No, the substitution was on a called-back advantage (as mentioned elsewhere). The re-taken goal kick confused me a bit - the recipient botched it, but I believe he called it back because it was taken while Reyna was still in their box. Can anyone give the rules regarding offensive players in the box on a goal kick?
I haven't played it back yet but I was a bit weirded out at how the pre-halftime substitutions were handled. Can someone weigh in for me on that?
Right. The ref pointed to the 18-yard line, clearly indicating that the ball wasn't in play because it hadn't cleared the area.
they have to be out of the area, and the ball has to clear the area to be in play. otherwise, its as if the ball was never in play.
I think the fact that he was Mexican gave him credibility even in the minds of those with contempt towards "everything Mexican." There were a couple of blown calls. I thought that the goal was a good goal. I respect refs who are disciplinarians. He was much less obnoxiously didactic than, say, Hugh Dallas. Hey, he did OK. I don't know that he was in a spot to overrule on the Twellman goal, anyway.
Anyone with a clue as to why the TnT player who refused to give the ball up after a call had gone against him midway through the 2nd half, and then bounced the ball hard on the ground in frustration, continued to hold onto it for a second or two more before releasing it wasn't carded for dissent?
I'm sorry, I thought it was downright terrible. I'm sure there are people here who know more than me who can explain away every single issue, but in all honesty the only marginal decision I think he got right was the second yellow on Convey. T&T's red I dont think was deserved either, so he did blow calls both directions. Just my opinion, feel free to rip it apart.
I don't believe there is a rule prohibiting offensive players from being in the box on a goal kick. But because they can't play the ball there, it's just kind of silly to be there, so it's never done. The kick was retaken because it was played by a T&T player before it left the box. I see this all the time in younger youth recreational games, but I've never seen it happen in a professional level match.
I agree. I saw that and thought a yellow was deserved. If It was me, I would have pulled the card. With all the comments about the ref no one has commented on what I thought was the biggest problem, late whistles. I understand he may have been waiting for an advantage to develop but some of the frustration of the players seemed to come from whistles that were well after the foul occurred. The late whistles seemed to make boths sides angry. The offended side is upset becase they think the foul is overlooked, then the offending side is upset when the call goes against them.
I agree he did a good job in the first half. The DOGSO call was excellent as was the restart of a DFK. The foul started outside he penalty area. I also don't choose to resign myself that we should be accepting of borderline competence from the officials. The game and the players deserve better. I believe we got a raw deal in the second half. He was inconsistent in his foul calls and the US team was clearly getting frustrated because of it. Forget who the US player was, but near the end of the match he went up on a 50/50 ball the the TnT player let loose an elbow into this chin. It should have been a straight red card.
He did a bad job of indicating advantage. Either that or he felt the contact was trifling. Agreed with the other poster that noted his whistles were late. There were many instances where the foul was clear to see would not result in advantage to the offended team. He should have blown it immediately. Lastly, he needs to get a new hairstyle. The slicked back look is dead.
I actually thought the call was correct when I rewound. It was close; very, very close, in fact. Balboa did NOT do a good job stopping the tape. I used my TiVo's frame advance button, and from the poor angle the TV camera was at, I thought Twellman was a hair offside. In either case, Quaranta, second to last defender, and Twellman were so close that if the AR was in proper positioning, I feel 99.9% certain that he got the call right.
Feel free to go to the Referee forum to get more expert opinions, but Donovan was clean through on goal on that play. He was then fouled by a T&T defender. This is a clear case of DOGSO (denial of obvious goal scoring opportunity), which is punishable by a red card. The fact that Donovan didn't fall right away doesn't matter, actually it's to his credit that he didn't. It's ok, Marcelo Balboa, who certainly should know better, was wrong too.
For what it's worth, Law 13, "Free Kicks Inside the Penalty Area" includes "All opponents remain outside the penalty area until the ball is in play."
He was a strange ref. Did a good job making sure it wasn't a hackfest, and that I'll give him credit for, but he gave GK's to them on about 3 or 4 different corners, whistled a potential breakaway (though maybe im missing a ruling) and supported a blown call that stole a goal away. That's brutal work. Yes players complain all the time, no (fill in the blank), but I haven't seen our players this irate over decisions since the summer of '00. That is saying something.
One of those goal kicks was after a blocked shot that clearly deflected back off of the shooter (I don't remember who it was). And the others were at least close. The guy called an illegal throw-in against T&T -- how bad could he be?
Well, no TIVO but I was sitting about 15 rows up exactly in line with Twellman on that play. At the moment the ball was played Twellman was not offsides. Period. Don't know what TV showed, but being there in person, and in position as it were, that was a horrible and inexcusable call. Show of hands from people actually in the stadium: who thought the crew did a good job? Who thought it was the most embarressing and disgraceful refereeing exhibition (or in the top 2 or 3) they ever saw? Put me with the latter. The senior AR was particularly horrible, even excluding the Twellman fiasco. He blew at least 3 corner kick/goal kick decisions. You know, everybody makes mistakes, and being a ref is difficult, so you can't complain every time they miss something. But the missed calls last night were on a different plane than anything I'd ever seen from an international crew. Again TV might have looked different, but if you were there you'd know how pathetic the CR and Sr AR were. The most ludicrous moment: half way through the second half a US attacker is flattened, clearly fouled from behind near the TnT goal line outside the 18 - nothing. The stadium instinctively erupts, a few seconds later the ref calls a foul on a US player barely making contact with a TnT player near midfield. What was sad about this was that the ref was obviously flustered at this point and had lost his bearings. Folks who were there: who thought the refing was competent?
I was there. Sam's Army, 5 rows back, left side of the goal. First international match. The head ref prevented the match from becoming a hack-fest, and he made some good, major calls, on both sides. However, the ref cadre, collectively, was barely better than any of the recreation-league refs we're forced to endure at home. Twellaman was robbed. Period. The line ref totally ********ed the pooch on that call. Reyna, in the second half, hacked from behind IN THE BOX as the ball went off his foot, should have drawn a foul at the very least; no call. In the second half, T&T - on more than one occassion - manhandled our players to the ground, pulling on their arm and throwing them down. No call. We tapped the T&T players, and were called for it. I won't even go into the stoppage of play on the field - when the ball is in play - to allow substitutions. This is not to say that the US played brilliantly, and that the refs were to blame for our failure to finish. We played less than well; barely adequate, in fact, for the situation. However, I must admit that I was expecting a much higher level of competence from the referee cadre. T