I'm not saying the lesser team never gets calls in their favour and that big teams always get calls in their favour, but I have a big hunch that if we compiled stats then the result would show decisions skewed in the favour of the 'big guns'. No conspiracy. Just more psychological. Besides - sorry - maybe I'm derailing the topic.
Jayhonk may be wrong, but this is not his argument. No, he's saying the Croat did foul and gain advantage, Busquets retaliated to no advantage. No, he's saying a good referee equitably and consistently penalizes the non-trifling. Jayhonk has a point. It's hard to play a ball above you when some guy is draped all over your shoulder. The real question is what would Stark have done if the ball did go in?
I understand the "hey they were both wrassling, I ain't breaking the game to sort THAT out". AND I wish the video I've seen showed more of the seconds right b4 the ball got there, so I could form an opinion about who started what in the wrasslin match. BUT... Anywhere else on the field, that is a foul one way or the other. Why not here? How can that level of contact be deemed trifling? For me, it's a foul coming out or a pk. The mosh pit was pretty clean in the opening games of the tournament. I fear the slippery slope has begun.
It's a PK. And so was the studs up challenge in the area in t he first half. There were three attacking fouls in the area yesterday that were called and NONE called against the defenders.
I found a slow-motion for the first potential penalty scene: http://www.videvideo.info/2627d5dd7.html Very tricky situation. From the camera angle it is hard to judge if the foul was in the penalty are. Based on the movement of the ball I would say yes. The second tricky one, is that the Spanish player plays the ball microseconds before he fouls the Croatian player, but in such situations fouls are quite often calls because of dangerous play. An example is a red card for Pepe in the CL semi-final between Barca and Real (referee Stark). On the next sites there are some videos along with a Spanish discussion of that CL scene: http://www.soccer-blogger.com/2011/...-barcelona-champions-league-2011-real-madrid/ But about the EC call: IMHO only to clear after multiple slow-motions.
This is in my opinion the same false premise. The supposedly 'stronger teams' do not necessarily have more of the ball or dominate games more. That has especially been true in Europe over the years. But like I said - it is just a gut feeling and someone would have to analysis it (and take what you say into account, while doing it).
The video does prove that Ramos did get the ball, but that was never really the issue with that play. Ramos's play was irresponsible, reckless and anywhere else on the field that would have been yellow / red (if deemed SFP) irregardless of whether he got the ball or not.
Wolfgang Stark wont be the referee on any EURO 2012 match, because of his errors on the match between Croatia and Spain. http://www.goal.com/en/news/2898/eu...oversial-selection-euro-2012-referee-wolfgang http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3284...-blame-the-referee-for-croatias-loss-to-spain "Croatia had two penalty claims waved away by the German official, the second of which came just moments before Jesus Navas scored the winning goal in the 88th minute. Bilic claimed in the wake of Croatia's 1-1 draw against Italy that referee Howard Webb 'had favoured' the Azzurri, but this time he refused to criticise the decisions made by Stark. "I do not blame Stark for the result," Bilic told reporters at a press conference. "I have watched all the situations again, Spain's offside goal and the penalty on Vedran Corluka. "But the referee is human and he makes mistakes, like all others do. "I do not believe in some conspiracy theory. I do not want to believe in them." Terrible for Croatia, same thing happened on EURO 1996, in qualifications for EURO 2000 and now in 2012. Also Bjorn Kuipers and Carlos Velasco Carballo are out of this EURO. Bigger countries must go further.