2022-2023 UEFA Referee Discussion [R]

Have moved EPL related posts to the appropriate forum.

 

Wait, what? For that? Yikes.

I wish your post could get a lot more eyes. The idea that that incident gets sent down as clearly wrong several days after the EURO 2022 one didn't, where both occurred under the same governing authority and ostensibly played under the exact same referee/VAR instructions is laughable. There's no other way to describe it if we are sticking to the party line that VAR is supposed to increase objectivity and eliminate clear errors.

I've made my point on the EURO one; it's a handball and a penalty. This one, it really all comes down to what @socal lurker honed in on. If the arm is in a position that is justifiable by the body movement for that particular situation. When you stop and think about it, there really is no reason for that right arm to be up; a player could naturally lunge like that without having his arm up. That said, he also doesn't really seem to be putting it in a place that risks handling and, if anything, has taken it away from space where it would be more likely to strike the ball. Of course, I guess that's not a consideration anymore.

Long way of saying I can see how, under the current Laws, an official would say that's a penalty. And if we are still pretending we are in a world where all handballs can be objectively decided via VAR, then I can see why this gets sent down.

Of course...
1) The harshness of the decision shows how the Laws still aren't perfect.
2) The idea that every handball can be adjudicated to a "clearly right" position should be a fallacy
3) It's laughable when juxtaposed against Germany-England, as stated
4) And holy smokes he really got a yellow card for that?!?!

 

So is UEFA adopting the technology that FIFA will use in Qatar early and sort of stealing their thunder? If it was done cooperatively, sort of weird that FIFA isn't mentioned at all here.

The only alternative is that two different groups/entities are trialing semi-automated offside at the same time, which sounds delightful.

Oh, and that fourth official assignment is... odd? Local(ish) referee, I suppose. But not the sort of name you usually see there.

 

Wait. UEFA statement says this was trialed in all of last year's UCL matches. Did I completely miss that or is that news?

I'm only recalling FIFA talking about trials and then the use at the Arab Cup. Did UEFA also announce trials in 2021-2022 or did they just drop that news for the first time here? And I completely understand they were "live trials," so that's not my question. I just literally never recall UEFA saying anything about semi-automated offside until today. If they went a whole season secretly trialing it without it leaking, that would be something. So I'm sure I just missed it.

 

I think it's also worth acknowledging the Oliver appointment as a major accomplishment. Thought, looking at it, it seems like it could/should only be him Makkelie or Orsato.

You want it to be a referee going to Qatar. Can't be German or Spanish. Wouldn't be someone that's had it already. And very unlikely it would be someone who had one of the three cup finals in May. I think that just leaves Oliver, Makkelie and Orsato. Orsato has had a UCL final, Makkelie is presumably being touted for something big this year, plus English teams being out has to be a factor. So Oliver is pretty straightforward as the appointment.

 

With credit to @Mikael_Referee , Cakir has announced his retirement after the UCL qualifying match in Bulgaria this past Tuesday.

I guess something we should have seen coming. On the one hand, the timing is a bit odd given he fought to be reinstated in the Turkish league last spring. But without the WC selection (which had to be a prime motivation for reinstatement), I imagine the domestic hassles just weren't worth it and he had nothing left to achieve (nor much charity from the top) within Europe. I would have liked to see him go out on a big matchday 5 or 6 game in the group stage of UCL, but such is life and, after all, it's his choice.

With Kuipers, for me, the best .European referee of the last decade when you look at the entire body of work. Absolute shame how he's been treated the past 3 years.