Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ.
Mario Balotelli has a reputation for being somewhat reckless, and so after he smoked a guy in the head today in Italy's group-deciding game against Uruguay, he was subbed off at half, before he maybe got ejected and left his team with 10 men. Turns out, Balotelli wasn't the problem.
In the 59th minute, Claudio Marchisio lost the ball in Uruguay's half when he was dispossessed by Egidio Arévalo. Marchisio went into the tackle with Arévalo, and when the smoke cleared, the Uruguayan was rolling around on the ground, and the ref was sending the Italian to the showers.
At first, it looked like a harsh ruling, but a replay shows Marchisio going over the ball into Arévalo's shin.
Look at that.
It was a disgusting tackle, and a tried-and-true way of breaking people's legs. Italy now have to hold on a man down for the rest of the match. The good news is that the score is 0-0, and the Italians only need to draw to advance. The bad news is that Diego Godín has just scored a header on a corner kick, and Uruguay now lead, 1-0.
[ESPN]