Well, this changes things just a little re U.S.-Canada, flying conspiracy theories and shrill howls of “injustice” from the Canadian side.
Looks like most of us missed this one. Lost (for me, at least) in the dramatic hullabaloo of it all, and in my flying-fingers effort to explain some of soccer’s laws in context, I completely missed Melissa Tancredi’s brutal indiscretion during the second half of Monday’s U.S.-Canada match.
The hard-charging, physical Canadian midfielder stomped on Carli Lloyd’s head while the U.S. midfielder lay fallen inside the U.S. penalty area. I just watched video, and there can’t be much doubt that it was as deliberate as it was horribly dangerous to Lloyd (pictured, right).
No question this stomp, in the 55th minute Monday, should have been a straight red – and probably would have been so if spotted by any of the match officials.
If nothing else, this should quiet any of the conspiracy silliness, or the allegations of match fixing. Because if there was ever a justifiable way for a referee to reduce one side to 10 men, this would have been it.
See for yourself:
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(NEW UPDATE, 5:07 p.m. ET: here’s a great look at the incident as the NBC team talks about it)
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