USA - Italy: The Rollercoaster Ride

I don't know about anyone else, but the US-Italy game was one of the best, most inspirational, gutsy, exhausting games I've ever seen. The US came out in a complete 180 of the Czech game, taking the game to the Italians, forcing the issue and playing inspired soccer. To walk off the field with a hard fought for 1-1 draw with Italy, playing with only 9 men for virtually the entire 2nd half, is nothing short of miraculous.

The officiating in this game was all over the place and as good as this game was the referee was that bad. Completely inconsistent and inept. And it went both ways. Players received yellows when all that was required was a talking to and players recieved red when a yellow would have sufficed (except for the well earned red Italy received).

The image of Brian McBride trotting off the field, bloodied, to get patched up will be an enduring image in US Soccer history.

There will be much debate to come on how this result ranks in the annals of US Soccer. Without doubt it settles comfortably along side the US beating Portugal and the US beating Mexico, both in WC '02.

The Yanks now find themselves in a must win situatino with Ghana on Thursday. That's how we want it. Leaving it all out on the field and going for broke.