Where to begin . . .

A more tense game I can't imagine (until the next US game against Ghana, perhaps).

THE US MNT played a much more physical and invigorating game on Saturday and left with both a point and life. A US victory against Ghana and an Italian win against the suddenly vulnerable Czechs puts the US through. With so much at stake for all four teams, I imagine this coming Thursday to be a pretty intense day.

As for the US game: Three red cards, two of which were straight reds and the third on a second yellow; a second goal allowed by the US off a head in the PA, an own goal (when does the US score for itself -- has to happen against Ghana or the US is toast), an offside call denying the US a late goal when down to 9 men (the right call); finally some solid play from Kasey Keller in net -- lots of end-to-end action, especially with all that open space.

What to make of the officiating in this game? Jorge Larrionda, from Uruguay, certainly made his presence known in the game. Regarding the first red, this seemed right both at the time an on reflection. As a ref, you look for things like elbows near the face; you don't watch the flight of the ball, but watch the players: are they playing the ball or each other? Is one focused on the ball or on his opponent? And when the ball comes down, where are the hands -- on the opposing player (in the back, on shoulders, etc.)? This ball wasn't so high and in the flow of play there was no need to use arms to gain lift -- sometimes a player swings an arm out to try to get higher. This wasn't that. The red was called for.

The second red to Bocanegra? Harder call. Yes, a two-footed tackle, but seemed more from the side and not back. It also seems to me we've seen this play throughout the tournament and if it has drawn anything, the color has been yellow and not red. [In a Washington Post story printed Monday, US MNT Coach Bruce Arena is quoted as saying that Mastroeni only had himself to blame for the call and card, and that "It was a poor error of judgment on the part of Pablo and on a play with about a minute to go in the half in an area of the field where it didn't matter."]

The final red went to Pope, at the 47th minute. The problem here is two-fold: Pope received what seemed a soft yellow in the first half and this made him vulnerable to the second yellow-red send off. Slo-mo replays of the second card seem to indicate he got the ball well before the Italian player fell over his leg. At real speed, maybe a card is justified, maybe not. But the ref should have remembered that Pope was carrying a red and maybe have given him a stern warning that early in the second half.

Other observations? First, as noted above, the offside call against the US on the Beasley shot into the net was the right call. McBride was in an offside position right in front of the Italian keeper. While he didn't touch the ball, he clearly was interfering with play. Too bad. But the good news is that Beaz finally showed up. He had space to run and did make his presence known on a few more occasions than in the first game.

Keller also showed up. He'd been looking nervous and shaky to me. Finally, late in the game, he made some saves that should help him get grounded for the Ghana game. Midway through the game, I was thinking that if the US had something to play for on Thursday, that maybe Howard should get the call. But Keller's late heroics has me leaning towards favoring no changes between the posts.

And in that game, the US won't have Pope or Bocanegra out there. My guess is that Eddie Lewis gets a second start in the back and that maybe someone like Olsen gets on the field. Or Arena could use a 3-5-2 and place Donovan in midfield and have Johnson join McBride up front. I don't think the loss of Pope should hurt the US; in my view, he's not as good as he once was -- the first Italian goal came when he left his man unmarked in the PA -- and the US has more than enough resources to replace him. Similarly, while Bocanegra plays with physical intensity, he's not irreplaceable on the pitch.

More later.