The Mastroeni Tackle

definite red card. No matter how many times I look at it, Mastroeni went in studs first aimed right at the feet of the Italian, not even close to the ball. That’s not a tackle. It could have been one very nasty injury. Read the rule book.

You obviously haven’t watched the replay enough. It was late and a stupid foul. But it was not VERY late and unless you’ve heard it from Pablo Mastroeni – I don’t know how you can say it was “aimed” at the feet. Also when you look at the replay he goes in with one foot – and the other foot catches up as he makes contact. The studs make contact as the foot hits the Italian at an angle – but were not “up” going in. Stupid foul – and sure, it’s within the ref’s discretion to give the red card there. But doing so was undeniably harsh. I’d say 8 or 9 out of 10 times that’s a yellow.

The foul doesn’t even compare to what De Rossi did.

I saw several tackles that were very similar in Trinidad’s games – with the Trinis playing with the same sort of passion the Americans were, I guess, they made the same sorts of mistakes as Pablo. However, their tackles were not rewarded with straight reds.

The call against Pablo was harsh. It was well within the ref’s discretion, but it was still harsh and inconsistent given the calls in previous games. The call against Pope was completely wrong. He never should have pulled Pope’s second yellow for that tackle.

at this level of play, when you come in with both bottoms of your feet,and dont even try to plant at least one of your feet in a manner to where you may regain your balance, to retrieve the ball or continue play THAT IS WHY THIS GAME HAS RED CARDS…PERIOD

Don’t think you can make too much of the tone of voice of the commentator.

Looked like a red card to me. Ref was right on the spot. Not as bad as De Rossi’s elbow, but still bad enough for a red.

By the letter of the law, a red card was appropriate. Also, it sounds like the match was getting a bit heated, so there’s the element of maintaining control of things to factor in. The Ref Blog had a good write-up on the whole thing.

In the end, it wasn’t the call but the stupidity of the mistake that’s the important lesson to take from this. While the US was playing an inspired game, it’s little things like that tackling mistake that show the difference between us and the best national teams. Clearly we can play the field with the others when we’re up for it, but it’s the little blunders here and there that we need to outgrow as we develop into a true top-10 team. That and our finishing.

Our finishing definitely needs to improve drastically.

How about we score an actual goal in this last game? Sound like a good idea?

One must also take into account that at that point in the game the USA had been fouling the italians like crazy. Larrionda had already set a tone that he wanted to keep the game under control, and was probably a bit fed up with the US.

I was convinced he didn’t deserve a direct red, but after watching that first replay angle…wow. He even brings the second foot in to take out the Italians other leg.

That was a stupid, stupid foul especially considering the field position.

As a fan of Team USA, I’m disappointed by the red card, but not necessarily the referee in this case. It certainly looked like we would win the game 11 v 10 — and this card really changed the game (along with Pope’s). I wonder what Pablo was thinking.

About the ref’s decision? There are plenty of people who can certainly pull out their little rulebooks, and point to which law of the game Pablo violated, and then conclude the referee was justified.

I, too, can accept this, with the following caveat:

IF, and this may be a big “IF” for some of you, but IF you want to claim that this tackle was deserving of a direct red card, then you must agree that, over the course of this tournament so far, there should have been plenty of (equally justifiable) red cards handed out.

If Mastroeni set the standard for a direct red, many people have gotten away with more.

hey guggy, maybe you should read the rule book. a tackle like that has to show “serious foul play”. if mastroeni gets a red, there should be 50 more plays in this world cup deserving the same card, resulting in rosters of about 8 available players per team.

sorry, that comment was meant for enzo, not guggy.

Phew – I was wondering what I had done.

I think it’s interesting that people keep saying he “came in with two feet,” and cleats up. Watch the reverse angle replay on the link. Pause it as he comes in on the tackle (first of all notice it was a bang-bang play – not very late). But you can CLEARLY see he leads with one leg – and the other only comes in as he meets the Italian and the rest Mastroeni’s body starts to catch up. His cleats are also pointed down.

Dumb challenge – sure – especially just before the half and where it was on the field. But the US was playing aggressively and it had the Italians on their heels. Mastroeni had also been playing really well (without even a warning) to that point – he’d scared the beejeezus out of Buffon only two minutes earlier with his shot that went just high.

The game was not out of control until the ref made it so.

And I do think the fact that the German commentator was shocked says something about the call. He says “Rote Karte?” in disbelief several times – and suggests “gelb” may have been appropriate but not “rote”.

Anyway I’m looking forward to the next games, I’m proud of the effort our guys made after the Czech game and doen a man, and am glad the US is still somewhat alive. That’s also about the only scenario where I’ll ever cheer against the Italians. So I’m glad it’s over with.

Maybe if we performed beautiful grass swan dives like the Italians, we’d morph into a team as great as they are.

Tom,

It wasn’t just the tone, let me translate:

“Aww direct red card? Yellow yes, red? There I would ask a question. A clear foul, naturally, but direct red?”

He clearly disagreed.

enzo:

He wasn’t “aiming” for his feet at all. If you had watched long enough to get to the replay, he got ball first, and the tackle was from the front. Yes, he took him down, yes, it was a careless foul, but that’s a yellow, not a red.

Why do some people insist on trolling other countries’ pages? The US hasn’t played Australia recently to my knowledge, and I don’t think we bear you any ill will. Is it because of a certain politician with an incredibly low domestic approval rating? If so, that’s awfully petty. If you want to read and discuss, that’s good, but really, I’ve heard so many knee-jerk anti-American team comments that I can’t imagine that your intent is to participate in an actual discussion.

The World Cup should be about having fun, enjoying watching your team play, enjoying the camraderie of being a fan with people from other countries. Don’t ruin the experience for the rest of us.

Yet another case of Italy paying off refs probably. Gee, shocking.

I think the ref went too fast to the red card on Mastoeni and never should have given that second card to Pope. But, as Arena pointed out in Mastroeni’s case, there was absolutely no reason for PM to have made that particular challenge in that way. Why force the ref to choose between yellow and red if you don’t have to foul at all.

I was more angered by the carding than the diving because the carding had more serious consequences, but damn was it annoying to watch the Italians falling to the field whenever an American player looked at them. That crap is way too widespread, and I wish it would stop.

I’m not completely opposed to diving–if it’s a borderline call and a player can sell it well enough to get the call in his favor, fair enough. But it’s frustrating for real fans and embarrassing to the sport when players flop around after going down, clutching at their legs and grimacing as if aliens were clawing their way out of the players’ nut sacs.

So I was thinking of a set of rule changes: if you get knocked down, you have twenty seconds to stand up again. If you don’t, you’re automatically stretchered off. If you’re stretchered off, you have to spend four minutes off the field before you can reenter, no matter how speedy your miraculous recovery. The only exception would be for people removed for bleeding–they could come back in as soon as the bleeding’s stopped.

Eddie Pope’s play was not up to par…he stops play and raises his hand signaling offsides? Play the man and ball and let the ref make the call. Eddie’s idea to become the ref cost the US a goal. That was his first bonehead mistake. His hard tackle was totally unecessary, especially knowing that the ref was calling a VERY tight game and Pope was playing with a yellow..Second bonehead play by Pope. USA Defense cost us the game against Czech Republic and Pope’s two mistakes almost cost US the Italy game. Defense may not win games, but sure can lose them for you. Arena needs to have a long heart to heart with his defenders…

How shamefull a game was this ?

But from there to say Italy payed off the Ref? LOL

Get a grip, if Italy wins it match on Thursday then you still have a chance at this if they don’t well you know the tune.

Good luck on Thursday, hopefully you will have more will and determination than the folks from the Ghana team.

I am really hoping for a Italy/USA leadership in this group after Thursday’s games.

I’m sorry, I’ve likewise looked at the tackle and it looked like he came in with one foot first and his other leg slid out. While he was “boots up”, I’ve seen that type of tackle in this tourney and will probably see it again. At most, it’s a yellow and nothing more. The US was not “fouling like crazy” as someone posted above, the Italians were falling over at the slightest breeze, clutching their ankle or knee and yelling out loud…I mean, everyone knows their 12 part opera by now right? Officiating shouldn’t ever play a part in the conduct of a match. Since it did in this case, it was just plain bad. The US outplayed the Italians, controlled the match and would have put them away if it stayed 11 v 10.

Definitely a red card, tackles like this have ended careers in the past. In whole the USA played a better game but need to learn that the tackles should only be used as a last resort to winning the ball back. There was no need to make such an aggressive tackle on that area of the pitch as there was no way that Italy would have scored from where that tackle was made. Still difficult to call which teams will qualify in this group The italians have a poor team, the czechs would have been clear favourites had they not lost their 3 strikers to injuries. And I can only see ghana vs USA ending in a tie.

I think that PM’s red card was even soft (as soft as the red card for De Rossi’s; both deserve a 2-games suspension). PM goes directly to the ankle; it was not from the front, as Dean wants to see it. He showed not-to-good intentions; it was going to be a foul call anyways. The way he slid, there was no way to not to trip the Italian guy. But if he slides on his right side using his left foot to tackle the ball, it would have been a clean tackle. There are a lot of tackles like this one and they get yellow card? Yes. But that doesn’t make this one any cleaner or softer, but the other ones poorly judged. In this one, the ref was two meters away (another stupid decision by PM, why doing it on the ref’s nose?). Pope’s red card, on the other hand, was too harsh. That tackle didn’t deserve a card at all. However, as Mack puts it: why doing it if the ref was calling a tight game and he was playing already painted in yellow?

Don’t read too much into the Pope foul. He plays that way, and the difference between a yellow and just a foul can be razor thin. I think ordinarily he’d just be charged with a foul, but with the rough nature of the game, the ref was probably sending a message with that yellow. PM’s red was technically the correct call, and so it’s hard to fault the ref. At first I was upset by both calls, but once I calmed down, I realize the blame in both cases really lies at the feet of Pope and PM. Hopefully they’ll get a chance to redeem themselves if we can get past Ghana without them.

Folks should look at a Youtube of Pope’s second caution. There’s not all that much contact there..

John: good post. Both players should have realized that the ref would look to even things up AND was handing out cards like there was no tomorrow.

Also, there is no excuse for a team to be a man up to have to foul to stop a play. We should have always had numbers defensively….

That’s not a straight red … unless the ref is looking to balance out the Italians being down a man. PM arguably gets ball before he gets man. No other ref in the entire World Cup has given a straight red on dozens and dozens of other fouls that were at least as harsh at that one.

I agree it isn’t necessarily a straight red, but it is TECHNICALLY the right call. I really don’t think even this screwed up ref would have given it a red, though, if the game hadn’t been so physical and full of fouls. PM knew that, of course, which puts the blame for going in cleats up squarely on his own shoulders. He should have been more careful, bottom line.

Sorry, as a non american who was hoping they’d get a result against the eyeties, i really don’t see how there can be a complaint about the red card there. You can argue that other people have made tackles like that but nevertheless according to FIFA’s instructions to the refs that was a straight red.

incidentally, when portugal had a man sent off against SK in 2002 for a 2 footed challenge and then another sent off for a 2nd yellow in a game which allowed the US to go through, how many US fans were ranting about corrupt refs then ?

Absolutely criminal! Red card well used! From the side??? This guy should be arrested!

Re: Portugal vs. Korea 2002, there’s a world of difference between going in cleats up with both feet and sliding in with one foot (as PM did). If you watch the replay carefully, you’ll see that PM either clipped the ball first or was within millimeters of doing so as the Italian player was passing it. At worst PM was late by nanoseconds, and it was one foot, not two. Again, technically any cleats up play can be red carded, but there have been many of those in this Cup that have not even garnered a yellow. For example, in today’s game between Spain and Tunisia, Spain’s Puyol made a hard cleats up tackle on a Tunisian player. He used both feet and the ball was about 6 feet out in front of the Tunisian. He didn’t even get booked with a yellow. Just a foul was called. That’s typical, along with getting booked. A red is almost unheard of for what PM did, although it was correct from a strict ‘by the book’ ruling. So again, in the situation facing the US, PM gets the blame for a stupid foul at a crucial time.

Sorry US fans,

That was a terrible challenge, almost amateur. He deserved a red card. I guess we will never know what his true intent was but he was nowhere near the ball. The way I see it, Pablo saw that Italy was in a position to put a dangerous ball into the 18-yard box and decided to take out Pirlo. It’s a tactic that has been used over and over. You give up a free kick but at least you can get everyone in front of the net defending. He probably just figured he’d get a slap on the wrist or receive a yellow card, I guess he was wrong.

RE Portugal: About as many Portugal or South Korea fans who are in here complaining about corrupt refs. Whats the point? Doesn’t mean the refs are not corrupt.

I think the ref’ing in this World Cup has been exemplary after Korea, but this was by far the worst job I have seen since the 9th.

I just don’t see the PM red card. I have watched that replay countless times and I just don’t see it. I agree with virtually everyone here that it was a stupid foul done right under the refs nose in the wrong part of the field. I agree that there most certianly should have been a yellow card, and had there not been one I would have thought he got off easy. A red?

If he was just looking to even things up (which I can see but I don’t agree with throwing someone off for a far less foul to square up the other team after loosing someone for a much worse transgression,) then what was the line of thinking when he ejected Pope?

Atleast pope had a yellow card, so he was a much easier target. I just don’t even see the yellow card in that play.

If it is just a case of a ref calling THAT tight a game then I think there really is some cause for complaint. If someone gets a red card for something that he can clearly point to 50 or 60 other examples in the same tournament where that was either not called or simply yellow carded and not a single other example of it resulting in a Red, you have to look at the Ref of that game. When there are more red cards handed out in a single game than the entire world cup to date. It was just not that physical, and that nasty of a game.

Well, not the ENTIRE world cup, just the ‘06. I am sure there is a game back in 1942 or sometime where a couple more red cards got handed out in a single game.

Whatever that tackle was, the ref made a decision and that’s that. That is how footbal is allover, lets get over it. Teams lose games because of worse decisions and they go on with their lives. This won’t be the first or the last controversial decision in football “life goes in”. Who knows in the next game against Ghana decisions might go our way and I bet on that, on the basis of the refreeing against African teams in the tournament I’d say we will get most of the decisions and that reason to cheer up in advance, don’t you think guys.

Mastroeni consistently attempts to compensate for his lack of speed with desperate tackles such as this – it probably cost the US a victory, and advancement into round 2. And this is one of the main reasons he will never be picked up by a first class European team. Regardless, within the discretion of the referee, but still very harsh, especially considering that the tape reveals that this was NOT a two-footed tackle.

you know guys just watched it again, lets all hope the guys dont pull that again(right in front of the ref…what an unproffesional error) kind of makes ya scratch your head askin ‘what the hell was he thinkin’?

I think the ref got it right with all the dismissals. De Rossi was a disgrace though, and if he plays again at these finals it’s a disgrace.

The fact is that Mastro wouldn’t have gotten a red card had the ref not given one earlier in the game. He would have gotten a yellow — refs always look to even things up, especially when teams like Italy and Germany are involved. You see this with penalties as well as cards. There seems to be a mindset where the refs don’t want to be the cause of teams winning or losing and will look to any opportunity to even up game breaking decisions. Let’s just hope that our players in the future have the footballing sense not to commit immensely stupid fouls like that and let the referee decide the game.
Aso — If FIFA are serious about “fair play” de Rossi would be banned for the remainder of the World Cup.

Zico said, “The way I see it, Pablo saw that Italy was in a position to put a dangerous ball into the 18-yard box and decided to take out Pirlo. It’s a tactic that has been used over and over. You give up a free kick but at least you can get everyone in front of the net defending. He probably just figured he’d get a slap on the wrist or receive a yellow card, I guess he was wrong.”

Gee, that would be solid reasoning if the ball weren’t at the opposite end of the field. Try again.

Just like all the rest of the world, Uruguay has it out for the Americans and is in bed with the Italians who paid the ref to give PM a red card even though his “aim was on the ball”. Sorry, people, but if you don´t like USA do something political and keep it apart from soccer.

All of you something very important, THE BOTTOM LINE IS IT IS A RED CARD WHEN THE REF SAYS SO. NOT WHEN THE RULE BOOK DOES, SAME THING FOR PENALTY KICKS, THEY EXIST ONLY WHEN THE REF SAYS, THATS WHAT THIS GAME IS ALL ABOUT NO REPLAYS NO CHANLENGING NO NOTHING JUST PLAIN AND GOOD FOOTBALL. LIKE IT HAS BEEN FOR THE PAST 18 WORLD CUPS.

SO MASTROENI HAS A RED CARD, SO DOES POPE SO DE ROSSI AND LET IT GO……

id just like to point out that everybody from the U.S. says he didnt deserve a red card n everybody else thinks he did

As a soccer player I know that a tackle like that can ruin players careers knocking them out of not just the game but possibly the entire tournament. When you slide into a tackle technically you are supposed to point your boots down so that you minimize the risk of injury. Usually though you can get away with going in studs first since the ref has to make an instant call on what he sees and he has no replays to look at. But if you look at the Mastroeni tackle the ref is standing just behind them and had a good look at what was happening. Which was Mastroeni coming in and clipping both ankles of the Italian player with his studs. No way any player can expect to get away with a foul like that right under the refs nose. If the ref was farther away he might have gotten away with a yellow. With the ref standing right there, the US in good control of the game and a few minutes left in the half I think that was a horrible decision on the part of Mastroeni.

yeah to say the US was fouling italy like crazy is stupid

those guys were falling over and grabbing anything they could trying to get a call

and yes the rules need to change

if mcbride played for italy he would have been stretchered off the field

or most european teams for that matter

a korean player was stretchered off in 02 for a head but that wasnt that bad

the only time you are stretchered off in american football is if you cant walk or you are paralyzed

I am a referee, referee instructor, and a referee assessor. I have refereed professional level games. In the beloved game of soccer there are the laws of the game and more importantly the “Sprit of the Game”. While technically Larrionda was correct by his decisions of the cards, was it really within the sprit of the game? I personally don’t think so. More importantly consistency in refereeing is more important. If Larrionda was consistent throughout the game it would have needed to be abandoned due to a lack of players. Many fouls went on in the second half that were not considered fouls that were cardable offences in the beginning. If the decision to card is correct it must be constant throughout the entire 90 minutes. Remember it is not the one or two questionable decisions a referee makes in a game but the consistency of the decisions that will enable a referee to control the game and gain the respect of the player as well as increase the enjoyment for the fans.

Amoricans are just mad because they think 6 years should make a soccer dynasty. LOL. Italy looked bad and still prevented an american from scoring. The ref should have the Black Hand after him. 2 obvious red cards. That was a good shot to the face. It is good to see a little nacy boy take a shot in the face. Popes red card I don’t know, maybe he said something ghetto like “bomb first” or “lean wit it”. I may have been born in Texas but I hate how whiny america has become and oh yeah Pablo knew what he was doing I was a fullback for years. I know how to hide or try to hide a cheap shot. There is no sense in repling to my comment if you are a american because you opinion means nothing..

Looks like the Italians are working on a few more moves.

http://www.footballfansfortruth.us/archives/001515.html

Deserved. It was a stupid play by PM in a game that was being reffed like it was.

PM should of been given a Yellow Card. To all you foreign fools who think you know soccer (Futbol), stop being foolish. In 2002, the USA aganist Germany, they had the GOAL called back. The USA should of moved into the semi finals then, and until you foreign people understand that ” El todo el mundo odios del USA”—tambien in desportes, algo. The USA will shine on and defeat the Muslim terriosts.