I have mixed feelings about it. The same ref didn't eject Dempsey from the game as he probably should have. If I'm being honest, I have to admit he deserved (the fan thinks otherwise) to be. And if he had, does anyone think that a tie/win for the US would have been the result? Really?

My bet is that the ref saw the rampant fouling going on during the piece, and let the foul stand to repay his earlier blunder. I saw it as a bit of karma (at best).

Well, if Dempsey needed to be ejected, so did a whole bunch of other people. Frankly, the ref lost control of that match -- once you start ignoring fouls (especially in the box) it just turns into a scrum since people are going to push back (you have to or else you're just going to get taken advantage of).

By the time it got to the final goal, there was no longer any rhyme or reason to the calls.

As for the karmic balance... Well, it balances the goal against England, I guess. And if the USA advances anyway (which if they beat Algeria, they will and they'll deserve it), eh, well, so what.

Wish I'd seen the game. I'm conflicted for once. On principle I have to hate the USMNT, especially as long as big-mouthed Landycakes is on it (I think the money quote I heard last week was something like, "Well, if we can't beat Slovenia then we don't deserve to advance." - Big mouthed idget). But I'm finally coming around to admit to myself that once we get to the Cup, the US isn't usually really competing against Mexico. At least not in until possibly the knockout phase. So, it's better for all of CONCACAF if they succeed. Well, I'm almost there. For once, I can be happy if they win, or they lose. I'll be satisfied either way for different reasons.

Ricardo