For all the endless complaining by the announcers, which was more a reaction as fans than as observers, none of those calls in that particular situation were bad calls. It was a penalty, it deserved a red card, it was encroachment, and the cherry on top of the encroachment was that the woman who did it ended up with the rebound. A good ref is supposed to act precisely that way in that situation.
Whether it was a penalty or not is debatable. The defender was closer to the ball and got to it first, much of the contact was 50/50 and they were both holding each othe's uniforms.
Where there were legit complaints against refereeing were as follows:
- The woman who intentionally handed the ball at midfield should have gotten a 2nd yellow and sent off.
Did the handling break up an attack by Brazil? Intentionally handling the ball isn't necessarily a card.
If you look at the replays that they showed after the game from behind the goal, Marta has the defender beat, and the defender tries to kick the ball from behind marta and hits her foot as she was jumping.
And yes, the handball interrupted a counter attack. In fact, that is one area where the US's greater experience was clearly visible. The US stopped several counter attacks with simple fouls in mid field in ways that would not have warranted a yellow card (other than this handball, of course), which is the smart thing to do. The Brazilians let the play developed. If the Brazilians stop that last play in midfield, it's game over.