Hello! Let me give you my card.

I had a few days to simmer down and look at the officiating of the US-Italy game much more objectively and these are my conclusions:

De Rossi, without question, deserved a red.

Pablo Mastroeni probably can't complain about the red he got.

Eddie Pope shouldn't have got booked twice but also shouldn't have put himself into position to get another yellow.

Of course I think the ref was a little card happy. Franz Beckenbauer and I agree on that. I think the thing that really irritates me about the poor officiating, and it went both ways for either team, was how horribly inconsistent it was.

I couldn't help but wonder why, 20 minutes from full time, the ref started letting everything go? People were plummeting to the ground just as they were the first 70 minutes, but there was a nary a whistle. He let the play go and it actually made for a more exciting game, if that was possible since it was pretty darn exciting before.

Another thing to consider as well is how little gets called in MLS games. The Pablo Mastroeni tackles highlights this. In MLS Pablo gets a yellow. In MLS, Eddie Pope maybe picks up one yellow somewhere. In MLS, half the calls don't get called? Is this an indictment of MLS for being to lenient and thugish or the World Cup being to over-sensitive and quick with punishment? It's an unhealthy combination of both I think.

If there's one thing that the US-Italy game did (other allow us an opportunity to release our pent-up frustrations) was that it helped debunk the wide-spread misconception in this country that soccer, somehow, isn't a contact sport. The image of a bleeding Brian McBride introduced millions of American people to the reality of soccer being a hard fought and, at times, rough sport and worthy of such sacrifice. Now that doesn't mean it needs to be rugby-lite.

Like most people, and maybe more than some, I deplore cynical fouling and the dreaded, so-called "professional foul". This is allowed to an unacceptable level in MLS and is something that desperately needs to change. Too often the better player is not rewarded for besting his opponent because his opponent, knowing he has been beaten, fouls and takes down the player and in turn slows the game and allows the defense to reset. This is just aggravating as is listening to the face and voice championing this boring style of play, Marcelo Balboa (but that's a topic for another day). It just lets the worse team stay in the game longer.

But soccer can be physical without fouling. Going up hard for 50/50 balls, shoulder to shoulder tackles, blocking a man off the ball, etc. Going in with all you've got to win a ball as opposed to simply tackling a person so you can catch your breath.