Pepe's Head Butt Has Him Seeing Red [VIDEO]

If the overarching storlyine of Portugal’s opening game was not the 4-0 thumping that they received at the hands of Germany, it had to be the utter stupidity displayed by Real Madrid’s Pepe. To catch anyone up who has not heard about what happened, which can be seen here, I’ll give you a little update.

Anyone that follows European soccer will know that Pepe is never one to shy away from confrontation or a 50-50 ball. To paint a picture and describe the situation, Germany was up 2-0 and seemed to be controlling the pace of the match quite easily.

It was the 37’th minute when Thomas Mueller seemed to have caught Pepe’s outstretched hand in the face. In Pepe’s defense, Mueller did seem to make a meal out of it, but it was the way Pepe reacted that resulted in his sending off. He immediately got into the Bayern Munich man’s face, slightly head butting him in the process. Though it was nothing maliciously close to what Zinedine Zidane did in 2006, FIFA has made it very clear that there is a zero tolerance policy when it comes to head butts.

Pundits and fans can argue back and forth about whether or not he deserved to be sent off. But the matter of the fact is that Pepe lost his cool and let his frustration get the better of him. I mean how dimwitted does one have to be to react in that way? There was no foul called and he could have simply moved on with the game. (I mean Pepe isn’t exactly the poster boy for staying on his feet.) Instead he felt the need for one reason or another to very intimately let Mueller know how he felt.

After Pepe was dismissed Germany scored two more goals, and easily came out of the game victorious. Though Pepe’s sending off hurt his team during this game, it also means that he will miss what is now a crucial match, against the USA. And for what?

The World Cup comes around every four years, and despite the calamity of the tournament, people forget that each nation is only guaranteed three games. Pepe will now have to miss out on almost two full games. Think about that for a second. Portugal will be without one of their main central defenders for almost 140 minutes. It was a completely selfish move, one that not only let his teammates down, but his country down as well.

Pepe can be a world-class defender when he focuses on his game and doesn’t let his emotions hinder him from doing what he does best. You don’t just become a regular for Real Madrid by chance. Pepe is a great defender and leader when he wants to be. And today, he plain out blew it.

Portugal now sits dead last in their group and will be without Pepe for their match against the US on Sunday. If I were a Portugal fan I would question the mental strength that my team has and why, under such circumstances one of their best players would react the way he did. One can only wonder, but as a fan of the US, I am glad that he will be missing on Sunday, as he is a vital part of Portugal’s success.