You realize 11 of 12 of those VARs came from two leagues, right? And the 12th had never acted as a VAR in a competitive match until well after the Gold Cup was over? Let's call a spade a spade here. CONCACAF refereeing is poor. What makes anyone think that CONCACAF VARing would be an improvement? It's an additional skill, which is very challenging to master. Look at some of the results from CCL. I can't get over the fact that people watch Radix and Nation and Escobar officiate and just think "well, if they had VAR it would be better." The bottom line is that there's no way CONCACAF officials are ready to use VAR on a wide scale. You can lay the blame on CONCACAF for not having foresight and preparation, as I do. But pretending these officials are ready to use VAR is only slightly more laughable than pretending some of them are ready to referee at this level.
I mean, I personally questioned UEFA's decision to use VAR for WCQs this cycle. They barely have the bandwidth to do it and, insofar as confederations go, they are light years ahead of everyone else. On our side of the globe, we've seen some disaster situations in CONMEBOL, too. CONCACAF is bad here. But a lot of this is a byproduct of introducing it as a top down approach and pushing VAR through the experimental phase into an immediate World Cup. Now expectations are high. But it takes a while for things to trickle down. We conducted a World Cup less than four years ago where FIFA barely trusted 7 people to act as VARs. Even the EURO pool was very limited. Look what happens with expansion, even in Europe, with the Champions League. There are very, very few international officials who are good at being a VAR right now. And there are none in CONCACAF outside MLS and, I presume, Liga MX.
Had to watch on a slight delay so didn't post in real-time. My two cents on the three big incidents ... 1) I've got red on the foul 18 seconds in. First, he's not offside. Second, I find it interesting that Pepi is subject to a reckless challenge as he releases the pass, too. But as for the foul, it's DOGSO. There's really not a lot to hang your hat on to say that it isn't. The only thing I could possibly argue against DOGSO is something that's not really even a consideration. And that's that the defender who makes the foul probably would have enough time, given relative speeds and the overall direction of the ball prior to Arriola touching it, to make a good attempt to cut him off. In other words, the only person who could make this not an OGSO is the guy who decided to make the foul. So, dumb foul because probably unnecessary. But tough luck. It's red. I do laugh at people thinking Radix would go red via VAR if it existed, though. C'mon. 2) 33' foul is something. It's probably not an expected foul at this level. But it's also technically a defensible foul. I think Radix realized he got himself into trouble after blowing the whistle. Playing on would have been more defensible. Once the whistle is blown and you figure out it's outside the area, it takes some effort to convince yourself it's not DOGSO. Sure, technically the ball is played away before a foul action actuall occurs, but that's splicing hairs that don't really exist. If the tackle is a foul, then the tackle denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. So yeah, I've got red here, too. On this play, however, I bet Radix would have used VAR to bail himself out of the whole situation and say it wasn't a clear foul. Speculation on my part, but, well, it's CONCACAF. 3) The shove of Arriola right near the end of the first half is probably the most egregious mistake and miss in my eyes. For the 1' incident, I get the instinct to not want to give red (even if I hate it). At 33', I get the instinct to not want to go red once you realize you may not have needed to call the foul. But the push on Arriola? Dude just shoves him with a straight arm off the ball and sends him flying for no reason whatsoever. The no-call there can only be explained away by believing that Radix thinks the Jamaican defender could not possibly be stupid enough to actually do what Radix just saw. So it's just a miss. He's staring right at an egregious and obvious foul and opts not to call it because, I surmise, he can't believe it actually happened? No matter what, it's unacceptable. I never got a good look to be certain it was a penalty and not a DFK, so it may not have been the most consequential mistake. But it's the one that showed me he was totally in over his head.
Does anyone have a video of the interesting situation between Crepeau and Lozano from min. 52 of Mexico-Canada? There was also a mass confrontation at min. 55 By the way, Cornejo replaced Barton who tested positive for Covid, as announced by Concacaf.
I don't have the video, but the 52' incident is pretty textbook "attacker doesn't let the keeper release the ball cleanly". Good call by Cornejo to whistle that. Lozano knew exactly what he was doing. As Lozano comes toward Crepeau, he tried to pull the ball back. The mass con at 55' was just a continuation of 52'. There's obviously some bad blood between these two teams stemming back to the Gold Cup.
The 33' foul is very interesting. Many views at the 2:47 mark I actually think "no foul" is defensible. However, once you call it, it has to be red for DOGSO.
5:24 mark Both players should have been cautioned. Clear interference with release, but the keeper cannot be allowed to mug a guy from behind like that.
I came up with two possible ideas on why I think he missed it. 1. He has the view from right behind, a poor angle to see it, plus there are two quick elements of contact which were hard for him to read in the moment. -and/or- 2. He thought the push was in the penalty area and he would have to call a penalty kick, and well, he just wasn't going to do that last night. (I notice his body language on this was similar to the other penalty shouts he didn't give.)
Here's a third option (or sub-clause to #1). He relied heavily on AR2 for both the previous incidents. I doubt AR2 could see this one well (why would he be looking at the back upper body of the player who was essentially off-the-ball?). But when AR2 doesn't react at all on an obvious foul that's very close to him, and you trusted him two times before to intervene/help with massive decisions... it probably helps convince you there's nothing there.
Thanks for this. I chuckled when the ref called for the foul and impacted the head of the Mexico #9, and the latter instinctively tried to sell the contact as card worthy. I agree that when you look at the angles involved, that's a call for the AR to make. For that miss, he's not going to get a glowing assessment either.
It was pretty clear all night that Radix was not confident at all in his decision making. During both DOGSOs, he took a LONG time before pulling a card. I get wanting to get input from your team, but at some point you're the referee. It's your decision. You have to make the call. On the Arriola push (and I think by that time I was just so desensitized to the officiating that I just thought, "eh, whatever" when there was no whistle), I think he's really asking/hoping AR2 has something he can call. As you said, his body language all night on big calls was one of "I really hope I'm making the right call". Radix was simply not ready to officiate a game of this caliber. It's a common issue with many CONCACAF referees that they just don't have the quality of domestic matches to prepare them for the World Cup qualifying stage. As I texted a friend of mine last night, an ECSR referee who does a lot of D2 and D3 matches probably has had the quality of matches Radix has had to be ready for a game like this. I get that a lot of people say that better competition in CONCACAF will benefit the bigger teams. However, I really think it will benefit the officials more. You just can't expect a guy who has officiated domestic matches in Granada to step onto a field with a bunch of European, MLS, and even USL players and expect to be able to effectively control a match.
I'd love to see the moneyline odds on that happening. I'm guessing it would be north of +1000. I will referee a World Cup match before a US-Mexico game at the Azteca is played behind closed doors.
LOL. It's hard to get yellow cards in some CONCACAF matches. There is no way they'd take that action no matter how deserved it was. Or at least, I would be amazed if they did.
So I thought this is what happened, too, even before I saw your post. First, I thought he might have actually grazed his face. Then I watched the replay and came to the conclusion that you did. But then I started thinking, "that can't be right," and speculated that maybe he was trying to sell there was contact to his face when the goalkeeper tackled him--but, watching again, he's not the player involved. It was only on that third watch that I saw what really happened. His teammate smacked him in the jaw. Clear as day. It's actually a fascinating little vignette. He reacts, probably appropriately to the level of force he received, and then moves on. The referee thinks, maybe, he was pretending that the referee struck him(?). So he reacts accordingly, even though that's not what was going on. Watching it all, the main thought I had is that if an opponent accidentally struck him like that, he would be on the ground for at least 90 seconds trying to get him sent off.
I agree with you on this one. I'd also add, the speed of Kemar Lawrence he may have gotten into position to defend without the tug. Move it 5-10 yards closer to goal, its red, but that was too far.
Using USSF grassroots recertification training, he will reflect on this match, refer to his journal and talk with others to improve next time. (e) All of the above.
But he also screwed the next match for Jamaica's opponent who potentially should see them missing two starting defenders due to suspension.
Totally disagree. With professional players that is a standard place where DOGSO is going to apply. We've only talked about the missed send offs, but it's also notable that the only cautions were for what should have been send offs. There were a few cautions I thought should have been given (though given what we've been seeing in the WCQ, I'm not sure any are too surprising that they were not given). I did think that the calculated take down as Aaronson (?) was about to enter the PA was about as clear a tactical fouls as you can get--and arguably the hold continued into the PA. Anyone else notice the ball was on the PA line for the FK?
Instead, Canada saw a handful of yellow cards (which started to get given out like candies at Hallowe'en, and they'll be missing a few players due to suspension.
Here's the bottom line for that debacle by the center last night. This is what happens when FIFA and in this case CONCACAF try to freaking hard to build the game in smaller countries. This guy had zero business being put in charge of a WC qualifier especially when there is no VAR to bail him out. When the decision was made to not use VAR for the Ocho then you damn well better make nothing but top notch ref assignments for these matches. As for the actual calls. Nothing to say different than already stated. Two reds and a blatant yellow not issued. Unacceptable. That match should have been over at 11v10 in less than a minute. One of my major complaints during my playing/coaching/reffing career was anytime there was some guidance or suggestion that the game should be called differently due to the time in the match. Drove me nuts. A PK in the first minute is a PK. Tough shit for the fouling team. Don't like it? Don't commit the foul. A red card in the first minute is a red card. Period. Ok rant over....lol
Understood. As I read further in the thread after I posted, MassRef points out why I may be incorrect in that Lawrence at that moment makes to stupid decision to grab Aaronson to make it DOGSO. Gave me a little more to think of, yet I'm still of the opinion that the yellow is OK right there.
In my opinion, technically, it should be a penalty kick. Lozano was not moving toward the goalkeeper... what exactly makes you think that Lozano clearly interfered with the release?