by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Sep 5, 2013

[COSTA RICA-USA]

Marco Antonio Rodriguez

Jurgen Klinsmann

"I don't doubt that Marco Antonio Rodriguez is a great referee. But at the same time there is something I can't get out of my head. I have eight players with a yellow card and four days later we face Mexico. Truthfully, I don't like this."

Gregg Berhalter,

Bobby Convey

Eddie Lewis

Claudio Reyna

Jair Marrufo

Marco Rodriguez's U.S. matches:

Sept. 8, 2004

Panama 1 USA 1

(World Cup qualifying).









Aug. 17, 2005

USA 1 Trin. & Tobago 0 (World Cup qualifying).

September 7, 2005

Guatemala 0 USA 0 (World Cup qualifying).



June 15, 2008

USA 8 Barbados 0 (World Cup qualifying).



June 11, 2011

USA 1 Panama 2 (Gold Cup).



Sept. 7, 2012

Jamaica 2 USA 1 (World Cup qualifying).

Note:

Leave it to soccer to be the only sport where the game official can be as big a story as any of the players or coaches in the buildup to a game. So what's the hoopla about the referee of Friday's Costa Rica-USA match,? (And we're not talking about how he happens to be a Protestant minister and have the nickname "El Chiqui Dracula.")Rodriguez -- one of the most experienced referees in Concacaf -- has a reputation for not being shy about handing out yellow cards.The USA happens to have eight players on the trip who are carrying yellow cards in Friday night's game, which means any of them will be suspended for Tuesday's Mexico game in Columbus if Rodriguez hands them a card.Rodriguez, who worked at both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, is Mexican.U.S. coachraised the issue of a referee whose officiating might have huge implications for his country's next match when he told ESPN Radio Fórmula:There is precedence here, though.In August 2005, Rodriguez refereed the USA-Trinidad & Tobago, which happened to also be the match before the USA and Mexico were to play in Columbus.For the USA-T&T game, four players carried cards into the game and all four started:and. Of the four, Convey was carded in the 31st minute, though he subsequently carded again in the 88th minute and sent off in a match the USA won, 1-0.But the fact remains, the USA had Rodriguez before it faced Mexico previously and survived. It won, 2-0, in Columbus to clinch -- on Matchday 7 -- a berth in the 2006 World Cup.(It should also be noted that a referee whose officiating might impact his country's next game will be working Tuesday. The referee of the Jamaica-Costa Rica game is American. Jamaica's subsequent match will be Oct. 11 -- against the USA in Kansas City.)Yellow cards: Panama 2 USA 1.Yellow cards: USA 2 Trin. & Tobago 1.Red cards: USA 1.Yellow card: USA 1.Yellow cards: USA 1 Barbados 3.Yellow cards: USA 5 Panama 2.Yellow cards: Jamaica 1 USA 2.Rodriguez also did USA-Italy (3-1) and USA-Ivory Coast (1-1) at the 2005 Under-17 World Cup.