Yeah. My gut reaction was going to be "okay, so what came of this?" But we're just too far off the reservation now. No need to drop a 2015 accusation into this thread. My earlier joke aside, I'm going to crack down a little from here going forward. UEFA competition matters only, with the occasional domestic match (that doesn't fall into the EPL or Bundesliga) also allowed.
Quick question about referee assignments. Too lazy to scroll through 23 pages. Is there a draw for referees just like they draw teams from a pot in Nyon? A blind draw, Just to avoid accusations of favoritism. Thx.
That might not be a bad idea The answer is no. There is a committee headed by Pierluigi Collina that assigns the referees.
I also thought it was refreshing to hear newly minted referee Alexi Lalas stick up for Oliver and speak truth to Buffon. No doubt Wynalda would have blamed the referee for ruining the game.
It was offside. Not by much, but it was off. Here is the screenshot. Keeper is in the opponent's half. I doubt the AR forgot that the keeper was off, at least I'm hoping he didn't. He just must have thought that they timed the run.
I don't know. That's a pretty basic decision for a top level crew in Europe to miss if he correctly identified the 2LD. Looks like the 2LD is about a foot upfield of the grass stripe and the attacker is about a foot downfield. You don't see too many calls where the player is off by two feet called incorrectly.
After digging in a little further, here's the offside line using the halfway line and grass stripes to find the vanishing point. It's possible that he was using the correct defender and just missed it due to the all out sprint and the fact that he may have been a step behind (it's hard to sprint with world class athletes!) It would be a surprising miss though. I guess the answer would be to have a camera angle from the other side to see where the AR is. Thankfully it ended up being a meaningless goal.
It looks a lot clearer from that still than it did when I watched it on TV. I thought offside when I saw it and so did the commentators but they never showed a slo-mo or still of it as it was mainly irrelevant. But yea I'd put it down to speed mainly, they were going pretty fast on the counter. And if I was the german fans/media I'd be questioning the tactical choices of Leipzig more than bother with a possible referee error. They have a corner in the dying minutes and need a goal to go through. So they send everyone, including the keeper, into/around the PA but then for some strange reason decide to take the corner short... And of course they then have it blocked and give up the counter.
Cutting and pasting full articles is not allowed, per copyright issues. I can't exactly be the one violating that rule. Pretty sure all you have to do is register to read--you don't need to subscribe.
With the UCL draw out, I'll predict: Liverpool : Roma - TURPIN / MAZIC Bayern : Real Madrid - KUIPERS / CAKIR The only problem, as I see it, is that Brych just was at Anfield in the last round and I can't imagine it is standard protocol to have the same referee at the same venue in the same UEFA competition twice in a row. And I know the idea of Brych having leg 2 (and thereby having a direct influence on who might face Bayern and who might be suspended) is frowned upon. So I don't see how Brych fits into the UCL anymore. Plus the Atletico-Arsenal tie in the EL semis is the kind of matchup that could use him. If I'm wrong, he obviously gets swapped in for Turpin. Because Turpin is really just me grasping at straws. Can't be an Italian so you eliminate two of your top candidates. There are a bunch of candidates who have likely played themselves out (Eriksson, Marciniak, etc.). Can't even be Collum, who has been good. Turpin or Undiano Mallenco seem like the most plausible "surprise" options. The other possibility is to send Rocchi to Munich and then have Kuipers or Cakir work the Liverpool/Roma tie.
So it's Bayern - Real and Liverpool - Roma. Can Rocchi do any match now? Can Brych take charge of Liverpool's first leg?
Good timing! I'll say "no" and "no"--mostly because I think you almost have to send Kuipers and Cakir to Bayern/Real. But, I've never got a 4-game set like this perfect, so I'm sure I won't start now.
Cakir twice? Maybe. But I think that was an anomaly when it happened before. I would also like to believe UEFA doesn't want to send the signal of "we don't have 5 referees we are confident in to do these matches" two months before the World Cup, though. It's why I'm gambling on Turpin. His stock has been rising, he's French, and he's going to Russia.
Another theoretical possibility is to give Skomina and Mazic the first legs and have them fight for the Final. But, you know, that's a pretty high-risk gamble because if they both face trouble, you're screwed.
Interestingly, Undiano Mallenco has never had a UCL semi before. Somewhat surprising given that he's been to the WC and been around for so long, but partly due to the dominance of Spanish teams. If Turpin hasn't been that good, maybe it's time to give Undiano Mallenco a chance.
With that bit of knowledge, I might be inclined to change my prediction. There are two cons, though: the first is that he's not a WC referee and Turpin is; the second is whether or not UEFA wants to put "the other Spanish referee" through the ringer of the British press in the wake of Mateu Lahoz.
Apparently there are a few clubs that are teaming up to try to remove Collina from his position and bring in VAR to the UCL. Juventus is claiming that the match officials are all “prejudiced” against Italian clubs and that the officials need better training. The club president even offered to have the club help “train” the officials. It shocks me that these people can be so blind .
I think Collina will be fine. I do think we may see future assignments in the knockout stages lean away assigning the "less experienced" refs from the elite group to 2nd legs after a blowout 1st leg since we've now seen three unexpected comebacks in the past two years.
If it wasn't for the Juve game, I'm 100% convinced that Rocchi would be on the first leg of the Bayern vs. Real game. Now, not as sure. My guess is: Real vs. Bayern: Rocchi Leg 1 and Cakir Leg 2 Roma vs. Liverpool: Brych Leg 1 and Mazic Leg 2 Maybe swap Mazic for Kuipers. CL Final: Skomina Europa League Final: Mazic Europa League semi-finals: I'd guess a combination of Mallenco, Collum, Orsato and Turpin.
As MassRef pointed out, it seems highly unlikely that Brych will visit Anfield twice in a row in such a short time.