Soccer: US coach says referees harsh, inconsistent

US coach Bruce Arena said today the world's established soccer powers get an easier ride from match officials and criticised World Cup referees as too harsh and inconsistent.

"I don't think there's any consistency from one game to the next," Arena told a news conference a day after his team's stormy 1-1 draw with Italy. The Americans had two men sent off, while the Italians also had a man dismissed.

"As one example, a Brazilian player fouled another player 20 yards from the goal in their first game. No card. A US player probably would have to serve six months of hard labour for that.

"That's just a joke. But it's not consistent.

"In every sport, big name players get the benefit of calls. That's common in any sport," he added.

Italy's Daniele De Rossi was shown a straight red card for a blatant elbow into the face of Brian McBride after 28 minutes before Americans Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope joined him down the tunnel either side of halftime on Saturday.

Arena said he had never seen a top-level international match before in which three players were sent off.

"I think fouls are being punished too harshly without warnings. A foul sometimes is just a foul. It's not a yellow card. I think it's got excessive."

Arena raised the issue of the world's established footballing powers getting an easier ride from match officials immediately after Saturday's match in Kaiserslautern.

"It's natural, the powers in the game probably get a bit more respect on the officiating, it's not unusual in any sport," said Arena.

Of the 10 red cards shown in the tournament so far, only De Rossi's involved a player from football's traditional elite.

But Arena acknowledged that soccer's world governing body FIFA, which has warned referees that they will be dropped from further consideration at the World Cup for glaring errors, was probably satisfied with the job Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda did on Saturday.

"Do you think there's a Uruguayan referee on the plane home today?" Arena asked.

"I would guess they're saying he did a good job yesterday."

- REUTERS