On top of the world; Markus Merk

[colins1993]

http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500016&tx_dfbnews_pi1[showUid]=13103

[campton]

The best referee in the world cannot referee at the highest level becuase he is 46 (i think)? Thats awesome. Abolish age required retirement anybody?

[falcon.7]

The best referee in the world cannot referee at the highest level becuase he is 46 (i think)? Thats awesome. Abolish age required retirement anybody?

He only got it because it was his last year. Not to say that he's not a great referee, but Fandel & Michel, right now, are superior. I don't necessarily disagree with giving it to him in recognition of what he's accomplished, but it's like a sympathy vote.

[njref]

He only got it because it was his last year. Not to say that he's not a great referee, but Fandel & Michel, right now, are superior. I don't necessarily disagree with giving it to him in recognition of what he's accomplished, but it's like a sympathy vote.

If he is only the third best referee in the world then there is no reason to keep him around for FIFA work. :-)

[pacref]

The best referee in the world cannot referee at the highest level becuase he is 46 (i think)? Thats awesome. Abolish age required retirement anybody?

The same thing happened to Collina. I agree they should be able to work until they can no longer pass the physical and psych exams

[bluedevils]

He only got it because it was his last year. Not to say that he's not a great referee, but Fandel & Michel, right now, are superior. I don't necessarily disagree with giving it to him in recognition of what he's accomplished, but it's like a sympathy vote.

I think I'm a pretty good ref and a pretty good judge of ref talent, but I do not presume to know whether Fandel is better than Merk or vice versa. Perhaps you have seen each of these referees work a few games on TV, and that MIGHT be a reasonable basis to determine which ref is better (or, more specifically, which ref performed better on the games you saw). But to say that one or the other is SUPERIOR, I don't see how that could be the case. At the top level of refereeing, those guys are all very good and they are separated by a small amount, not a large amount.

[Rufusabc]

Collina's last game was a disgrace....He deserved to be shown the door. Valencia v. Everton...phantom foul in the area disallowing a goal that would have could have sent Everton through to the next round of the Champions League. He referreed that game like a rank amateur.

He was done. Retired right after that game.

Not that am biased or anything.

R

[Alberto]

Merk at times suffers from major lapses in judgements. Thing may be going extremely well and boom, chaos.

[falcon.7]

Merk at times suffers from major lapses in judgements. Thing may be going extremely well and boom, chaos.

Yeah, and in the handful of games I saw him work on television this year, it didn't look like he really cared. He just kind of moseyed around the pitch and blew the whistle a few times. Fandel and Michel on the other hand always seemed very involved in their games (even the "easy" ones), and it looked as though they were really focused mentally and physically.

[Englishref]

That lists a bit of a joke. There's absolutely no way that Merk and Fandel have out-performed Michel, Rosetti and Busacca this season, at least not on the games I've seen them. Merk I can sort of understand though, as he's a well know referee so that's gaurenteed to get him votes regardless, but Fandel is a big surprise. Busacca and Rosetti routinely breeze through their games. Never mind. :rolleyes:

[colins1993]

That lists a bit of a joke. There's absolutely no way that Merk and Fandel have out-performed Michel, Rosetti and Busacca this season, at least not on the games I've seen them. Merk I can sort of understand though, as he's a well know referee so that's gaurenteed to get him votes regardless, but Fandel is a big surprise. Busacca and Rosetti routinely breeze through their games. Never mind. :rolleyes:

I do like Busacca as well.
Actually he gets my vote to do the Euro final in June - provided SUI is not in the final .

[falcon.7]

I do like Busacca as well.
Actually he gets my vote to do the Euro final in June - provided SUI is not in the final .

I like him as well, mostly because he's young. However, I don't think he'll do the final simply because there are other guys older than him who "deserve it". Switzerland is not a European power, so there will be other opportunities for him to do the final, but if one of the traditional powers doesn't make it to the semis, than UEFA will go with those guys (i.e. Rosetti if no Italy, Fandel if no Germany). As soon as Italy was knocked out of WC2002, Collina was a lock. Not that he didn't deserve it, but it was the only opportunity FIFA had to give him the final.

This is also why I think it will be a few more seasons until Lubos Michel gets the Champions League final. No Slovakian team will ever get to the semis, so they can afford to wait and give the major countries their chance at it. Lubos won't be 45 until 2013. That gives him another WC (he'll do the final in South Africa), 2 more EUROs, and 5 or 6 more UCL seasons.

What I'm getting at is just because someone is the best person for the task, doesn't necessarily mean they'll get the job. Politics and luck have a lot to do with it. So while we all think Lubos or Busacca or MMG or Rosetti is the best referee in the world, doesn't mean they'll get the hardware.