http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or-I3-Oq_z0 Ok, so not the most high-profile match in the world, but I did come across something very interesting. First, if you can ignore what I assume is rap in some sort of Balkan language, please watch the first 20 seconds of the above video. And then try to explain to me what happened. A penalty is obviously given, for what one can only assume to be handling. But the referee clearly begins to whistle well before the handling occurs and starts by signaling indirect (for offside?). I admit this isn't the best angle and that we need more context, but can anyone figure out what happened? Or, less likely but even better, did anyone see this match?
I didn't see the match, but he may have had the whistle ready, because he was expecting to use it - potentially for a goal, but there were bodies flying in front of the goal, so anything was possible. The hand up may have been a "stop the game; I'm blowing my whistle, I'm making a call, and I don't want any funny stuff. Now where is that spot!" The clip was interrupted before he could point to the spot, but I'd assume the point came quickly after the clip interruption.
It almost looks like he wants to call handling on the guy who eventually takes the shot, hard to tell but the ball may have hit his arm before he took the shot, it is just about then that the ref starts the whistle up to his mouth. However if he were to make that call, then the second handling which looks like he did call, shouldn't have happened. Maybe he thought the guy came from an offside position and was getting ready for that? But then his reaction should have been to look to theAR, not bring the whistle up?
See, I wish we had a wider replay. Because, based on where he's coming from, I'm willing to very confidently guess that #20 for Montenegro was in an offside position when #19 took his initial shot. The timing of the signal for offside would make sense (AR recognize offside, involvement, flag up, CR recognize flag, CR brings whistle to mouth). I really, really wish we had a better replay and more than 20 seconds of video, because I don't buy that a FIFA referee would raise his hand to stop play and run forward toward the incident. I'd also like to see a box score, to see what sort of cards were given out, if any.
Saw this on the UEFA site: "The home side started better and were rewarded on 28 minutes when Fabijan Cipot fouled Milan Purović and captain Mirko Vučinić scored from the penalty spot." I believe Cipot is number 2 sliding in. Could it be that the ref is pointing for a penalty kick rather than an indirect kick? http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/news/kind=1/newsid=573931.html