One of the common complaints I hear about football is that the game shouldn’t have the “wildcard element” that is the referee. A few bad decisions can turn a game and that has definitely been the case in the last two USA games. From their performance in the first half, I don’t think the USA was going to beat Ghana but the late penalty award made that all the less likely. Its deals a psychological blow that is tough to get over, not to mention of course that now you need two goals rather than one to win. At the beginning of the tournament I thought there was a high standard of refereeing but recently that seems to have changed. As we move to the knockout round, one referee mistake could easily destroy a team’s chances of progressing. But that’s football.