For the Integrity of Soccer

EURO-2012: Mistakes Costly for Officials (from Ed)

We had mentioned in a previous blog that referees who make the fewest mistakes will proceed farther in the tournament. Or to put it another way, referees who make significant mistake, excusable or not, are not given further matches.

This was shown by the selections for the knock-out phase of EURO-2012. The officials who made the most obvious errors, many of which were pointed out in our previous blogs, are now going home. Carballo of Spain issued the very severe red card to the Greek player after two very soft cautions, the 2^nd of which was not really a foul. Kuipers of Holland did not show a 2^nd yellow card to a French player for a very bad tackle, worse than the one he got the first yellow for, and this player then scored a goal later in the match. Stark of Germany failed to sanction the tackle by Ramos, of Spain on the Croatian forward. This was at the least a foul, therefore a PK, but could be definitely considered reckless and bordering on serious foul play by endangering the safety of an opponent; however only a corner kick was given. Lastly the Hungarian referee Kassai; It seemed as though his selection of cautions in the England-Ukraine match was erratic. He gave one for time-wasting to Cole and then one for what was just a foul by Gerrard, but also only a yellow to Shevchenko for a nasty late kick. The latter is understandable given the circumstances regarding Shevchenko, although maybe not to the UEFA Referees’ Committee. But he was sunk by his assistants, one of whom missed an obvious offside, and his AAR who did not signal for the ball having crossed the goal line for a Ukraine goal, when it was cleared away by Terry. His error can be seen in the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The AAR has his head in line with the front of the post and so would not see that the entire ball went over the line, due to the angle he was looking at. By way of contrast the AAR in the Italy-Ireland match (lower) had his head in line with the back of the post and so could easily see that the ball was over the line, although it was over by a lot more. We note that the AARs are actually chosen from the FIFA Referees’ list. Perhaps they should come from the AR list, since ARs are more used to aligning moving objects. Or maybe there will be a new list for specialized FIFA AARs.

The one referee who survived an obvious error was Eriksson, following the caution to Karagounis for diving when he was actually tripped and should have been awarded a PK. It will be interesting to see if he gets any appointments other than as 4th official.

One additional interesting fact is that an AR on Webb’s English team has been replaced by a Dutchman for the quarterfinal match. The English AR had called offside on several situations in the Italy- Croatia match when it appeared that the player was not offside. Unless he is injured, there cannot be any other reason why this replacement should have occurred. Webb is fortunate that his entire crew, including himself has not been dismissed, as happened for AR errors in previous tournaments.

It seems that officials have been penalized for failures to make major positive decisions rather than for making errors of commission, with the exception of the Spanish referee. Perhaps this will send the message to referees to make the tough decisions, and not take the easy way out, especially in international matches. Sometimes the reality is different in domestic league matches though.

EURO-2012: Mixed Bag in 3rd Group-stage Matches (from Ed)

We had a mixed bag as far as our predictions went in the third group-stage matches.

Portugal/Netherlands turned out not to be the foul fest that many of us feared. Perhaps the fact that the Dutch left out two of their tough defenders, van Bommel and Heitinga had something to do with it. Anyway, it was a very wide open match, and Ronaldo did not come in for special attention, in fact they seemed afraid to tackle him most of the time. The result was that he was allowed to display his skills and scored two goals from the many chances that came his way. One interesting point for referees was when Ronaldo complained to the referee after his team mate was fouled. The referee had played advantage as the ball had ran to another Portugal player. Ronaldo wanted the free kick, even though the incident was about 30 yards out. The message for referees is to know the players. In cases like this the free kick would be the most advantageous situation, as a player with the skills such as Ronaldo possesses would have a reasonable chance to score from a direct free kick and should be given the opportunity. The corner kick for Netherland at 18 minutes was interesting. It seemed as though one player had kicked the ball out of the quadrant in an apparent “trick” play, but the Portuguese defender spotted it and ran in to intercept, whereupon the next Dutch player just bent over and picked the ball up and took the kick again. Should this have been hand ball foul by the Dutch? Technically probably so, but a tough one to give.

Germany/Denmark surprisingly was a quiet affair, with only 14 fouls and no cautions. The Spanish referee obviously changed his approach after his very strict officiating in his first match. Perhaps he was advised to relax a little.

Stark was clearly well prepared for his match between Spain and Croatia. He cautioned Srna for persistent infringement before half-time, and although this did not entirely stop the fouling tactics of Croatia, it may have kept their foul count down to 21. He had to issue six cautions, three in the final three minutes, as the frustrations of the Croatians who knew that they were eliminated began to bubble to the surface. The AR should be praised for keeping his flag down on two very close offside decisions leading up to the lone Spanish goal.

There was a possibility of a PK to Croatia when Ramos tackled Mandzukic with a flying studs-up challenge, but he probably just got to the ball first. I doubt if there would be much complaint (except from Spain) with a yellow and PK given here, but the decision was a corner.

In the Italy/Ireland match, Italy scored a goal with the ball just over the line before being booted away by a defender. The AAR was right there to see it but AR could have seen it also since it originated from a corner and with a defender on the goal line anyway, the AR would have been standing at the corner flag.

The signal that the Turkish referee gave to indicate the goal was unfortunate given the problems with neo-Nazis and racial abuse of players at soccer matches these days. This signal is not recommended.

The England-Ukraine game was probably the most difficult of the eight, and accordingly the referee was Kassai of Hungary, considered one of the top referees in Europe. He was very confident, and very strict as far as admonishing players for protests. But his yellow cards were uneven. He cautioned Cole for time-wasting at a throw-in but it occurred during a stoppage for a substitution anyway. Shevchenko was cautioned for a really bad foul that might have been a red card on another player in another place. In between these Gerrard was cautioned for a simple foul during an aerial challenge. His discrimination between these incidents needed to be better. However these incidents were overshadowed by probably the biggest error in the tournament so far. Ukraine got the ball over the goal line, but it was cleared away by Terry. The AAR did not indicate that the ball had completely passed over the line, and no goal was given. Furthermore, the AR had missed a very obvious offside on the build-up to this “goal.” These were game-critical decisions, but did not have an effect on qualification since even if the goal had been given, making the score 1-1, Ukraine would still have been out.

There was a very unexpected result in the Sweden-France match, a 2-0 win to Sweden, but as expected, it was a fairly quiet game for Proenca, the Portuguese referee.

On to the quarterfinals, with the survivors in both competitions!

EURO-2012: Third Group Matches- "Last Chance Saloon" (from Ed)

The third games in the groups provide interesting  tests  for our referees.

In Group A any one of the teams could still have qualified, so both matches were always going to be tough. As it was Greece and Czech Republic were the teams that went through after they both won their games. The games were hard fought and the referees had to work hard to keep them under control. Thomson issued two early cautions in the Poland-Czech match, and this served to keep things quite calm, but he needed to issue six more in the latter portions of the game. He did not have any really major incidents to deal with, unlike in the Russia-Greece match. All the cautions in that match were issued in the last third of the match, including one unfortunate one to Karagounis of Greece.

He was clearly tripped in the penalty area, but the referee decided it was simulation and booked him. It should have been a PK, but turned out not to be a match-critical decision since Greece won anyway by 1-0. But this was Karagounis’ 2^nd yellow card of the tournament, so he will not be able to play in the quarterfinal. Although the referee may not have had a good view of the trip, the AAR should have had a perfect view of it, and could have informed the referee. If they are going to be stationed at that position during the match, they ought to be allowed to provide this kind of information.

The Italian referee Rizzoli has what is probably the match with the most explosive potential of all the third group-stage matches. Portugal v. Netherlands in Group B is a replay of the infamous battle of Nuremberg in the 2006-WC in which 16 cards were handed out by the beleagered Russian referee Ivanov, and four players were sent off. Several of the players in that match will be playing in the re-match which both teams need to win to progress. For Netherlands only  a win will do, and even then they may not qualify defending on what happens in the Germany-Denmark match. A tie in that match would eliminate Netherlands even if they win, and the question has been raised by conspiracy theorists  of whether Germany who only need a tie to be sure of qualification would allow that to happen. But Denmark also need to win; a tie would put them out if Portugal win, so it is unlikely that there will be any fix. Nevertheless Rizzoli will need to be aware of what will probably be the Dutch tactics, which will be to stop Ronaldo, and they have the players to do that in van Bommel, de Jong and Heitinga. Also Portugal will pay special attention to van Persie and Robben with their no-nonsense center backs, led by Pepe, and midfielder Miereles who was very fortunate not to have been sent off in the previous match. If Rizzoli does not get firm control on this match early, watch out! Germany-Denmark will be refereed by the Spaniard, Velasco-Carballo. It will be interesting to see if he sticks with the overly strict style that he displayed during his first match. He has given the only red cards and PK of the tournament so far.

Spain v. Croatia in Group C is also a difficult match and Stark of Germany will referee it. It also has some possibilities for a fix. By finishing with a 2-2 tie, both teams can progress at the expense of Italy, even if Italy wins by a cricket score. However I expect Croatia to try to win but in order to do so they will need to stop the creative players, Xavi, Iniesta and Villa. This can be done by committing lots of little fouls high up the pitch, like the Dutch did in the WC-2010 Final. Hopefully Stark will be alert to this and able to prevent it with cautions for persistent infringement early in the match.

Finally, Group D has England v Ukraine, a host team. Ukraine must win in order to qualify and will go all out in front of the home fans. The main danger will come from legandary striker Shevchenko, and he will get special attention from the England defenders, probably Terry, whose lack of pace will not be factor against the aging Ukrainian. England who need only to tie are anticipating having  Rooney back after his two-match suspension. Expect the Ukraine defenders to do what they can to wind Rooney up early on in order to get him unsettled and perhaps do something rash.  The referee is Kassai, the highly rated Hungarian. He let play go fairly liberally in his first match, Italy v. Spain, and gave six of the seven cautions in the final quarter of the match. This may not be the best approach for England v Ukraine.

Proenca of Portugal is in the middle for the last group match, France v Sweden. Sweden are already out, but will not want to go home with no points and so will still try to win. But France must at least tie to guarantee qualification. This may be a stalemate, with France just content to stop Sweden as they did against England with lots of little fouls and upper body blocks etc., which have been let go in several matches so far. It could turn out to be the easiest match of the tournament for a referee, but let's not speak too soon.

 

EURO-2012: General Observations (from Ed)

One theme that is coming through in many of the games is that referees are giving out yellow cards disproportionally towards the end of the match as shown in the table.

    It is too late at that time to have an effect on the way the players play, and only serves as punishment. The scientist in me leads to conclude that fact that since many of the referees are operating like this, there must be a reason. Have they been instructed to avoid early yellow cards if at all possible? This would be to avoid the higher risk of a player getting a second yellow with more time remaining in the match. Waiting until close to the end to hand out yellow cards reduces this risk. We feel that this is counterproductive, once the players realize it, (which they will) and they will take advantage of it. But we need to point out that we are not saying do not give yellow cards near the end of a match. Early cautions, when deserved, as many incidents in this tournament have certainly been, can send a message and cut down on future bad fouls and tackles.

Assistant Referees seem to be ignoring the mandate to keep the flag down on close decisions, and are doing the opposite. There have been several such examples in these games, and multiple examples in some games for instance in the Italy-Croatia match. They seem to be operating on the old mantra “better a dodgy offside than a dodgy goal.”

It is worthwhile to point out that there are actually two tournaments going on at EURO-2012! One is between the competing national teams, and the other is between the officiating teams. The goal in both tournaments is to reach the final match, and this is achieved for the players usually by making the fewest mistakes and thus conceding the fewest goals. Likewise for the officials it will be the team with the fewest mistakes or controversial decisions that makes it to the end. Perhaps also the fewest number of cards given is part of the equation. This is why they practice defensive officiating, as exemplified by the ARs tending to flag for close offside decisions rather than possibly allow a goal to be scored that later proves to have been a mistaken call. Likewise for the referees: sending players off can result in being blamed for the result and making a poor game critical decision.

Examples of this type of thing have been seen in previous major tournaments where the referee team was finished after a major error, Some examples are: the failure to allow the “goal” in the England-Germany match, and the missed “offside” in the Argentina-Mexico match in the WC in 2010, as well as the famous three yellow cards for Simunic  in the Croatia-Australia match (which is shown as only two on the FIFA Web site!) and the 16-card battle between Portugal and Holland including four red cards in WC-2006. It is no wonder that the referees tend to err on the side of pragmatism.

But in general, the officiating here is much better than seen in the World Cup. I think this is because in this tournament they are all top referees from well-established and major footballing countries, and the referees experience high profile matches with large crowds weekly in their domestic competitions. This is not the case in World Cups where we frequently see referees selected (for political rather than footballing reasons), from small nations who have limited experience and it shows, with a few notable exceptions. Furthermore, many of the players on opposing teams are teammates on their club teams, and therefore tend to show each other more respect. This can make the referee's job much easier, but it only goes so far. This will be tested in the following matches!

Acquitted . . . after more than twenty years!

    Like the hundreds of released and innocent murderers and rapists condemned to life in prison because of faulty testimony and absence of DNA data, I feel relieved at a final vindication, even if it comes twenty years late.  No, I’ve never been accused of murder or rape; I refer to the recent statement and videotape from the federation declaring that the advantage clause of Law 5 applies to laws other than 12 (fouls and misconduct).  Well, whoop-de-do!  (Said with a snark . . .)

EURO-2012 Officiating: Contrasting Styles (from Ed)

We have seen several different styles of referees in the opening weekend of the Euro 2012 tournament.

In the first match, the referee, Velasco Carballo of Spain, called a lot of minor fouls early on and then sent off a Greek player after two cautions in the first half. Neither of the incidents looked to be cautionable, especially the second one, where the Polish player simply slipped as he turned in front of the Greek defender.  He also sent off the Polish keeper in the second half for a clear DOGSO. The interesting point in this incident is that the Greek player was running diagonally across the penalty area when he was tripped by the keeper, and he may not have been in full control of the ball. By a strict application of US Soccer DOGSO guidelines, known as the 4Ds this incident would not be considered a true DOGSO. However it was very obvious that the Greek forward would have reached the ball, with an open net at which to shoot if he had not been tripped. There was little protest from the keeper nor his teammates. As it was the substitute keeper came on and saved the PK. But the Poles had to play with 10 men so now the sides were even and the Greeks eventually scored to tie the match 1-1.

EURO-12 Blogging (from Ed)

Tomorrow marks the start of the European Nations Championship, held in Poland and Ukraine, known as EURO-12. Once again we in the USA are fortunate that all the matches are being shown live on a major sports network that most people probably have access to at home, or can go to a pub or sports bar to watch.  Because of the time difference between the US and central Europe, the games are on during the day. However they are also available by internet streaming to computers, so enthusiasts at work can watch also (provided the boss doesn’t notice or is a soccer fan!)

 As we have done previously, with the World Cup and other major matches, we will be blogging on aspects of these matches, in particular with special attention to the officiating.  The games will be officiated using the additional assistant referees stationed on the goal lines. This is to avoid errors such as those that occurred during the 2010 World Cup and in some high profile matches in England recently, concerning the scoring of a goal and whether or not the ball had fully crossed the goal line which we have discussed at length in previous blogs.

One of the items we will be watching for concerns the techniques used by the assistant referees.