The U.S. soccer team let a win and then a tie slip through their fingers Wednesday afternoon in Mexico City's Azteca stadium, losing a World Cup qualifier to rival Mexico, 2-1.

Helping the U.S. lose an opportunity to take over the group lead was the inconsistency of the referee (Roberto Salazar) who handed out yellows to the Americans like candy at Halloween.

Similar -- and worse -- fouls by the Mexicans were only occasionally called and the card generally stayed pocketed.

The U.S. squad didn't deserve to win based on play alone, but all the calls against them and the lack of calls for truly egregious actions by the Mexican players certainly didn't help. Maybe he wanted to get out of town safely.

I have watched many, many games against teams from South of the Rio Grande overseen by refs from South of the Rio Grande, and I have to tell you I can remember only one that was called fairly.

I mean this as an observation, not as a whine. You have to play well enough to take a bad ref out of the game. The U.S. didn't do that.