USA 1 : 1 Italy

Well, that was a little more pleasant. Of course, I was drunk and I watched the game at around 1:30 am. At the time the two US sendings-off seemed like the greatest crime in human history. Now I'm a little more understanding. My collected take on the red cards:

• De Rossi - Warranted. But in a game in which I didn't have a rooting interest, I could see it as a yellow.
• Mastroeni - Yellow card every day of the week. Complete makeup call for the early expulsion of De Rossi.
  
• Pope - 1st foul was a solid yellow. 2nd was more questionable, and I don't think it should be a booking on a player carrying a card in the game.

Those fouls overshadowed a tough-played match for both sides. The US offense was functioning more smoothly that in the first game. Even though they couldn't find a goal themselves, it was promising.

Looking ahead to Ghana, the red cards will make Bruce Arena's lineup a little trickier, and I'll take my crack at that in a seperate post.