I'm only going by my experience coaching against and refereeing Portuguese teams over the years. They typically cause a significantly greater amount of issues than any other group. Way too much gamesmanship.
Yes, those people (parents, coaches and players) all need to lighten up. Sense of perspective is truly in order. Collina would not make them happy.
Ok, so if you know nothing about Portuguese teams from Portugal and their supporters then that comment was wrong. Northern jersey Portuguese Americans aren't the same as the real deal.
This pictures makes it look as if Maxi Pereira knocked out the ref and Luisao is trying to prevent the ref from failing. I wish there was a video from this angle with no one blocking it to see what exactly Luisao did.
I've seen enough misconduct over the years from Portuguese teams and players. Example Luis head butt Figo, punch the opponent Big Phil Scolari (Granted he's Brazilian)and Punch the referee Joao Pinto to name a few.
That is some funny shit here. It kinda looks like the ref did a nice flop, but that head butt can do a whole lot to your noggin. Especially, when you are not expecting a shot to the head. Luisao should so thankful this is a friendly because he will most likely escape any punishment. Don't expect the Portuguese federation to do anything. The only bodies that can really do anything are UEFA/ FIFA. What is so comical are Benfica fans defending Luisao. What a bunch of losers.
I can't see any way the player escapes punishment for assaulting a referee. Dusseldorf said they are going to bring the incident to UEFA (though, I'm sure the referee would have anyway) and to let th player off Scot free would be setting a terrible standard. If anything, the argument should be "it was a friendly, so give the player a longer suspension". Everyone here should know that friendly matches are rarely 'friendly' and governing bodies should not take a laissez-faire policy towards them. You tried that in BC and you'd be suspended for 5 years. Actually, considering the referee was knocked unconscious, could well be longer.
ya wat a bunch of losers , even though ur just making up shit. a headbutt? really? where in the world do u see that.
I didn't realize they had Brazilian referees in the Bundesliga. What an absolute joke of a ref, that's like a HS senior class play acting.
Guys, word of advice. Don't come into the Referee forum and attack referees, it will not be taken well.
Based on your statements in this thread I'm can't see any occasion on which you might ever need to do such a thing, so I wouldn't worry about it.
lmao can u honestly say 100% no doubt there was a headbutt there? at that point the ref was already falling. btw Luisao knocked him out so hard that the ref held on to that yellow card the whole way, wat a commited ref.... poor guy needed a lot of help when walking away... i mean i've seen tough guy hockey players need help standing when they get knocked out, but the ref was up and about in a matter of seconds, dam he must have been really hurt.
Mike-Benefica stop trolling here. It's clear from the poor quality of the tape that you cannot tell exactly what happened. That said, let me ask you a question and please try to answer honestly without resorting to the extreme levels of denial that are so common to fans, players and coaches from your country. What would make the referee fall that way to the ground and lay there? Knowing the kind of players your team has don't you think that one of them would have relished the opportunity to accidentally step on him or spit on him if they felt he was faking it. Why did they all step away? He was faking it laying on the ground would be an open invitation for players to take advantage of his prone and vulnerable position.
lmao u tell me to stop trolling? should i even respond to this bias/racist comment? yup all the players in portugal attack refs regularly, also spit on each other all of the time. very common in portugal. I was so shocked no one picked the ref up and did a body slam, drop a couple of elbows on him, because i see this all of the time in the superliga. the funny thing is that the ref made a bigger push on maxi prior to the incident, maxi should have gone to the floor and playact. Luisao shouldn't have gone in like that, but do i think the ref is making a meal out of it? yes. take that racist shit out of here btw. how about u actually watch some portuguese matches before making this shit up. ur a ref? good to know the refs have a bias opinion before the match starts.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/conversation?id=1133256&cc=5901 Portuguese Federation ain't gonna do squat. Not too shocked, really. So the CR will handle this on his own. Maybe something good will come from this as in Barca stopping their ref crowd tactic in the near future.
To the non-refs (appears mostly Benfica fans) coming in to comment on this. Have you stopped to ask yourself why a referee would fall theatrically here if he wasn't truly hurt? If he was punched or headbutted or pushed and it wasn't enough to cause a fall like this, he's still going to red card the player and the match will go on. Or maybe he abandons regardless if he felt threatened. What would there be to gain from him faking? I don't think any of us are blind about this. The fall does look weird. But the video isn't even close to conclusive. Benfica fans don't see anything conclusive and they resort to "the ref is faking." We don't see anything conclusive and we give the referee the strong benefit of the doubt. Luisao's actions aside, the post-incident behavior from Benfica, as an entity, is deplorable. In most cases where I've seen ref assaults (and, no matter what degree of force you think there was, this was an assault), there are cooler heads that step in--even among the teammates. And there is typically a sense of regret or remorse later. There is none of that here. It seemed the Benfica players were still worried about the foul call (as was the first poster here). And the statements I've seen from the Benfica club personnel after-the-fact have been almost comically laughable. No one gets how bad this is. Even if you think the referee faked some (and I don't think anyone here will concede that), it's still bad. Yet you get statements from the club and its fans like the ones we see on this thread. I try to avoid blanket statements that could be interpreted as stereotyping, but Alberto is right about Portuguese teams not respecting the referees and going way over-the-line in regards to intimidating or assaulting officials. There is a pattern of behavior that you do not see from any other European country. I won't speak to other clubs, but you need only look to the national team. Alberto pointed out the Joao Pinto punch in WC02, but omitted two big ones: the U20 team at the WYC in Canada and the conclusion to the EURO 2000 semifinal where they would not accept the penalty kick call. Portuguese national teams have a history and a pattern of not losing well and not accepting controversial decisions against them. And then fans don't think it's a big deal when referees get surrounded or get hit by players. Judging from the comments here, that's obviously not going to change.
I hope you guys know that Luisao is Brazilian and not Portuguese. Benfica has issues vs refs because they beleive that Porto buys the refs every year, but that is jsut their excuse so they can justify why they keep losing to FC Porto. I'm shocked that you guys (the refs in this forum) haven't even brought up the incident where some crazy Benfica fan assaulted Pedro Proenca (CL Finals and euro2012 finals ref) at a shopping mall because delusional Benfica fans believe that he is on the FC Porto payroll. Portugal has one incident where Joao Pinto punched/slapped/pinched the ref's ribs. He was justifiably suspended and never played for Portugal again. End of story. Euro 2000, the ref was not beaten up or attacked and the players involved in their hissy fit were suspended for a long time. Suspensions weren't protested.... Zezinho took the refs red card at the 2007 U20 WC. and was red carded himself. The Portuguese federation has banned him and he has never represented Portugal again for his disgraceful actions. Ref was not touched/beaten up as some people like to portray. Not sure whose jurisdiction this friendly falls under but until you hear that the Portuguese FA reports that they are not doing anything, don't assume that nothing will be done.
Right about Luisao being Brazilian, but I was more speaking to the club's reaction post-incident and post-match. Very good point about the assault on Proenca. I had forgotten that. Also, I've read on a German blog that Proenca actually defended Luisao to the point that he said it was "out of character" or something of the sort. But I can't find anything in English. Do you know if Proenca has actually commented on this? That would be interesting to learn. You've got all three of these spot-on (though, in Pinto's case, though it was just him punching, it wasn't as if the rest of the players were well-behaved). But my point isn't that they went unpunished. My point is that there is a pattern of not losing well in international tournaments. Only in the EURO 2000 case could the call in question be considered controversial, yet Portuguese teams tend to go off the deep end in major international competitions in a way that no other European teams do. Even if they get punished, you can't help but notice there is a pattern. Agreed here. There are a lot of ins and outs to this. The story is far from over.
I haven't heard anything from the Portuguese media. Not sure why Proenca would get involved with this situation though. Obviously it is out of Luisao's character to assault a ref since he has never done this before but there is a first time for everything. I think If Benfica/Luisao took a stance against this assault, apologized to the ref and Fortuna, Luisao could of walked away with with a slap on the wrist. Maybe he didn't mean to knock the ref out and probably misjudged his speed and didn't stop in time to avoid the collision. I say this because if you watch Luisao play, he is one clumsy guy. Who knows, but the fact that Benfica is defending Luisao is unacceptable. Just wondering what the refs in this forum have been in similar situation were some idiot player attacked and how you reacted?
Good post. I also find it peculiar that Proenca would comment, so was really interested when I saw the claim. Never actually been attacked, but did have my AR get shoved once. We terminated the match and walked away. I think at anything below the professional level, where security could restore order and the referees could feel secure again, the match is over once there is a serious assault. And I only use the qualifier "serious" because there are some things that might result in red cards that involve physical touching of referees that are classified as assaults technically, but wouldn't necessarily rise to the level where you need to end the match. But for what the general public would typically categorize as "attacked," (the word you use) the game is over, in my opinion.
Only one time for me. I reffed a Mexican rec league game years ago and got a nice shove from the GK, but both teams took care of the situation for me. Red card for the GK and profuse apologies from both teams, hoping that I don't abandon the match. Play went on without any further incidents.
Altering my post above to say that I can agree with this. If it's truly one crazy guy and both teams are 100% on your side and he's removed completely from the area, then I can see continuing the match. It's probably the rare exception, though. Because he could linger around and if his teammates turn on you later in the match, you might not have protection post-game.