Amidst a slew of yellow and red cards, Strega United claimed the championship trophy of the third annual Benton County Soccer Tournament. Strega (named after the new restaurant on the fifth floor of the 2nd street Elements Building) won 2-1 behind Ian Hilgart's clutch free kick goal in the second half.

Deportivo Eugene, an impressive team who many observers predicted would win the final match took 2nd place. The young and athletic Strega squad played hard all weekend and deservedly came out on top. I like the Deportivo Eugene team a lot, but I am glad a Corvallis based team won the tournament after Hillsboro took first place honors last year.

The tournament has gained enough attention to get Gazette-Times reporter Nancy Raskauskas to cover the tournament for the second year in a row. This year the story even made the front page of the GT! The yellow cards mentioned in her story understated the impact all of the bookings had on the games. There were at least four red cards issued and far too many yellows shown to accurately recall. By late Sunday it was obvious to players and observers that the officials would leave their mark on the tournament.

It made me wonder just what is a "normal" amount of bookings for a soccer match. It turns out that ESPN keeps good stats on bookings.

English Premier League (2007 Average)
3.18 yellows per game
.160 reds per game

Spanish La Liga (2007 Average)
3.12 yellows per game
.234 reds per game

Italian Serie A (2007 Average)
2.74 yellows per game
.192 reds per game

Pretty consistent numbers I thought. That's roughly three yellows shown in every game and just one red card shown every five games in the most intense and competitive soccer leagues on the planet. The question is, should referees be trying match or beat these numbers? And does beating the numbers mean more or less? Or do referees play a strictly reactionary role, subject to the actions of the players?

Either due to or in spite of the quality of officiating, the Benton County Soccer Tournament was huge success. Special kudos to Antonio Torres who has organized the event all three years and to all the teams and spectators that attended.