2018 DFL-Supercup Eintracht Frankfurt - Bayern Munich Referee: Marco Fritz Assistants: Dominik Schaal, Marcel Pelgrim Fourth official: Martin Petersen VAR: Bastian Dankert AVAR: Rene Rohde Fritz's second Supercup, having refereed the 2015 edition in which Wolfsburg beat Bayern on penalties.
Based on highlights and what I've read, not the best of starts... Only a yellow: https://streamable.com/dyx1a Only a yellow, part two: https://streamable.com/rzuqo
First match of the season and immediately some VAR fun. Bayern's goal that put them 2-1 up resulted from a debatable penalty for which referee Dankert did not consult VAR (minute 4:25 in the video). Lewandowski's penalty was saved and the follow-up was scored by Robben, who encroached the area before the penalty was taken. Dankert looked at the replay and correctly took the penalty back. Lewandowski scored on the second try. While Dankert was looking at the replay, Ribery came and looked over his shoulder. Upon noticing this, Dankert pushed him slightly and signaled him to go away.
Two all-UCL matchups this week. Siebert in charge of Schalke - Bayern, Osmers with Hoffenheim - Dortmund. Brych, Zwayer, Fritz, Dankert, and Stegemann all in action.
Strange story about Grafe's Stuttgart - Dortmund match. He flew from Berlin to Dortmund the evening before the match, but noticed at the baggage claim that Eurowings did not bring his bag. That was already the second time this happened. They promised him they would bring it by following morning, but that didn't happen either. He had to arrange for a local Stuttgart business to bring him a whistle, jersey, and shoes directly to the stadium. He borrowed his assistant's razor and foam. He found all this very stressful. https://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/...chlampte-graefes-klamotten-57947972.bild.html
Gräfe had everything under control in the big match, all of his penalty/non-penalty decisions were correct. His performance was also praised by former referee Thorsten Kinhöfer: https://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/...inen-hut-vor-manuel-graefe-58351908.bild.html
Just saw the highlights but I’m glad for var- the last Dortmund goal involved a razor thin offside consideration, with the AR out of position: he had cheated a yard or two upfield from the 2ld.
I was super impressed with Gräfe. His poise, calmness, and nailing basically every decision... was awe-inspiring. Hope to see more of him.
I love the picture of him hugging Ribery. We need more of that from referees on the big stage. It gives everyone a perspective that we are also human not just robots that blow the whistle.
Steinhaus back in action in the Bundesliga with Nurnberg - Leverkusen, Kampka with Hoffenheim - Schalke, Schmidt with Leipzig - Moenchengladbach.
Could have posted in the var thread, but... https://www.goalsarena.org/en/video...12-2018-schalke-04-1-2-borussia-dortmund.html Reus trods on Schalke attacker when he, inside his own area, gets ballside position, collects the ball and moves out. I didn’t care for the call in real time and I’m still not sure about it after the replay- the schalke player is behind reus and reus doesn’t appear to know much about it. Pertinent highlights begin at 1:09 in the video above.
I watched the Leipzig-Werder match yesterday. Bibiana Steinhaus was the CR and I forgot that she was the first woman to be promoted as a referee in a major football league. She was decent but I'm not sure the players have accepted a woman in charge as there was a lot of sniping at her calls which I largely felt correct.
I watched most of the second half of that game. (Leipzig-Werder) Players were definitely cranky about the calls and non-calls, which mostly concerned accidental foot stomps and ankle biters. Didn't seem to be her fault, but by the time I started watching in the 50th minute, she had lost a bunch of the players. I am sure she was relieved when the most unhappy of the lot was subbed off in the 80th minute. (He was really pissed.) I don't believe this was a typical game for her. Usually she has the players respect in my past viewing experience. Frankly, if this was typical, she wouldn't keep geting games.
Drama from Stuttgart's 2-2 home draw with Freiburg. Mario Gomez, who was never sent off in his 14 years of professional career, received two yellow cards from Deniz Aytekin in the 84th and 89th minute for two elbows, after which Freiburg went on to equalize in stoppage time. After the 3-3 draw in the reverse match earlier this season, also refereed by Aytekin, Gomez made negative comments on the refereeing performance. As a result, after this match, Gomez went angrily into the referee locker room and told Aytekin that he (Aytekin) remembered the first match well and asked whether he was waiting for this all the time. According to Gomez, Aytekin said that he wasn't interested in what happened back then. Aytekin told Gomez that the first time always happens some time and that when Gomez went in like that twice, he should expect to see red. Gomez: "I have been in three million duels like that. If I get a yellow for that, it's what it is. But to give two yellows in four minutes for this, one has to really want to do it. I was shocked on the field." https://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/...gomez-wittert-schiri-rache-59932690.bild.html
Hopefully Gomez faces serious disciplinary action for going into the officials' locker room and confronting the referee. On the other hand, why would they put the same ref on the same matchup twice in the same season?
The German tabloid Bild reported that Brych changed his assistants due to an argument with them. Brych hasn't been refereeing as well this season as in previous seasons, and he gave part of the blame to his long-time assistants Mark Borsch and Stefan Lupp. In today's Bundesliga game between Schalke and Düsseldorf, he had new assistants Frederick Assmuth and Thomas Stein. https://www.t-online.de/sport/fussb...reit-felix-brych-tauscht-assistenten-aus.html
Brych taking charge of the Hamburg derby in the Second Bundesliga this Sunday, again with his new assistants.
Fritz in action in Greece and had to abandon the game between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos after fans clashes with the police. https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/03/17/world/europe/ap-soc-greece-clashes.html
"Match of the Season" Bayern Munich - Borussia Dortmund Referee: Manuel Gräfe Assistants: Guido Kleve, Markus SInn 4th Official: Christof Gunsch VAR: Daniel Siebert AVAR: Lasse Koslowski
DFB Cup Semi-Finals Werder Bremen - Bayern Munich Referee: Daniel Siebert Assistants: Lasse Koslowski, Jan Seidel 4th Official: Soeren Storks VAR: Dr. Robert Kampka AVAR: Tobias Reichel Hamburg - RB Leipzig Referee: Dr. Felix Brych Assistants: Marco Achmueller, Eduard Beitinger 4th Official: Bibiana Steinhaus VAR: Bastian Dankert AVAR: Rene Rohde
Fallout from Dortmund's game against Schalke on Saturday - Reus gets two games, Marius Wolf for three games for SFP fouls. http://www.espn.com/soccer/borussia...anned-two-games-for-red-vs-schalke-wolf-three IMO, both calls were absolutely right. Tackles from behind, both right on the Achilles tendon. These are the tackles that FIFA wants to get out of the game.