CONCACAF VAR at its finest in minutes 68-72. Referee called over on what sure looks like an obvious foul in Austin’s favor, stares at the screen for what seems like three minutes, then says no penalty. You just have to marvel at how bad CONCACAF refereeing is outside of PRO and FMF. Barton and Martinez excepted, of course.
What do you think? I’m not sure you can punish that. It’s not deliberate VC. And the attacker is trying to possess the ball when he has no right to do so. Maybe you could book the defender for DR if he actually blasts the ball away as intended. But the irony is the attacker’s move prevents the delay so maybe that isn’t viable either. It’s a really weird one but I think I can get behind doing nothing here. With more management than actually shown, of course.
60’ ATS-OLI, did Calderon just give Olimpia a foul come out for an Olimpia player colliding with his own goalkeeper? Sheesh.
Chaotic end to Orlando vs Tigres after the Orlando goal to equalize on aggregate but down on away goals. Lots of fouls, stop-start play, a confusing substitution delay, a correct and well-spotted 2CT to Tigres, and then a red to Orlando's coach for confronting the referee after the final whistle. The behavior is obviously inappropriate, but it's very understandable why he's mad: 5 minutes were added on initially, and after everything that happened, the game only lasted to about 96:30. By my count, it should have gone to at least 98. Apart from the last few minutes, not much good or bad to say about Martinez from this one, he was good enough in a very anxious match, but his player management was overall a bit too passive for my taste.
7' of LAF-LDA, penalty awarded for handball after OFR. I can't agree with this call at all, truly where else is his arm supposed to go? It's a completely natural position.
The penalty was scored, but I would be very interested to see what would have happened if it was saved. The goalkeeper clearly started well behind his line. The IFAB has been pretty clear that that's not supposed to be allowed, but enforcement of it in various leagues has been patchy at best (e.g., MLS Cup).
Even for Mr. card happy like me, this is a big nothingburger for the same reason. Tell the Haiti player to not try to kick the ball away in anger, and tell the Austin player "when a goal is scored, the ball belongs to the defense. Please do not go after balls after you score to prevent confrontation".
I got a question: If a Concacaf team (club or national team) has unplayable and dangerous field conditions, does a referee have the authority to abandon the match? Is there any specific rule for that?
Under the laws, yes. In reality, it will be up to the Confederation and it's match commissioners in consultation with any key stake holders.
I didn’t hear about this until I read the Athletic’s recap, but Curacao played 53 minutes with 10 men against Canada after a 2CT. I’m looking to see if pigs are flying after seeing a 2CT in a CONCACAF match.
USA-SLV, 21st minute- Dike is tackled American Football style with no foul. Never change, Mario Escobar. Never change.
The assignments for these last two days are interesting, if for no other reason than they give a window into perceived stature within CONCACAF post-World Cup. Assignments were, perhaps obviously, made in a batch for MD 5/6, so anyone assigned got one assignment. Some notables: League A (all) Suriname : Mexico - MARTINEZ (HON) Mexico : Jamaica - ELFATH (USA) Martinique : Costa Rica - FISCHER (CAN) Costa Rica : Panama - RAMOS (MEX) Curacao : Canada - CALDERON (CRC) Canada : Honduras - BARTON (SLV) Grenada : United States - PARCHMENT (JAM) United States : El Salvador - ESCOBAR (GUA) Elfath's ended 2-2 with a penalty for Mexico to draw and win the group, so that's kind of interesting (though not really, as it was a nailed-on pen). Ramos' is do-or-die for both teams with Panama winning the group on a draw. Same thing for Barton and Canada. And we know the U.S. scenario. The other matches all set up the final match with perhaps Fischer's being the most important because Costa Rica had to win to stay alive (and they did, 2-1 with goals in 88' and 90+2'). League B (selection) Guadeloupe : Antigua & Barbuda - LUC-LAUZIERE (CAN) Barbados : Cuba - W. LOPEZ (GUA) Bermuda : Guyana - HERNANDEZ (MEX) Trinidad & Tobago : Nicaragua - VILLARREAL (USA) Guatemala : French Guiana - ORTIZ (MEX) Villarreal and Ortiz both with "huge" matches insofar as promotion goes, so those stand out (and were easily forseeable as being such. League C (selection) Sint Maarten : Bonaire - SAGHAFI (USA) Bonaire : Turks & Caicos - WILLIAMS (TRI) USVI : Sint Maarten - GUMBS (SKN) Saint Lucia : Dominica - MARCOTTE (CAN) BVI : Puerto Rico - RADIX (GRN) Puerto Rico : Cayman Islands - KOROLEVA (USA) Highlighting Radix to show how far he's dropped after getting a Hex game. The two women get matches in groups that are completely settled. The other three games were/are all relevant to promotion, but we are also talking about very minor nations so take it with a grain of salt.
Rounding things out for now, Saghafi with a VC off-the-ball red, given by AR2, at 6:00 below. Of course, you never see the replay. But you see the scenery and get to hear the amateur-level nature of this tier of competition:
66’-Escobar finally shows a caution, but didn’t realize the US has a clear advantage with Reyna having the ball at his feet 35 yards from goal with a lot of space and Dest on his right. Talk about messing up even when you finally get it right…..
Huge decision in the 97th minute of Trinidad & Tobago vs Nicaragua for Armando Villarreal, with Nicaragua winning the group with a draw. T&T thought they had the winner, but the attacker controlled the ball with his arm before scoring. Very good job, correct handball and yellow card from Villarreal, as far as I can tell. I think the call might have come from AR2 Cory Richardson, can’t quite see for sure what angle Villarreal had, but I think he had a mass of four bodies between him and the handball. Richardson popped the flag with for the handball as Villarreal was whistling.
What am I missing, it looks like a simple push square the the opponent's chest that seems like simply a YC and nothing more.
I trust Fischer not to overreact in a situation like this. We are shielded by Fischer on point of contact. I've got to believe the strike actually lands on the neck/chin. Because otherwise, yeah, I don't get it. Maybe some very bad/unacceptable words accompanied it?
In last night's Nations League match between Canada and Honduras, it appears to me that Canada's #21 Jonathan Osorio gives the referee a "gentle" shove in the upper back from behind with his left arm while wagging his right finger at him. It happens very quickly and easy to miss. The fracas starts at 9:36 of the video and the push appears to happen at 9:47. It appears to be the case since the referee turns back to the scene of the fracas a second later:
Thought this might be worth some discussion.... https://www.espn.com/soccer/mexican...der-investigation-for-kneeing-player-in-groin Perfect example of what can happen when mass dissent goes unpunished and is allowed to fester. Arguably the player the ref kneed should have been sent off for bumping the ref first.....