Italy vs Romania [R]

[GOOOOAL!!]

It's halftime. Time to start discussing the referee crew's performance.

Enjoy.

[refereejoe]

Things are really starting to get out of hand with Euro 2008 and offside calls. Yesterday we had a blown call allow a goal to stand, and now we have a blown call taking away a perfectly valid goal for Italy.

What is going on with the ARs at this tournament? The offside calls (and non-calls) have been the worst I've ever seen!

[code1390]

Lol. Same thread by two people within a minute.

[Ref Flunkie]

Come on, we say this every tournament. It's the "worst we've ever seen". ARs miss calls, referees miss calls, players miss goals....seriously, it is a fact of sports people need to get over. I'm with you that it was a bad call though....it looked like one of the four Italians was offside while the others were one. Unfortunately for the AR, it was one of the onside Italinas that got the header.

[Tarheel Ref]

PK call @ 80 minutes...its like the old basketball adage "the ball never lies"

[Ref Flunkie]

PK call @ 80 minutes...its like the old basketball adage "the ball never lies"

My cable is out so I'm missing it. Better be back for the next game :(.

[code1390]

The commentators are saying it was a bad call...so it was probably legit. I'd like to see it again.

[PVancouver]

The incident occurs about 10 minutes before the half.


You mean in 2 minutes into first half stoppage time, don't you?

I don't think, technically, any of the Italian players were offside. The camera crew did an excellent job of stopping the view of the play at the correct moment.

[Tarheel Ref]

My cable is out so I'm missing it. Better be back for the next game :(.

I think weak PK call...GK made a good save on a weak attempt straight up the middle. I'm sure you'll get to see it soon...and good luck with that cable!

[refereejoe]

You mean in 2 minutes into first half stoppage time, don't you?Damn, I keep getting my facts mixed up. Yesterday I said a corner instead of a free kick, and today I get the time wrong. I was watching on DVR and on the playback it said 10 minutes had passed since I had set a bookmark. So in my head I'm thinking "10 minutes passed before the half" instead of what the time said on the game clock. Duh :(

[CanadaFTW]

I think weak PK call...GK made a good save on a weak attempt straight up the middle. I'm sure you'll get to see it soon...and good luck with that cable!

PK call was very good. Pannucci has is arm over the Romanian players shoulder and around his neck.

[MassachusettsRef]

The commentators are saying it was a bad call...so it was probably legit. I'd like to see it again.Hand up near/around the neck as they were going to goal. It was disguised pretty well, but Ovrebo caught it. I think it was a great call.

This morning I was going to hypothesize that Webb started the deluge of these sort of calls (grabbing in the PA). I bet that, at whatever meetings occurred last night, UEFA gave an "that-a-boy" to Webb and reinforced with the other referees that they wanted this called and they would be supported.

Ovrebo got it right. Webb got it right (at least in a vacuum; I only saw snippets of the match so I can't comment on whether he got it right in context). And I suspect you'll see several more of these calls in the coming days.

[PVancouver]

I agree. Very good call.

[Tarheel Ref]

Thats true but the attacker had his back to the goal and was going down anyway I don't think the defender pulled him down instead it looked worse than it was. Just my opinion and it could be wrong.....

Again...on the other hand if the competition authorities have made a point of emphasis on this then it must have been called as are others like it this tournament. If the refs got instructions to be very tight on this than we'll keep seeing more and more PKs on what are less then halfway decent goal scoring opportunities. I think that detracts from the game, again just my opinion and it could be wrong.

[CanadaFTW]

Thats true but the attacker had his back to the goal and was going down anyway I don't think the defender pulled him down instead it looked worse than it was. Just my opinion and it could be wrong.....

I agree that the attacker was going down in his attempt to play the ball, but his ability to play the ball was severely affected by having someone grab him around his neck. You don't need to bring someone down for it to be a foul.

[Englishref]

Totally correct to award the penalty. Granted it wasn't as obvious as Webb's, but the replay supports the decision, so well done Ovrebo.

Haven't seen the disallowed goal, but unfortunately it's one of those things. ARs get offside decisions wrong fairly regularly as it's a difficult decision to make with the speed of the game. Unfortunately, some of these result in goals or disallowed goals. It's a shame, but it's a part of the game, just as referees missing fouls, getting conned into penalties, and so on, and just as strikers missing goals, defenders losing their marker, and so on. I actually think there have been remarkably few incorrect offside decisions so far.

[GOOOOAL!!]

The problem I see with these screwed up OS decisions isn't that they were made near the center line, or were a philosophical discussion about what part of the body was ahead of the defender. The players aren't on opposite sides of the field, or it wasn't a decision made while on a full run. These are calls where the players involved are all near the goal, and the attacker is either on or off by a yard or more.

The problem I see is that they are caused by a lack of concentration and focus at the end of the half or the game. Mental fatigue or "the game is done" attitude must be the reason.

I think that running a line is much more mentally draining than being in the middle, but these are suppose to be the best the country has to offer from the best leagues in the world.

I'm just not that impressed and they should be doing a better job.

[fireant]

What are the opinions concerning Buffon's scarf? I know I would never allow that on a youth or local adult game. Why is that considered safe at this level?

[GOOOOAL!!]

Lol. Same thread by two people within a minute.

Dang..... I started a thread and didn't even get on the first page!

At least we both put the [R] in the title!!!!

[andymoss]

The camera crew did an excellent job of stopping the view of the play at the correct moment.

This sort of comment is excatly why I'm going to stay off here until after the competition is over.

Do any of the ARs out there have the advantage of stop-frame replays? Alternate camera angles? Zoom and pan?

No, they make the call in full speed, possibly on the run, under the most intense pressure. They make the call based on what they see, from their angle, in their opinion.

Maybe they're right, maybe they're incorrect, but that is the call that that official made, and publicly vilifying them, here, on a referee board is a disgrace.