We know that Michel Platini doesn't think much of goal line technology. He prefers his system of using extra assistant referees, one at each end, patrolling the goal line.

First, the unworthy farce of the snow-job against Costa Rica. Well, OK, three points is three points. But it would be better, somehow nicer, if those three points were hauled in by playing soccer, don't you think?

For those of you who stumbled into the mess that was the USA-Costa Rica World Cup qualifier, let me assure you that the sport of soccer still lives, in something like its intended form.  Elsewhere, on other TV channels on Friday, there were real games to be watched.

Peter Walton. A pleasant man, soft-spoken, quick to smile, alert and intelligent. A nice guy. But the wrong guy.

Quite a week -- with the European Champions League providing most of the excitement and the fun.

Tut, tut, Alexi Lalas, naughty, naughty. On a recent ESPN telecast Lalas had the bad taste, or the attention-seeking gall -- or was it simply the courage? -- to bring up what has evidently become a thorny subject these days: the place of Latino players in American soccer.

Well, here we go again. The trusty Red Bulls get off to a flying start in Portland, storming into a 3-1 halftime lead. Then, you'll never guess what ... it all went wrong in the second half and those predictably fallible Bulls ended up hanging on for dear life to salvage a 3-3 tie.

So it's the referee's fault again. A Turkish referee, Cuneyt Cakir, had the gall to red-card Manchester United's Nani --- at Old Trafford, no less -- and Real Madrid won the game. And a torrent of abuse has gathered about Cakir's head.