As a native of Portugal, I am not going to suggest I am totally impartial. Nevertheless, if Portugal deserves to be playing in the third-place match and France deserves to be in the final against Italy, then I am the proverbial monkey's uncle and pigs will start flying any day now.
It was the kind of call that sends "nouveau" thinkers - myself at the forefront - to believe soccer needs video replays three or four times a game. Why? So crucial decisions by the referee or linesmen do not decide games wrongly. Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda, the same person who refereed the controversial Italy-U.S. match, did not even bother showing a yellow to Carvalho - as sure a sign of a soft foul as you'll ever see.
As ZiZou scored on the PK, the stadium cameras focused on former Portuguese national team defender Abel Xavier in the stands. He was the one who in 2000 was judged to have intentionally touched the ball with his hand. If I felt dejÀ vu, I wondered how he must have felt.
Read Marcos' full report at the Tampa Tribune >>
