2018-2019 UEFA Season Referee Discussion [Rs]

This would be why I think it makes no sense. If the worst thing you could call AARs was a wasteful insurance policy, they were still an insurance policy. Ditching them once you have seemingly better coverage (VAR) is understandable. Going without insurance for an entire qualifying campaign (when you've had that insurance for 11 years now) just because it's a good time to make a "clean break" defies logic for me.

 

This makes sense to me. I still think it's a big risk to take, but this is the perspective that I was looking for.

Any chance you can talk more about the referees disliking the system? I know they changed the AARs to the non-referee diagonal at the urging of referees. But I hadn't heard of widespread discontent with the system itself. Now, I totally understand why there might be some discontent (I think you can find posts from me a decade ago arguing about how the system would naturally conflict with egos) but I never heard anything other than positive remarks from referees in glossy UEFA productions that apparently were just glorified hostage videos?

 

Notable EURO 2020 assignments, by the way...

21-March
Netherlands : Belarus - MASSA (ITA)
Slovakia : Hungary - BEZBORODOV (RUS)
Austria : Poland - SIDIROPOULOS (GRE)
Israel : Slovenia - LOPES MARTINS (POR)
Kazakhstan : Scotland - JOVANOVIC (SRB)
Belgium : Russia - HATEGAN (ROU)

22-March
Bulgaria : Montenegro - BUQUET (FRA)
England : Czech Republic - SOARES DIAS (POR)
Portugal : Ukraine - TURPIN (FRA)
Albania : Turkey - STIELER (GER)

23-March
Sweden : Romania - OLIVER (ENG)
Spain : Norway - TREIMANIS (LVA)
Bosnia Herzegovina : Armenia - KEHLET (DEN)
Italy : Finland - GRINFIELD (ISR)

Interesting that you don't see any names, other than Turpin, who might take charge of UCL QFs. There is another matchday to come for the 24-26th, so maybe those names will fill in there.

It's also hard to determine which games are truly notable, since the top two in a group qualify and the third place team could go to the playoff (so, for example, in the grand scheme of things Bulgaria-Montenegro might end up being far more important than England-Czech Republic, which are all in the same group).

That said... Kehlet and Jovanovic are supposed to be names to watch. Italy needs to figure out its EURO 2020 referee, so critical start for Massa. Also, someone like Treimanis could sneak in to EURO 2020 if he really performs over the next year.

 

Continuing the 24-March...

Wales : Slovakia - ZWAYER (GER)
Kazakhstan : Russia - VINCIC (SVN)
Hungary : Croatia - COLLUM (SCO)
Israel : Austria - ARANOVS'KYY (UKR)
Northern Ireland : Belarus - RACZKOWSKI (POL)
Netherlands : Germany - GIL MANZANO (ESP)
Poland : Latvia - AGAYEV (AZE)

Big match for Gil Manzano, Mateu Lahoz is not aged-out for EURO 2020, so there seems to be a very good chance that Spain will send two referees, a la Clattenburg-Atkinson. I would imagine Kuipers-Makkelie also have a very good shot of both going as whistles. Oliver-Taylor less so, but also possible. If Brych sticks around to go again, I don't think Zwayer would go with him. Same for Skomina and Vincic.

Aronovs'kyy is a name I have not heard, but that's not a small match given both teams probably think they have a chance at qualifying. Agayev is a name I've heard and he is allegedly impressive; could see him in UCL in the next couple years if he performs well.

 

https://streamable.com/qfe7y

So it took exactly one matchday for there to be a match critical incident that an AAR would have nailed. The AAR literally would have been perpendicular to the penalty area boundary there. Solid move by UEFA!

Those are 2 points lost for Montenegro, which very well could be the difference for qualification. Away points among Montenegro, Bulgaria and Czech Republic are likely going to be critical in that group.

 

Sometimes I see the reaction of certain players to certain decisions and I'm just baffled:

https://streamable.com/swcuf

 

Same match and later, however, this is a mess:

https://streamable.com/5s1b8

As I say that, I've got to admit it's also probably technically the right call in a classroom the way handling is currently interpreted. I just don't understand how an AR could confidently say "no penalty" here given other situations where ARs would never step in.

Edit to add that the restart is entirely incorrect and completely unjust. If you're going to overturn this penalty--and that's a big if--it needs to be a corner kick. The whistle went long after the ball was out of play and changing a corner kick to a dropped ball (to the goalkeeper) simply because the referee initially thought it was a penalty is very, very wrong.

 

The ball glanced off his head first, which in UEFA's eyes almost certainly negates the handling. Notice that even the player knew what to argue, as he pointed toward his head. UEFA has drilled into teams and players that if the ball comes off the player's own body first and contact with the arm is consequently from a short distance and unavoidable, it is not handling.

Look at the still photo here: https://www.b92.net/sport/fudbal/vesti.php?yyyy=2019&mm=03&dd=25&nav_id=1522371

Now, could one argue that the arm was still in an unnatural position and therefore this is handling? Maybe. I mean if the arm was raised above the head, it would be a no-brainer even with a deflection, so there's a level of subjectivity that still should be here. But UEFA has erred on giving defender's the benefit of the doubt in these situations. As has FIFA, actually. Remember Cakir didn't award the penalty in the Nigeria match in the WC because of a self-deflection. So, in a classroom, I have a high degree of confidence that UEFA would say this is not a penalty. Whether they want it overturned by an AR from 40 yards away is another question. And they definitely don't want a dropped ball after that happens.

Aren't you glad governing bodies are solving all the controversy over handling?

 

That wasn't really the story here. 7:28 in this compilation:

https://streamable.com/0szcu?fbclid=IwAR0mS1URlxJBgIQWI-dF_ehinMGyaRsp5wri9EJZ9IxxBhIQq9D3eXFyOsY

Slovakia wanted the DFK for handling from 19 yards out (and I imagine a few probably wrongly thought it could have been a penalty). I'm sure they wouldn't have loved the referee taking away a corner either, but the dissent is clearly in reaction to the lack of the DFK, which would have been a massive chance to tie the match.

Note that #9 had been booked for dissent two minutes earlier. Zwayer took the easy way out by booking #19 for dissent instead and, to be fair, #19 did the professional thing and made sure he gave Zwayer an easy way out.