FIFA gives ref a "yellow card"

Story is here.

It's clear that Ivanov had some troubles. Still, I have some questions.

Given how intensely ugly the second half was, what could have been done to reduce the number of cards? If this game had been perfectly officiated, wouldn't it still have sucked?

You can't make chicken soup out of chicken manure.

Marcelo Balboa, yet again, is bitching about the number of cards in that game. But didn't the players act foolishly? Couldn't Ivanov have reasonably produced more cards rather than less?

Why aren't players responsible for their own behavior?


UPDATE 12:40 EDT: THANK YOU, John Harkes, for providing a voice of reason, one of the first of the World Cup. He just said this during the Ukraine/Switzerland match:

"Certainly a lot of the players have to take the blame as well...The players have to take responsibility for their behavior on the field as well. They didn't help the referee help themselves in that game."