There is a campaign going on in the English Premier League this season inviting its players to show respect toward referees. Inviting -- not commanding -- it would be difficult to enforce anything as vague as showing respect.

Well, well, now here's a surprise. On Tuesday evening, Middlesbrough's Austrian midfielder Emmanuel Pogatetz committed an awful studs-up foul! On the receiving end of this shining example of how Pogatetz believes soccer should be played was Manchester United's young Brazilian Rodrigo Possebon, who was making his first-team debut for the club. He ended up in the hospital where initial fears that he might have suffered a broken leg were happily proved to be wrong.

LONDON -- Here are three things that I have been banging on about for decades now, three straightforward things that could quickly and easily be introduced into soccer. By a freakish coincidence, examples of all three have featured prominently during the past week.

English referee Mark Halsey is in trouble -- when he should be receiving some sort of award for making a brave game decision. What Halsey did, this past weekend, was to red-card John Terry -- the Chelsea and England captain.

LONDON -- A weekend of World Cup qualifiers, with most of the world's top teams taking aim at the greatest global sporting event. High  excitement then, great soccer?  Please, get your feet back on the ground.