Azteca Intimidates

The US lost to Mexico in Mexico City 2-1 yesterday. That result was no surprise. Mexico has only lost once at Azteca in the history of the stadium. It is an incredibly intimidating venue. Altitude, smog, heat, and 100,000 plus "fans" raining bodily fluids down onto any opponent who ventures near the sidelines makes the place one where your mind can easily be distracted with thoughts of survival instead of the play on the field. Unfortunately, yesterday also revealed how intimidating the place can be for a referee. The man in middle from Panama did a decent job in calling the game. And in keeping a heated match under control. But he was clearly inconsistent with displaying the yellow. Three American defenders were cautioned for hard fouls that were mirrored many times by Mexicans who at the worst were shown a wag of a finger, and mostly were simply whistled for the infraction. Two incidents that in any other venue would be deemed worthy of possible red cards did not even see the ref do so much as point to his pocket, let alone show even a yellow card. In one a Mexican player grabbed Benny Feilhaber by the throat. Yes, Feilhaber played it for all it was worth when he fell back onto the ground as if hit by a blitzing linebacker. But a referee can not allow an opponent to put their hands on another player without sanctioning them. Actions like that commonly draw a straight red. In this case there wasn't any card shown at all, and from the tv footage it even appeared as if there wasn't even a verbal warning. Then late in the match when the game was still tied and El Tri was desperately looking for the go-ahead goal a Mexican forward charged Gooch as he had picked up the ball after it went over the end line for a goal kick and attempted to rip the ball out of his hands. Good game management by the ref avoids escalating the tension with an unnecessary card, but this wasn't simply where the player ran up and grabbed onto the ball. The player literally barrelled into Oneweyu at a near full run in an attempt to dislodge the ball and grab it from his hands. Yes, he thought it was a corner, not a goal kick, and that Gooch was trying to slow play, but if Gooch had not seen him coming he could easily have been injured, in spite of the size differential between he and his assailant. So what's the big deal about the cards? At issue is that by showing yellow to certain American players, but not to Mexican players for the same level of infractions, the referee has unfairly penalized the US for it's upcoming match vs. El Salvador, and has not similarly punished the Mexican team. The race to qualify is so tight this year among the top 4 teams in the region that this advantage/disadvantage could be the difference between a team finishing first in the hexagonal, or finishing fourth and being pushed into a playoff match against a South American team in order to qualify for South Africa. The ref showed his skill at officiating and did a good job with calling match, except, unfortunately, for this one way in which he was clearly intimidated by the atmosphere. Either that, or my assessment of his performance is totally off and the guy stinks! His record in other high level matches suggests he is very competent, but like anyone else who goes into Azteca, he was thinking about whether or not he would be going back out in one piece.