Jair Marrufo waved off an apparent goal by Christian Gomez that would've equalized the playoff series between DC United and the Chicago Fire. The ruling was that Gomez handled the ball before he scored. I think he got the call right. I'm curious what the refs in this forum think.
From the replays, my opinion is that the defender's movement carried Gomez's arm to the ball rather than it being Gomez's action. In real time, without the benefit of replays, I believe I would have made the same call as the ref. Scott
If I was there, there is no way I would have even SEEN the contact!!! IMO that was an amazing call (correct too!), especially having to look through everyone in the PA and catch the subtle movement of the hand to gather in the ball.
Two things... As I've said on other threads, other than the announcers fixating on it, it's impossible to tell whether he called the handling or the push. Either of them is a great call and it took a lot of guts to do that in RFK at that moment. Marrufo deserves a ton of credit. To the post above regarding the handling being caused by the defender. Maybe the arm is up there initially because of that, but on the replay you can see that he basically carries/propels the ball into his path with a sweeping motion. The arm might have got into that position by accident but the subsequent motion was very deliberate. If it was a handling call, it was a good call. That being said, if there was no handling, Marrufo would have been pretty justified in calling a pushing foul, too, though that would have been a little tougher for DC fans to swallow, I think. EDIT: someone else has said they saw Marrufo point to his arm, so forgot my pushing theory
I honestly don't recall seeing a "sweeping motion" in the replays, but in all fairness, I am a United fan. It's harder to be objective when you're emotionally invested in the outcome. Scott
I am a DCU fan too, all the way, and I think that the contact carried his arm into the ball, unintentionally. BUT, I think when Gomez found himself with the ball on his arm, he MIGHT have given it a little nudge. Honestly, I don't know if he would have even had time to react in that manner. Mostly I thought the call was out of character for the way the rest of the game was called (i.e. when in doubt let the game continue). I try to let the game go if I'm not sure, I think he may have been scared to get it wrong (to word it poorly).
I was there and all I can say with certainty is that I couldn't see it well. Any links to a video? The highlights from the game don't show it.
Yeah, go here http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3090657&categoryId=2378529 About a minute in, and the intentional handball is pretty clear. And I'm one of the biggest DC United homers you'll ever meet. It's very hard for me to say that goal should've been disallowed, but IMHO, Marrufo got it right.
He tries to chest it down, but it's too far away from his body and he winds up knocking it down with his arm. Correct and very courageous call.
I'd like to expand the discussion to the whole game as I thought there were some fascinating incidents in addition to the Gomez call. I was at the game and in the Barra so my angles may not have been amazing, however- 1) the handling- in real time watching it I thought foul, more for the shove than the handling though I saw that too. The jumbotron replay made it look much more borderline than it seemed in realtime. Anyone think the AR helped call this one? Marrufo was relatively far away from play (I thought) though with a good angle into it. 2) the Perkins foul in/out of PA- a pretty hard call to get in terms of location not made easier by the fact that again Marrufo was a good distance away from the play- this would be my only critique as to how he worked the game 3) The refusal of the DC players to knock the ball out when Blanco and Carr went down. This to me is an interesting adjustment by a team who clearly felt that Chicago was time-wasting and going down easily- not sure how you deal with it as a ref- I could certainly see this becoming a serious flashpoint in the matches I work. Leading to increased anger from the team that felt the other was being "unsporting" 4) After the red, the Chicago player went off for treatment and bounced right back up asking to be let on. Marrufo chose to ignore him for a substantial amount of time- an interesting technique. I'd heard this mentioned as a awy to deal with layers who you thought were gaming you on injuries but never seen it applied- thought it worked pretty well though you ould see the player getting rather agitated on the touchline.
even if unintentional, which I firmly do not believe, his arm was in an unnatural playing position. Regardless, shouldn't have been as close as it was as Jair missed the PK for chicago, called it outside of the penalty area when clearly in. Have to wonder if the AR signaled it was in the area or not, and if he didn't why, as that's his job, and if he did, why did Jair ignore. Otherwise a very well called game.
The Perkins foul occurred on the very furthest point it culd have from the AR- very tough for him to see that for sure and assist.
I'm a DCU fan since the beginning of MLS, and heartbroken, but the call was right. The ball comes up into Gomez's arm, but he then plays it back down--in other words, ball wouldn't have come back to his feet for a shot without the play off his arm. Perkins' foul was inside the area, should have been a PK. But overall, game was pretty rough. Maruffo did an ok job--didn't think it was great. Too much rough play let go, game management could have been better. But it didn't change the outcome.
When referees see a ball hit an arm and then go into the net, it is VERY hard to focus and concentrate on making an honest decision. One team is in your face wanting the handling called, and the other team almost always gives the look of "oh crap, it hit his arm, is it going to count", and the "guilty look" cements itself on the player's face. Add to that a few thousand screaming fans, and the temptation is to blow the whistle just because it's what 99% of the people there expect.. I have not seen a video of the play, but without regard for whether the decision was right or wrong, it takes some serious cajones to blow the whistle and point the other way. I'll give any referee credit for that, no matter how right or wrong they are.
Like others I'm a DC United fan and desperately wanted them to win. But the call was correct and courageous. The Washington Post had a perfect picture. The link is attached. You have to wade through an ad but it should be the first picture that appears.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2007/11/02/GA2007110201130.html
whoa whoa whoa...I don't like the espn clip because it doesn't show the holding, tussling and blocking (dare I say fouling? never gonna get that called in the box) that led to the awkward positioning of Gomez... But to put up a photo, a single instant in time, for a foul that, in order to be a foul, must be deliberate, well that proves nothing (what if pickens had just kicked the ball up there - certainly no timeto react at that distance).
the idea that an 'advantage' from the ball touching your arm means that it is appropriate to call a foul is just plain incorrect. I'm sorry, either it was deliberate, or not, it was a foul, or not. A fortunate bounce does not turn a non-foul into a foul.
ESPN had that "floating" camera following the ball around, as well as a cameraman very close to the play. Is the shot that we saw the only one they had?
Two things... 1) Good calls are ignored 99.999% of the time by fans and the media who fixate on the one or two controversial ones so it's nice to see fans giving Marufo some props for making the right one in a key situation... 2) DCU fans have a rep around the league for being a little full of themselves but it's nice to see that most of the ones here acknowledging that Marufo got it right. I think it shows some class.
Of course when I first saw it I thought it was bs. But then the ref kicked in as a watched the replay. GOOD CALL. Gomito didn't mean to handle the ball, BUT he gained an advantage from the play. I'm suprized the ref notice during the run of play. He called a very good game IMHO
Wow I am stunned when referees state the above mythical nonsense..."he didn't mean to handle but gained an advantage" The myth of the "unintentional handball" still lives! What the heck are you talking about...that statement is so very, very WRONG! Get yourself a copy of The Myths of the Game and educate yourself. Great video of the ball hitting the players arm, falls to her feet and scores a goal. Either a player handles the ball or not...either it is a foul or not...what happpens after the "hand and ball contact" is immaterial.
There is no requirement to be a referee to post on this forum. Like most announcers, many fans aren't familiar with the subtleties that we get drilled into us in training. Like players and coaches that make mistakes, we sometimes get to be the educators. Let's remember to do it professionally.
What I'm saying is that the ball played the hand. I've been officiating for six years and I am pretty sure I know what I'm talking about. He didn't stick his hand up and try to pull "a hand of god". And like I said, he didn't mean to handle the ball, but he gained an advantage, so the goal was called back.