... And the Game Goes On

When it came to my footy teams, it was quite the weekend for controversial officiating.

One call was in my favor, the other was not. Just the ying and the yang of the universe, I suppose.


First up was the Manchester United Red Devils against Tottenham Hotspur FC.

Coming off a mid-week win and in the glowing haze of both draws for Chelsea and Liverpool, Manchester United was poised to take a firm 3 point lead with a game in hand, starting with a win against Spurs at home in Old Trafford.

Spurs had not won at Old Trafford since God knows when, so the stage was set for Manchester United to get firmly back in the drivers seat for a third-consecutive Premier League title.

But with a 2-0 score in favor of Spurs at half-time, a tangible sense of doubt and fear hung in the air around the ground.

Coming out of the dressing room for the second half, Man U looked inspired, but could still not produce any goals.

That was until Carrick drew a controversial penalty (the live text commentator at ESPN Soccernet through a royal shit fit over the call, chalking it up to a blind love of Man U) and Ronaldo capitalized on it in the 57th minute.

From there on out, Manchetser United was a team born anew. The next 20 minutes saw a brilliant attacking display from the Red Devils, with FOUR MORE GOALS. By the time Berbatov netted his goal in the 78th minute, I can only imagine the best way to describe everyone in Tottenham and the the rest of the league as "shell-shocked." The final score? Manchester United 5, Tottenham 2.

Where the season goes from here is anybody's guess, but along with Macheda's wonder goal against Aston Villa, the penalty that ignited Man U will be looked back as an important moment of the campaign.

On the other side of the pond, Saturday evening found me at Columbus's Crew Stadium, eagerly awaiting yet another clash of the Midwest rivalry cultivated between the Crew and the Chicago Fire.

The Crew came into the game as defending MLS champions but without a win in their first five games. But with a beautiful night at home and an pulsating crowd, this seemed to be the night.

The game was many things, but boring was not one of them.

The Crew hit the ground running and for the first time since last November, they looked like a championship-winning squad. By the end of the first half, the score was 2-0 to the Crew, with a trademark goal by Chad Marshall and a brilliant display of composure in front of goal by Alejandro Moreno.

But just as in the Manchester/Tottenham game, the officials would have something to say about the night's outcome. This time it was in the form of a less than convincing straight red card to the Crew's left-back Gino Padula just before the hour mark.

What made the card all the more controversial was the referee's apparent lack of interest in a majority of fouls committed in the rest of the game. As a Crew fan, it felt like the referee saw Padula's tackle and suddenly remembered he had a set of cards in his pocket.

From there on out, the Fire merely wore the Crew down and equalized with two goals in the last five mintues of regulation time.

The hunt for a Columbus win continues.