weird.

I wondered about Clint Dempsey, despite how highly many US fans seem to think of him, and early on he made one of those plays that made me wonder if he was in over his head. Reyna played a ball out to him on the wing, and he just stood there and watched it go over the line 10-20 yards ahead of him. Reyna obviously wasn't going to just plunk the ball right at him, and put it into space, leading Dempsey. He did take a cracking shot a minute later, so I'm actually not going to knock him yet. He at least wasn't in the Damarcus Beasley lasagna coma.

The ref made his presence felt quite a few times in this game, most notably in giving out three red cards, with resulting chaos. I really wondered if Andrea Pirlo's sister (who I'm sure is a fine woman) was blowing him in the tunnel before the game when two US players got booted for tackling Pirlo. Eddie Pope had it coming, since he got a yellow for taking a guy down to the ground with a hand on the back of his neck, without looking at the ball. It was clear the ref wasn't going to put up with that, and Pope was fouling all game before his foul on Pirlo was apparently the last straw. The red card on Mastroeni, he came in late but got a bit of ball with one leg, but extended the other to take out Pirlo's back ankle, so I assumed at the time the ref (right behind Pirlo) saw that as an intentional, studs-up attempt to hurt Pirlo, and not just follow-through. Now I just think Pirlo's sister (who I'm sure is a fine woman) can suck a golf ball through a garden hose.

I have no idea what lunacy went into Reyna's positioning on the Italian goal. On a free kick Andrea Pirlo bent the ball around the US defense, and Gilardino on the near side streaked past Reyna, who stopped and put his hand up to indicate the offside violation. Which was kind of pointless since the other US defenders were all way closer to goal marking other Italian attackers. So Gialardino dives for the header and puts Italy ahead. A couple minutes later, Reyna goes down fairly easily on the touchline on a challenge from Cannavaro. Zaccardo and the resulting free kick goes past everybody to Cristian Zaccardo, who attempts to volley it clear but instead knocks it off his shin into the goal. Oops.

So basically a lot of people bounced back in this game. Right after a couple dumb plays Reyna and Dempsey both were out creating scoring opportunities. RunDMB put the lasagna fork down and came in with a lot of energy late in the game, really putting pressure on the Italians. Even McBride accomplished something, going in for a header but not putting his arms up to protect himself, which occasionally means he has to leave the game with a giant bruise on his face. In this case, Daniele de Rossi smacked him across the face when beaten to a header, and De Rossi got to take an early shower thanks to a card-happy ref.

Also helping to balance out the strange red cards, when RunDMB reached up over his head to smack the ball 10 feet from the ref and got nothing worse than a free kick called, presumably because the ref didn't want to put the US down to eight men. Other nicely balanced calls, Italy had a goal called back for a ridiculously early offside whistle, when a player was offside but there was no pass, just a shot well over his head. Without the whistle, Keller may have saved it, since he did ignore it once the flag went up, who knows. But the US had a goal with an offside player not interacting with the ball, but arguably blocking the keeper's view. I'll call that even (even if it wasn't).

The big problem is getting a central defender and defensive midfielder suspended due to red cards, when both would have started against Ghana. And the ref making a perfectly fun game into a complete joke. I went to the zoo after the game and strangled a zebra, which made me feel a lot better. Actually that may have been a Footlocker.

USA 1-1 Italy
'23 Gilardino
'27 Zaccardo (o.g.)

Red Cards: Mastroeni, Pope, De Rossi