The howling over Dave O’Brien’s play-by-play commentary is unlikely to cease until the last ball of this World Cup has been kicked in anger, but I’ll submit that his color man, former U.S. international Marcelo Balboa, is fast becoming the Rick Sutcliffe of soccer chat.
Bad enough that O’Brien and Balboa figure that those who woke up early to watch Switzerland’s 2-0 win over Togo would want to hear frequent discussion of Saturday’s Italy v. U.S. draw, but the Yanni lookalike continues to express the ridiculous notion that Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope’s respective red cards were unjustified.
While three red cards in a World Cup final is admittedly, unprecedented, it would be illuminating if Balboa (or anyone else employed by ESPN) could use their vast video library to show a two footed tackle of similar timing and ferocity to Mastroeni’s (preferably in a match of similar importance) that didn’t result in a sending off. I’m not saying such an instance has never occured, but it might serve to illustrate the point. As is, I think the call was fair.
LIkewise, it’s incredible that Pope would allow himself to be dismissed for a late tackle after already receiving a yellow card for a similar lunge earlier in the match. The precedent had already been established and Pope’s carelessness reflects poorly on his football IQ, if not that of his coach, Bruce Arena.
Lost amidst the predictable jingoism has been any mention by Balboa of Eddie Johnson, Josh Wolfe or Brian Ching, all riding the pine during a match in which a) Brian McBride was clearly exhausted in the 2nd half and b) Landon Donovan, while not nearly as ineffective as against the Czech Republic, had great difficulty creating chances, making his way through defenders, etc.
Of course, I do understand that Balboa has much more experience, both as a player and a broadcaster than I could ever bring to the table, and perhaps during tomorrow’s Sweden/England tilt, he can explain how Arena’s side can win a match without mustering a single shot on goal.
Failing that, I do think ESPN might want to consider pairing O’Brien with a Joe Garagiola / Fred Willard type, particularly given the emphasis on “entertainment.” This morning’s contest really could’ve used questions like “are Switzerland the neutrals’ favorite?” if not an uncomfortable reference to John Wayne Gacy and “Togo The Clown” (John Skipper, you know where to find me).
I’ve watched it a bunch of times, and while I can’t cite precedent, I thought Mastroeni’s tackle deserved a yellow, not a red. I think the importance of the match weighs against red carding a player. The Mastroeni tackle paled into comparison to the all-out assault on McBride’s face and putting both teams at 10 a side after those two infractions really cut Italy a huge break.
No dispute on Pope (though I confess to missing the first yellow) – the second yellow was earned and I assume the first was as well.
I also think the McBride “screen” was a touchy call as well. McBride was offsides but the keeper had plenty of space. Tough call at a tough point in the match. This one doesn’t upset me nearly as much as the Mastroeni call.
Do we have a chance against Ghana? I was having cable issues during that game.
Thanks CSTB, none of the coverage I have seen from large circulation media has metioned the failure to make the 3rd substitution. With fresh legs, perhaps the US could have done more in the last 10 minutes than have Keller play catch with Buffon.
Nor are the US sports media – including 98% of what I was turning up on Google & Yahoo news over the weekend – talking so much about the fact that Pope & Mastroeni are both suspended for the next game, or what that might mean for the US backfield’s ability to contain Essien and Appiah among other threats. If only Mark Cuban would stop with matrydom of Stackhouse schtick for a minute to do something usefully patriotic & monomaniacal like, say, threaten to purchase the entire country Ghana and put it under Avery Johnson’s management.
O’Brien is so awful that I often watch the Univision feed despite the fact that it is in standard def. Also, I do not speak Spanish.
nice job, Brian. Throw in a bunch of generalizations about spanish announcers and you’ve just supplied a shorter, more sensible version of Will Leitch’s guest editorial in Monday’s NY Daily news.
I watch the Saudi Arabia/Ukraine match on Univision today and the drop to lo-def might well have been worth it, as you say.
Fuck the Pope. Oh, you meant Eddie Pope. Sorry; I thought this was a Rangers/Celtic forum.
It was interesting to see the US play like Turkey in 2002 or Cambridge United circa 1986 against the Italians. As for Charles’ suggestion that “the importance of the match weighs against red carding a player”: I know that we have contextual rule enforcement in football already, but can I just ask the questions, a) important to who? and b) if there are to be no reds in crunch matches can we also do away with the offside rule too so we can goose up scoring?
Charles; they already hate us for our freedom; don’t let them think we are whiny bitches too.
Hey, an offside is an offside. And just because it’s the World Cup, the rules should not change. When McBride moved his leg to let the ball pass, he interfered with the play. Trust me I didn’t like it either, but those are the rules.
About McBride’s substitution, I completely agree. He was tired, and the US needed a middle fielder in the second half to help Donovan make some plays.