Tom Horan Deville, La. I have just read of the FIFA actions against Claudio Reyna and Bruce Arena. Will the USSF ever have the guts to demand fair treatment and officiating when the United States men’s national team plays a Latin American squad? I am certain that I am not the only one who notices that the U.S. gets the shaft from Hispanic officials when we play Latin American teams. I am not being xenophobic or paranoid. It is obvious. The call by Peter Prendergast was absolutely unconscionable. The player who scored the tying goal for Guatemala in the first game shouldn’t have even been on the field. But these are representative of the officiating our team has to overcome. Mike Woitalla: First of all, referee Peter Prendergast is not Hispanic. He is Jamaican. His handball call on Gregg Berhalter may have been the wrong call, because handballs should be called only if the action is deliberate. But it was not ôunconscionable.ö We saw a similar call in the Portugal-France European Championship 2000 game. And in the womenÆs Gold Medal game, the winning goal came after a ôno-callö on a handball that may or may not have been deliberate. Since referees donÆt know what goes on in a playerÆs head, the handball call, which depends on intent, will continue to create controversy. In BerhalterÆs situation, ESPN cameras showed the incident from his back, and shed little light on what happened. Costa Rican TV, whose cameras faced Berhalter, showed the ball hit his arm. The linesman and referee agreed it was a penalty kick. I donÆt think it was deliberate, which means I agree it was bad call. But it did not excuse Bruce Arena and Claudio ReynaÆs behavior. (They received three- and two-game suspensions, respectively.) Reyna, usually one of model behavior, berated the referee after the call, after the penalty kick and after the final whistle, at which time he threw his captainÆs band at Prendergast. Arena berated the referee after the game, and admits telling Prendergast he cheated the U.S. team. Perhaps a three-game suspension for Arena is harsh, but he certainly deserved some punishment. I watched the U.S. players and Arena mob Prendergast through my binoculars at Saprissa Stadium and thought their behavior was embarrassing. Even when one gets a bad deal from the referee, one shouldnÆt behave the way that Reyna and Arena did. As for there being a bias against the United States when it plays against teams in this region — there is no significant evidence for this. In the very game that Berhalter was harshly punished for a hand ball, Frankie Hejduk escaped getting called for a penalty kick on what looked like an obvious takedown of Austin Berry. (Note: A couple of U.S. players said after the game that Prendergast did a good job but for the handball call. One bad call does not prove a bias.) Looking at the history of U.S. World Cup qualifying play will reveal examples of the U.S. getting tough calls against it and of getting big breaks. Remember France æ98 qualifying? Brad Friedel was red-carded against Costa Rica for denying the Ticos a scoring opportunity with a handball outside the area then, in what seemed like an unprecedented event, had the red card rescinded after long protestations. Late in this 1996 game, with the USA holding on to a 2-1 lead, Alexi Lalas placed both hands on forward Ronald GomezÆs waist and pulled the forward down in the U.S. penalty area. Mexican Francisco Borja waived play-on and the USA won. Later in France æ98 qualifying, the United States tied Jamaica in Washington, D.C., thanks to penalty kick on a Jamaican handball that was at least two feet outside the penalty area. I do agree with you that Guatemalan Carlos Ruiz should have received his second yellow card by the time he scored the equalizer against the United States. But this example and the Berhalter incident are not enough to indicate a pattern. Moreover, if you follow CONCACAF soccer closely, youÆll find that pretty much every team claims it gets a raw deal. The rivalries and politics within the region are such that itÆs convenient to claim that a referee makes a decision against a certain country based on some bias. Salvadorans would have just as a strong an argument that a Mexican referee is unfair to them as Americans would have. Neither, I believe, is based in fact. I think itÆs pretty obvious that most bad calls are a result of incompetence or honest mistakes. There is obviously a scenario in which a referee is influenced, probably subconsciously, by a home crowd. ThatÆs why there is a home-and-away format. (If you have a question for a Soccer America Magazine editor, click “Q&A with SA Editors” in the left column of the home page under “Interactive.”)