In this tournament that I have been able to string out for 4 posts up to this point, I had my son and daughter playing as well. Though my son's matches were great, there was nothing referee related that was worth mentioning. He played on a field that was terrible (the outfield of a softball field, where one side of the field (about 25-30% of the left midfield area was actually the infield of the softball field) and since it was wet in the mornings, it made for some ugly play but other than that, nothing worth mentioning here.
My daughter's team, a U9 team, shouldn't have anything significant either because, they are 8 or 9 years old and do not really have the command of soccer that a U12 and up might have. Regardless, I have to mention them in this because what happened in their final match. To set it up, both teams reached the final by winning their corresponding groups. My daughter's team with wins of 5-1, 2-0 and 5-1. The other team with wins of 2-0, 1-0 and 3-1, so the stage was set.
I had noticed the referees working the two fields prior to my daughter's final were both young, asian and quite proper with the interpretations, paying attention and not sleepwalking (it is U9 after all, and many of you know how slow some of these matches are). Anyway, the final gets under way just as the other field finishes their last match. The ref on that field stuck around to see the final that had just started. The match itself was close, but nothing to knock on the ref in the first half. The half ends 0-0 and at halftime, I see both refs changing their shirts to match and they both come on to the field.
They both worked the second half of the final match, one of them on one side and the other on the far side. I was taken for a loop, as I did not know what the heck was going on. Has anyone ever had something like this happen? I know people switch the ref due to injury, etc. but I had never seen anything like this, where the only ref of the match suddenly goes to a two-man system mid match. And if you are going to do that, fine, but be aware that you cannot do that for half of the match and that you have to do it with a real 2-man system like I have done before, not this is my half and that is your half. In the end, the original ref called a PK with 40 seconds left in regulation (I guess they did not want to go to overtime) and my daughter's teammate scored to win the championship.
In all of this, I don't disagree with the calls made during the match, before or after the two-man system was implemented, but this is not how you ref matches. I should have said something to them but the end of the match was frantic, with the girls hugging and running up and down the pitch in celebration and I wanted to soak that in instead of going to educate the refs. I did not see them after that, so the opportunity was lost, but it was still a strange series of events. Since we are so close to Halloween, does anyone else have some of these weird referee horror stories?
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Time Management and frantic final
The first match of the tournament weekend had a team winning 1-0 thanks to an own goal. The tournament had a rule that specifically said there was no added time. This is typical of tournaments so that they do not fall behind with added time. So with literally 15 seconds, the team losing 1-0 gets a cross in and one of the defenders knocks the ball down with her hand. I wave my flag as an AR, once I have the center's attention, I hold the flag across my hip to indicate it was in the box for the attacking team. It took the center a second or two to figure out what had happened but we were ok except that we were already 2-3 minutes behind because even though there is no added time, you have to extend the match for a PK. Talk about a oxymoron.
The girl taking the PK winds up and takes a good shot to the right of the keeper who makes a wonderful one handed save, and the rebound goes directly back to the kicker who now has the goal wide open, but alas, the center ref (abiding by the rules, mind you) calls for the end of the match because we were 3 minutes past the end without there being any additional time allowed. The coach for the losing team came out ready to rip our heads off, but we stood our ground, explained that the rules were clear, no additional time, and walked off the field. Interesting to say the least when you have so much happen in so little time. The other 57 minutes of the match were much less exciting than the final 3 minutes were for sure.
The girl taking the PK winds up and takes a good shot to the right of the keeper who makes a wonderful one handed save, and the rebound goes directly back to the kicker who now has the goal wide open, but alas, the center ref (abiding by the rules, mind you) calls for the end of the match because we were 3 minutes past the end without there being any additional time allowed. The coach for the losing team came out ready to rip our heads off, but we stood our ground, explained that the rules were clear, no additional time, and walked off the field. Interesting to say the least when you have so much happen in so little time. The other 57 minutes of the match were much less exciting than the final 3 minutes were for sure.
Monday, October 18, 2010
More on the tournament weekend - The Injury
As promised last time, I was going to go over what happened during the match where I had my first major injury (not to me but rather a player). The match itself was supposed to be a preliminary match between two teams from the same club but since they both were in the final as well (as they finished first in each of their respective brackets with one game left, they were going to play each other again regardless of the outcome of my match). The coach (who was the coach for both teams as well) asked me if it was ok for them to just play the final now and record the score twice, one for the round robin match and one for the final. I could not see a problem with that.
The game started and it was clear who the A team was and who the B team was. The blue team attacked the whole first half but the closest chance was for the yellow team. Still at the half they were 0-0. At the start of the second half, the star attacker of the blue team tried to force a corner and was nudged as he was turning his body to kick the ball off the defender and he landed on his wrist awkwardly. I was close to the play and heard a faint pop and knew that something was not well. His wrist was in a weird angle and fortunately, two doctors were at the field and were able to stabilize him enough so when the EMTs arrived, it was not a dire thing. Off to the hospital he went.
Meanwhile, the boys still wanted to finish the match, but the coach having lost his 4th player in 2 weeks (I found out later) asked me if I had any problem going straight to PKs. I did not, as long as everyone was in agreement. In the meantime, they also decided to not have the PKs actually determine the winner, as they would both share the championship. So instead of having an actual 5 PKs per team, they all got to shoot once, regardless of the score. In the end, it did take 10 PKs per side to determine the winner, with the keepers being the kickers. The B team keeper missing and the A team keeper scoring to 'win' it.
Finally, I later found out that the player had suffered a fractured wrist. I really hope he gets better quickly as he is a fantastic player and fun to watch.
The game started and it was clear who the A team was and who the B team was. The blue team attacked the whole first half but the closest chance was for the yellow team. Still at the half they were 0-0. At the start of the second half, the star attacker of the blue team tried to force a corner and was nudged as he was turning his body to kick the ball off the defender and he landed on his wrist awkwardly. I was close to the play and heard a faint pop and knew that something was not well. His wrist was in a weird angle and fortunately, two doctors were at the field and were able to stabilize him enough so when the EMTs arrived, it was not a dire thing. Off to the hospital he went.
Meanwhile, the boys still wanted to finish the match, but the coach having lost his 4th player in 2 weeks (I found out later) asked me if I had any problem going straight to PKs. I did not, as long as everyone was in agreement. In the meantime, they also decided to not have the PKs actually determine the winner, as they would both share the championship. So instead of having an actual 5 PKs per team, they all got to shoot once, regardless of the score. In the end, it did take 10 PKs per side to determine the winner, with the keepers being the kickers. The B team keeper missing and the A team keeper scoring to 'win' it.
Finally, I later found out that the player had suffered a fractured wrist. I really hope he gets better quickly as he is a fantastic player and fun to watch.
Monday, October 11, 2010
A lot to talk about
Man it was an interesting weekend of soccer. I do not have the time to write it all out, but just so I can remember all the talking points, I will list them out here...
- The first major injury on my watch
- Frantic final on the first match of the weekend tournament and clock management
- The weird final (which happened to be my daughter's)
- A new fan dangled technology for refs
Monday, September 13, 2010
Nuggets of wisdom
What a beautiful weekend. Weather was great on Saturday for my start of the regular season. In the morning I worked a U12 boys match that was not particularly interesting except two nuggets. They happened one right after another. To lay the scenario down, it was one of the local teams versus a team that was heavily latino. In my past experience, the heavy latino presence tends to favor that team as they play more of a control/individual style as opposed to the boom and run that most anglo teams like to play. In this match, it did not work out for that team. It was perhaps that they did not have enough players (9 suited with 8 on the field) as well as U12 being 35 minute halves instead of 30. So they basically ran out of gas after going up 1-0 early in the match.
In the second half with the match pretty much decided for the other team (they were up 3-1 and pounding heavily for more), I call a free kick close to the top left corner of the penalty box. On the run up to the kick, the defending team's wall, instead of holding their position, run up to try to block the kick. One boy moved up a foot or so, but the other had charged about 5 yards of the 10 he had. I stopped the play, carded the player and then I hear the other boy tell his now carded teammate, "No te preocupes, el es un maricón". I grew up around Spanish speaking parents and grandparents enough to know what that means (something akin to "The ref is gay"). So I looked up, and proceed to tell him in spanish that I knew what he meant and he'd better not say it again. He turned pale to say the least.
In the end, I should have gone over to the coach and explained what happened, I should have carded the boy as well but well, I guess I got flustered. I certainly think he will think twice before uttering such an opinion.
So the nugget is more for the players, but for us, it is how we deal with it. I could have (should have?) carded the player, but the mere fact that he was so surprised might be enough for him to not do it again. I will not ref them again this season, but perhaps we cross paths again. If we do, I wonder what will happen...
In the second half with the match pretty much decided for the other team (they were up 3-1 and pounding heavily for more), I call a free kick close to the top left corner of the penalty box. On the run up to the kick, the defending team's wall, instead of holding their position, run up to try to block the kick. One boy moved up a foot or so, but the other had charged about 5 yards of the 10 he had. I stopped the play, carded the player and then I hear the other boy tell his now carded teammate, "No te preocupes, el es un maricón". I grew up around Spanish speaking parents and grandparents enough to know what that means (something akin to "The ref is gay"). So I looked up, and proceed to tell him in spanish that I knew what he meant and he'd better not say it again. He turned pale to say the least.
In the end, I should have gone over to the coach and explained what happened, I should have carded the boy as well but well, I guess I got flustered. I certainly think he will think twice before uttering such an opinion.
So the nugget is more for the players, but for us, it is how we deal with it. I could have (should have?) carded the player, but the mere fact that he was so surprised might be enough for him to not do it again. I will not ref them again this season, but perhaps we cross paths again. If we do, I wonder what will happen...
Monday, August 30, 2010
Oh it hurts...
Who said you needed to prep for 7 matches in two days? I will be the first to admit that I did fairly little in terms of physical preparation this summer. I ate poorly, and did not do much in terms of exercise, but this weekend's 7 matches did something for me that I was not expecting, and that was to reinvigorate my desire to get back in shape. So I plan on running some during the week and see if I cannot get back into the form I was prior to the last season ending (and then staying there at least during the long winter off season).
Regarding the actual matches, there was little to throw in. They were good, I had a great time and was happy to be back. Saturday was four U12 matches and Sunday was a bit more challenging in the U14 Boys and U14 Girls brackets of a local tournament.
Sidebar here - During this tournament, they used a system of bonus points to determine seeding into the semifinal round, so in one bracket, Team A and Team B both beat Team C. Team A won 12-0 and Team B won 3-0. When Team A and Team B played each other, they tied 2-2, so who should be the team that goes as the first seed and who is the second seed? Well, due to the weird bonus points that they had for this tournament, both Team A and Team B were deadlocked and went to a PK shootout instead of looking at overall goals scored. Just thought it strange, since 12-0 and 3-0 are two very different results.
Back to the matches, I know my center where I had a full set of ARs was not difficult, but I am also sure that my diagonals were atrocious. I was all over the place, still, it worked out well as I was able to get the offsides calls ok and the fouls seemed to be decent as well. All in all, just glad to be back, but man are my muscles sore today.
Regarding the actual matches, there was little to throw in. They were good, I had a great time and was happy to be back. Saturday was four U12 matches and Sunday was a bit more challenging in the U14 Boys and U14 Girls brackets of a local tournament.
Sidebar here - During this tournament, they used a system of bonus points to determine seeding into the semifinal round, so in one bracket, Team A and Team B both beat Team C. Team A won 12-0 and Team B won 3-0. When Team A and Team B played each other, they tied 2-2, so who should be the team that goes as the first seed and who is the second seed? Well, due to the weird bonus points that they had for this tournament, both Team A and Team B were deadlocked and went to a PK shootout instead of looking at overall goals scored. Just thought it strange, since 12-0 and 3-0 are two very different results.
Back to the matches, I know my center where I had a full set of ARs was not difficult, but I am also sure that my diagonals were atrocious. I was all over the place, still, it worked out well as I was able to get the offsides calls ok and the fouls seemed to be decent as well. All in all, just glad to be back, but man are my muscles sore today.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Aftermath of the World Cup
Interesting WC, wasn't it? Congrats to Spain who won it but also to the great moments of the World Cup. The US and the dramatic matches against Slovenia, Algeria and Ghana. To Uruguay for being the surprise team (and for scoring some of the most beautiful goals)and to Ghana for playing the best and most exciting, unscripted match against Uruguay in the quarter finals.
As for the officiating, well, there was a lot to point out. Good and bad. Let's start off with the good. The final: I know most people think that the reds should have come out earlier for the Dutch, but I disagree. I think Mr. Webb did his best to control the match without losing anyone. Should have the chest high challenge been greeted with a red instead of a yellow? Perhaps, but it was early enough to merit a yellow. If that challenge comes with 5 minutes left to play, sure, send him off, but with 70 or so, not so sure in such a high profile match (the highest, actually).
Other good things I liked, the carding early. I really thought that the teams were not expecting it (just like they were not expecting the ball to behave like a beach ball). Uruguay's Lodeiro was carded twice in a span of 10 minutes for two challenges in the first match against France, Germany's Klose was carded twice against Serbia, the second one was for a relatively tame tackle but from behind. After the first couple of matches, the players got it. The negative side to this was the inconsistency between the refs could have been curtailed. Still, it allowed the real game changers (Xabi, Iniesta, Forlan, Messi -sorta- and others) to do what they did best, make the matches entertaining.
The bad was really bad, especially that weekend where they messed up the bracket entirely with the Argentina-Mexico screw-up and the Germany-England mess. First Larrionda's crew fails to award the tying goal to England and then Rosetti's crew awards a goal when Tevez was clearly offside. So my take on this is as follows:
Of the two miscues, the worst is the one with Argentina and Mexico, because offside is the NUMBER ONE priority of the AR. Yes, it was a quick play, but he was a couple of feet offside. I cut the AR in the England match a little (very little) bit of slack because he was where he is trained to be, with the second to last defender. He was a good 12-15 feet off of the goal line and the shot was fast so that he did not get a good glimpse of that is basically a referee blind spot, kind of like the problem with France and Ireland and Mr. Henry's handling, it happened in the center's corner with many people in between the center and the infraction.
So how to fix this? Simple, you have a 4th and 5th official in these types of matches and there is technology available to everyone but the center and the ARs. Well, in the case of the England/Germany match, keep playing and allow the 4th/5th officials to review the play (allow some 30 seconds or so) and the right call would have been made. If there are any infractions/yellow/red cards that occur between the time the goal is being reviewed and the time it is officially a goal, they stand, but so does the goal. It is more important to get it right than to ensure game flow. So allow the game to flow until a decision has been made. Again, it should not take more than 30 seconds to see something like that. Especially at the World Cup or other large event where there are 20 camera angles.
FIFA does not want this because that would mean sacrificing game flow, but it is simple, it is already implemented in these high level matches as the cameras are already there and does not require chip-in-ball technology or the addition of any extra ARs for goal line decisions.
So the naysayers would argue what happens in the case of a goal being scored in the 30 seconds that it takes to make the decision. If it is by the team that scored already but their goal was not counted and was being reviewed, count one of them, the first if it was indeed a goal and if not the second. If in the 30 seconds it takes the other team scores, well, we have a problem. I would hope decisions can be made prior to that happening but that would be something that needs to be addressed. Frankly, it might happen once or twice in the whole history of World Cups. To me, the goal should stand as well and kick off to the team that got scored on second.
Finally, the last thing I want to address is the diving. Do an after the match suspension of the floppers. Ronaldo, the Ivory Coast player that bumped into Kaka, Joan Capdevilla and the entire Italian team (or at least, this guy: http://www.caughtoffside.com/2010/06/15/the-worst-dive-of-the-2010-world-cup-video/) should be suspended after the fact for one match, since they dove and no one did anything to them. Second time, 2 matches, then 4. Eventually, the diving will stop.
Hope to hear your comments and I am looking forward to getting back into the saddle for this coming season.
As for the officiating, well, there was a lot to point out. Good and bad. Let's start off with the good. The final: I know most people think that the reds should have come out earlier for the Dutch, but I disagree. I think Mr. Webb did his best to control the match without losing anyone. Should have the chest high challenge been greeted with a red instead of a yellow? Perhaps, but it was early enough to merit a yellow. If that challenge comes with 5 minutes left to play, sure, send him off, but with 70 or so, not so sure in such a high profile match (the highest, actually).
Other good things I liked, the carding early. I really thought that the teams were not expecting it (just like they were not expecting the ball to behave like a beach ball). Uruguay's Lodeiro was carded twice in a span of 10 minutes for two challenges in the first match against France, Germany's Klose was carded twice against Serbia, the second one was for a relatively tame tackle but from behind. After the first couple of matches, the players got it. The negative side to this was the inconsistency between the refs could have been curtailed. Still, it allowed the real game changers (Xabi, Iniesta, Forlan, Messi -sorta- and others) to do what they did best, make the matches entertaining.
The bad was really bad, especially that weekend where they messed up the bracket entirely with the Argentina-Mexico screw-up and the Germany-England mess. First Larrionda's crew fails to award the tying goal to England and then Rosetti's crew awards a goal when Tevez was clearly offside. So my take on this is as follows:
Of the two miscues, the worst is the one with Argentina and Mexico, because offside is the NUMBER ONE priority of the AR. Yes, it was a quick play, but he was a couple of feet offside. I cut the AR in the England match a little (very little) bit of slack because he was where he is trained to be, with the second to last defender. He was a good 12-15 feet off of the goal line and the shot was fast so that he did not get a good glimpse of that is basically a referee blind spot, kind of like the problem with France and Ireland and Mr. Henry's handling, it happened in the center's corner with many people in between the center and the infraction.
So how to fix this? Simple, you have a 4th and 5th official in these types of matches and there is technology available to everyone but the center and the ARs. Well, in the case of the England/Germany match, keep playing and allow the 4th/5th officials to review the play (allow some 30 seconds or so) and the right call would have been made. If there are any infractions/yellow/red cards that occur between the time the goal is being reviewed and the time it is officially a goal, they stand, but so does the goal. It is more important to get it right than to ensure game flow. So allow the game to flow until a decision has been made. Again, it should not take more than 30 seconds to see something like that. Especially at the World Cup or other large event where there are 20 camera angles.
FIFA does not want this because that would mean sacrificing game flow, but it is simple, it is already implemented in these high level matches as the cameras are already there and does not require chip-in-ball technology or the addition of any extra ARs for goal line decisions.
So the naysayers would argue what happens in the case of a goal being scored in the 30 seconds that it takes to make the decision. If it is by the team that scored already but their goal was not counted and was being reviewed, count one of them, the first if it was indeed a goal and if not the second. If in the 30 seconds it takes the other team scores, well, we have a problem. I would hope decisions can be made prior to that happening but that would be something that needs to be addressed. Frankly, it might happen once or twice in the whole history of World Cups. To me, the goal should stand as well and kick off to the team that got scored on second.
Finally, the last thing I want to address is the diving. Do an after the match suspension of the floppers. Ronaldo, the Ivory Coast player that bumped into Kaka, Joan Capdevilla and the entire Italian team (or at least, this guy: http://www.caughtoffside.com/2010/06/15/the-worst-dive-of-the-2010-world-cup-video/) should be suspended after the fact for one match, since they dove and no one did anything to them. Second time, 2 matches, then 4. Eventually, the diving will stop.
Hope to hear your comments and I am looking forward to getting back into the saddle for this coming season.
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