Czescny (sp) was rightfully sent off, thats the rule. The Greek guy was very unlucky I thought, the first yellow in particular wasn't warranted. I suppose you could argue though that he was denying a goalscoring opportunity with the 2nd challenge which is a red card, although for me, it was a yellow card challenge at best.
I know people complain about the refereeing of Howard Webb in the domestic league but watching the Russia match yesterday there is a stark contrast between the quality of Premier League managers and the rest of the world, Pierluigi Collina aside.
The rule has become abused over the years though. I would argue that he didn't deny an obvious goalscoring opportunity for two reasons; firstly, the attacker had knocked the ball wide and the defender would have got goal side of him and secondly, Greece were awarded a penalty. Now if that's not a goalscoring opportunity what is? I would say they had a better chance of scoring from the penalty than from the original incident. Goalkeepers and their teams tend to get punished 3 times when they commit a foul. They go down to 10 men, the opposition get a penalty and the keeper is banned for the next game. About time the powers that be reviewed this, particularly as when the straight red card rule was originally brought in it did not apply when a penalty was awarded. I don't know what changed to make them go back on this.
