By the way, if you watch the replay of the first camera angle again, you'll notice that Malouda isn't even jumping over the ball. He was already past where the ball traveled, and his back was initially turned away from the defender. The contact alone is not sufficient enough to flip his body over, and yet he landed on his front -- presumably to catch himself, which also indicates he planned on falling the entire time. Combine that with the raising of his left leg despite it never actually making contact with the defender, and I'm not sure how you CAN'T conclude he is trying to simulate a trip. The bottom line, from my viewpoint, is that this sequence of movement is almost instinct for attacking players in the PA with no shot and a defender challenging them. Malouda probably didn't even think in this instance, he just went through the motion of a pretty standard simulation to fool the referee. Unfortunately, the sequence of events leading up to the simulation didn't fit the reaction, and that is the only reason we're now debating what actually transpired in the first place. Not to mention the referee blew his whistle anyway, but I'm not even going to speculate what HE was thinking...
Yes, it is possible. But I don't think that is what happened in this case. You have a much dimmer view than me, and I suspect most other refs on this board, of attacking players and their propensity to simulate, almost subconsciously.
Neither of us was involved in this challenge, so we cannot truly know what it felt like, how much contact occurred, how much force with which it moved Malouda, etc. So you don't think Malouda was dummying the ball at all, just trying to draw a foul? Do you think he knew Drogba was out there, wide open?
Yes, of course he was dummying the ball. He was also trying to simulate a foul. They are not mutually exclusive. And I think it is very easy to see how much contact occurred and the force applied through the replay. You don't need to experience the foul yourself to determine these things. Malouda created the contact and it normally would not be sufficient enough to flip him over like that. If the contact was truly innocent, he also would have been able to keep his feet. Instead he pulls them up and under himself.
Not having seen the play or anything to affect my interpretation... Wow. Very well said...what I would have written with a lot of thought and work. Bluedevils too...same thing. One center referee, two ARs and (I assume) a fourth official who all were not in the right position to make this call is unfortunate, as stated by intech, but that shouldn't detract from the fact that apparently some sort of trickery was also employed to affect the play as well.
Agree 100%! Overall, we are in nearly complete agreement on this whole thing. The only part I'm not convinced of is the "Malouda created the contact" but everything else, I'm right there with you. Funny how it took a while in this online medium to realize the degree to which we agree (try saying that 5x fast). We probably could have reached the same consensus within 2-3 minutes chatting face to face.
Let's not jump too far into hyperbole. No one but the referee should ever be making this call. A 4th doesn't have the power and, are you seriously suggesting the trail AR, who is at least 40 yards away, should? The only possible scenario is the lead AR and, even then, he should only be helping--if needed--with whether it's inside the area or not. This was the referee's call and he got it wrong.
Unfortunate, yes. But there really isn't much the rest of the crew can do when a ref is standing 5 yards from a play and blows the whistle and makes the decision. Perhaps I need to change my thinking, but I don't think it is practical or prudent to take input from an AR or 4th in a situation like this. No matter how bad your angle or how good the AR/4th's angle, you just can't go over and discuss it, and I don't even think you can take feedback via headset. As the ref, you have already blown your whistle. Everyone knows that it must be for a foul you think you have spotted. Now you are going to change your mind after the whistle has blown and get feedback from AR/4th who is 40+ yards further away? You just can't do it. The ref must shoulder the burden for this decision. If he is in a bad position, that is unfortunate but he's gotta stick with his decision. EDIT: I see Massref said basically the same thing at basically the same time! Sorry to double up.
No I'm not suggesting the trail or 4th official should be making the call, that comment was focused more on how unfortunate that two officials (CR and AR) were unable to work together to get the correct call made since apparently they both had bad angles to the play (?????????? - positioning?). Didn't mean to imply anything else. I only mentioned the other two refs because it seems like the call got discussed by committee at some point and their input could have been presented at that time. Just a guess about that from me, though.