"The moral rectitude of the referee"

Beppe Severgnini, in his Ciao, America! An Italian Discovers the U.S., on Americans and the 1994 World Cup:

"The average American approaches soccer like a pathologist: he (or she) cuts it open to find out what's inside. Facts. Numbers. Statistics. You can't simply say that the other team was incredibly lucky and the refereeing was scandalous (these are concepts that translate into any language). Oh no. Americans demand that victories and defeats should have a justification. Soccer, like everything else, has to be scientific. ...The vital thing is to have an explanation that doesn't depend on good luck or the moral rectitude of the referee."

2010 FIFA World Cup™: Round of 16
Ghana 2, US 1
Uruguay 2, South Korea 1
Germany 4, England 1
Argentina 3, Mexico 1
Quality goalkeeping? Rare.
Excellent FIFA referees in the round? Way too few.