Rapinoe's "handball" was nothing. Her arms were tucked in and the play was going up field. The Canadian player definitely had the chicken wing which made herself bigger with the ball heading toward the goal area. I thought it was an instant PK at live footage. A chicken wing, at the higher levels, is so cynical that it ain't funny.
All because that stupid Brazilian chick had to fake her injury at the 120th minute to kill time. Hadn't she done that, Brazil would be playing Japan.
Disagree...for me the arm was tucked in to her side, player trying to keep it in to her body, not make herself bigger (and after the ball deflects there's no way you can call the 2nd player, reaction in that time not possible). No way you should call that when the earlier call in the US box was let go...in that case the player saw the cross coming from a long way out and should have been able to judge where it was going. I am actually okay with the 6 second call IF she warned the Canadian goalie beforehand. But the GK was taking forever all game long (to the point where I was wondering if it was going to be called or not)...CR let it go...so even if she did warn the GK and make the call the CR was responsible for letting the situation get out of hand over the previous 77 minutes. If she did not warn the GK, that is just bush-league stuff. CR also could easily have put the spot at the edge of the 18 instead of 15 yards out...makes the point to the GK but makes it that much less likely that your call is a game changer.
You don't make that call without ample warnings, especially in a knockout round. You just don't do it. BTW, you place the ball on the spot of the foul. You don't arbitrarily choose a spot to place an IFK for 6 second violation. Where was she when the whistle blew? At the 15 yard area.
Technically, the place of the foul should be where the ball was at the moment the official concluded she violated the 6 second rule -- not at the moment of the whistle.
I suggest you go back and watch the replay of both plays then, because the Canadian player definitely had her arm extended from her body, while Rapinoe had ample time to judge where the ball was going, thus her arms were placed slightly behind her back and to the side of her body. Who knows where the ball will bounce off the grass at that high of speed, which is why she took no risk at all and put her arms in such a position.
I was watching the feed on NBCOlympics.com. No commentary at all! Wonderful. For some track & field events, there are two Brit 'presenters' and they are extremely knowledgable about the athletes and the rules. For the rest of the track & field, there is no commentary but some very nice choice of camera shots that's almost editorial commentary in what they choose to show and what they don't show. Delightful.
We never got a decent replay on the 2nd Canada goal, which looked offside to me on the pass down the line.... Thoughts?
Per Grant Wahl, the AR warned the keeper at halftime. https://twitter.com/GrantWahl/status/232601453355728898
You know, that's all very nice to say on your exam, but she waited 80 minutes to call it. She can spot the foul 2 steps back. CKRef, I've seen the replay many times. I admit others would call it differently, but in my eyes it should not have been called, especially in light of the earlier no call. Please do not act like I don't know what I am looking at. There is certainly room for disagreement.
For this level of match (or for any level, for that matter), that's not enough warning - the CR needs to get down to the GK and chew on her a bit to get the message across and avoid this mess.
Then it should have been called early in the 2nd half. Not at a critical juncture near the end of the game. CR had given her tacit permission to delay...a word from another member of the refereeing crew at a far earlier point in the game is pretty weak to me. Poor game management IMHO.
Nobody else can play the ball when the keeper is holding it! (This is the principle, I am not saying that I agree with the call in this match. I was amazed that it was called.) PH
There is absolutely no room for disagreement on either call. If you don't call a penalty on a free kick from 15 yards away when a defender runs at the ball with both arms spread out from her body, then you are terrible. If you call a penalty when a defender has a few seconds to pretty much wrap her arms around her own body and the ball happens to skip off the grass faster then she expected and up into her arm, then you are terrible.
You cannot have time wasting during active play. FIFA realized that nobody else can play the ball when the keeper is holding it so they came up with the 6-second rule to solve that problem. When they did, they did not make it a cautionable offense. While we can argue all day as to whether it should have been called (it depends on the prior warning, IMHO) but there is simply no argument that it should have been a caution. The rules simply do not allow a caution here unless you really want to stretch things and claim it was some sort of dissent, but I think you'd be laughed out of the profession for that.
I think you have to meet both criterias: 1) Your arm is in a natural position, close to your side AND 2) The ball comes in hard and from close in, hence you have no time to pull your arm in. Rapinoe may meet the 1st but not the 2nd. The Canadian may meet the 2nd but not the 1st. I don't think you can use the argument that your arm is in a natural position by itself. If that ball comes slowly to you or it comes from 25-30 yards away, I don't think you can just let it hit your arm no matter where it is.
But the Canadian had all the time in the world before the kick was taken to make sure her arms were not spread out, so for her to have them spread out while jumping at the free kick tells me she chose to put her hands there. That's a penalty in every league in the world.
She was terrible. First she needs to blow the goddamn whistle. Second she needs improve her foul recognition. Third the technical infringement on the Canadian keeper for delaying putting the ball back into play was gotcha refereeing at it's worst. Fourth the handball call was completely made up. I am stunned by how little this referee understands soccer. What a shame for Canada. I never thought I would say that too.
You see some players in the wall putting their arms behind them, some do not. You see players on the goal mouth doing either. What I saw the Canadian do was turning her body , that action moved her arm in front and across her body. I am not sure if her arm was out from her body? I also said, if you call the PK on the Canadian, you have to call the same on Rapinoe too.
Yes, because it was considered as a special case of time wasting! But it is still time wasting, otherwise why would the keepers do it? They don't do to when their team is losing, do they? PH