The USA was robbed today of a victory because of several bad calls in the match against Slovenia. As a coach, how do you instill sportsmanlike conduct in young, excited players when you yourself probably feel like wringing the official's neck?

Playing fair is clearly not rewarded and dis-regarded which only makes this more of a challenge.

My advice would be to let your players know what you expect from them and take action if your players do not play by the rules.

Of course you will also write a strong letter to FIFA urging them to take action (install cameras)

I would point out how sports is a microcosm of life. Good things happen to people who don't deserve it. Bad things happen to people who did everything "the right way". This is a fact of life. Does it happen regularly? Not really. If we prepare as well as we can, in life and in sports, and we work as hard as we can at what we are doing, the majority of the time we are going to see fruitful results of our actions. Sometimes there are going to be situations over which we have no control. A baseball pitcher a couple of weeks ago had what was a perfect game snatched away by a bad call from an umpire. Everybody but the pitcher was furious over the call. The player composed himself and finished the came. This was one of the classiest moments I've seen from a professional sports figure anywhere.

That's a great lesson for life. Be prepared for the unexpected. Get up, dust yourself off, and get back in the game. My view of these things happening is what an accountant would refer to as a "sunk cost". A cost that was paid for, can't be taken back if you wanted to, can't be changed. Move on. The character and stature with which you carry yourself isn't going to change the occasional unfair outcome you experienced. But reaction to that outcome will certainly shape your character and stature as others see you.

The admiration and respect for working hard and doing "the right thing" will be a greater reward than anything won or lost on the playing field.

Second round of today's world cup are two further examples of this. My condolsences go to England and Mexico!!

Folks, some really great responses.

Obviously, in the case of FIFA, it's time for them to clean up their act.

On the other hand, the same thing can happen in an amateur contest -- 10 year olds playing baseball, for example. I like the response of instilling the principle of doing your best and rely on the rule of the majority of times turning out ok.

(Let's hope the rest of the cup goes smoother.)