UEFA Referee Categories & Appointments 2012-13 [Rs]

Collectively, that puts the UCL QF referees as: Stark, Clattenburg, Eriksson, Moen, Thomson, Lannoy, Kuipers, Velasco Carballo.

Five games remain.

Webb, Kassai and Proenca seem to be strong candidates for the semis, as they are all eligible (and can't do that Final, having all previously had it). Not saying all 3 will get one, as one could have the EL Final, for example, but definitely 3 top candidates.

The other remaining options appear to be Skomina, Cakir, Brych (depending on which German teams progress and how the draw goes) and Rizzoli. A repeat from QF to SF isn't impossible, as it did happen last year, but it's not the norm.

Doesn't appear Brych can be saved for the Final, as at least one German team could be involved. And not sure UEFA would want the media hoopla of Cakir on the Final--not this year, in London, at least... though I do think he'll get a semi in one of the competitions. So I'd read the appointments as the Final being down to Rizzoli and Skomina.

 

He probably was "dropped,"but I doubt--almost to the level of certainty--that it had anything to do with a club protest.

Stark's crew missed a game-critical decision and mis-applied the laws in a situation that could have led to a goal. It's almost certain he and his crew failed. My understanding of UEFA is that, while politics and balance obviously must play a role, actual marks on UEFA assignments are pretty close to determinative for future appointments. Failing a QF match doesn't auger well for any referee.

Regardless, "dropped" is relative. In the past several years, each season, only one referee who works at the QF stage gets to work again. Also, there are two German teams still alive in the competition. So, while he likely failed and UEFA won't use him in latter stages, it's not like they had any real options if they did want to use him.

We'll see. On the merits over the course of this season, I think it's Skomina. Politically, the argument is for Rizzoli since he's older and Italian clubs often reach this stage, so you should appoint him now when it's a viable option (whereas no Slovenian club is ever going to make the Final). But we know from Kassai's appointment two years ago--and Michel's appointment a few years before that--that such political arguments don't seem to hold much weight any more with the Final.

I'd pick Skomina, at the moment. But if Skomina shows up in a semi, I'd say Rizzoli is then a lock.

 

I haven't seen the angle that proves this, but I trust it's true because this is being said in multiple places by people who watched the game. However, the bigger lesson (and, I think, mistake) is from the actual scoring of the goal--not when the cross is played. The goalscorer's right foot is essentially on the goal line when a teammate last plays the ball forward. He's ahead of the goalkeeper. He's 100% offside. But it's one of those confusing situations where the field player is the last defender back, a rebound has occurred, the attacker is ahead of the goalkeeper, etc. If you freeze frame it, it's an obvious offside. In real-time, we--even UEFA FIFA ARs, apparently--sometimes miss these things if we're not training ourselves to look for them.

 

Thanks for the still, but I urge you to go back and watch the video of the goal-scoring touch. It's 100% offside.

The still shows a straightforward blown decision, much like PSG last week. It's bad--maybe even really bad here--but it happens.

The actual touch that leads to the goal is a somewhat odd incident, but it's also an offside violation. If there's something to learn from this match, it's on that touch because it will remind us as ARs to keep our focus--while expanding our thought processes--the closer to goal we get.

 

No. To start, offside isn't his responsibility. It seems like in this incident and the PSG one last week, it's suddenly become in fashion to suggest the AAR should make offside calls as a refereeing "last line of defense." This is a very, very, very bad idea.

To begin with, he's not in position. Part of the reason that we always say how difficult accuracy in offside decisions are is due to position (witness Malaga's second goal today--that position of being half a yard out of line likely made all the difference). The AAR is not in position to make or sell this call.

On top of that, he's not looking for it. He's not looking at where the defenders are at all. So by the time he sees the actual touch by the attacker, he actually doesn't know where the defenders were when the ball was played.

For this specific play, though I am advocating it's a missed call, it's actually a lot closer than it first seems. Remember the goalkeeper can legally play the ball with his hand, so that outstretched hand counts as the part of the body of the second-to-last defender that is closest to the goal line. The AAR--even if he was looking for this, which he's not--would have no way of being 100% sure that the right foot of the Dortmund attacker was in front of the fingertips of the left hand of the Malaga goalkeeper at the time the ball was last played by the Dortmund teammate.

The last thing you'd want is the AAR jumping in here and being wrong. It would be catastrophic. It's better he doesn't jump in at all. You've got to trust ARs to make the decisions they are supposed to make. What would you do, as a referee, if the AAR said it was offside here, anyway? Do you think the AR would suddenly defer and say "yes, I was in position but the AAR is probably right?" Not going to happen. As a CR, I'm trusting the guy who was in position and whose duty it is to judge offside. But that's all academic, because the AAR is not supposed to intervene to begin with.

 

Ah, I see. Good point, as the AAR's body could--possibly*--have been shielding the AR somewhat. One would hope this sort of thing is in the pre-game and everyone works to confirm a good goal. No idea if instructions to AARs are that detailed or not, though. The video we saw on the UEFA website shows they are a lot more involved in things than many first thought, but not sure if that would include something like this.

*though possible, it shouldn't have here, given the relative position of the 2LD and the ball... but it is something to consider in general for close goal line/offside decisions like this