To be honest, I think Elfath has hurt his case for big games in Qatar over this playoff run. Between the penalty decision (specifically, the in-out component of it) in Montreal, and the DOGSO decision here… the world of VAR mitigates the damage caused by these sorts of mistakes, but neither should have been a difficult call and he completely misperceived them both. And both were in crucial late stages of the match. He didn’t ref poorly in either game, by any stretch. He did all the things we expect to see in an Elfath game: good personal communication with the players, calm demeanor. But it didn’t feel like he was at his sharpest, either (for example, the missed advantage, and blocking a promising attack by getting in the way of the ball, on top of the KMI error). Maybe FIFA take a very-macro view of it: that it was a crazy game and the referee isn’t controversial. But my probably-not-that-well-educated feeling is that he didn’t inspire an incredible amount of confidence in me, given the simple mistakes. They were inconsequential mistakes this time. They might not be, in Qatar. All to play for in the group stage.
You’re right. But did it matter that Geiger didn’t actually ask for that jersey or that Esse actually did get the pk call right? Sometimes controversy surrounds us even in moments when we are correct and from an administration standpoint, it’s easier to go with someone who hasn’t had the same misfortunes. It was unlikely his team would ever see Canada because of the confederation neutrality so as I said, he’s probably still in the same position he was to begin with. They picked him (and like him) despite making many of these kinds of mistakes over the last 4 years. You definitely know what you’re going to get from him. That sometimes includes a decision that probably shouldn’t need VAR help to correct.
I don't think MLS Cup will affect FIFA's perception of Elfath re: Qatar one bit--or at least not negatively. I think it's worth recognizing that Elfath has been a pretty consistent referee for years now. And he's kept rising. Some of the things we criticize are perceived by FIFA as features, not bugs. To that end, I think FIFA would pay much more attention to how smoothly Elfath changed the yellow to red and got almost no dissent during a cup final (I mean, it's a send off in extra time of a cup final and he's changing the color of the card to a goalkeeper who is seriously injured!) rather than the inaccuracy of the initial decision. I think you're dealing with a regime that knows it has VAR and is comfortable using it once a match or so in order to upgrade truly incorrect decisions versus having referees over-punish and need to correct downward. And if you're looking for a referee who will give you that, while also having excellent player management skills, well, Elfath fits that bill. The biggest practical result or observation from yesterday is that Elfath's ARs helped save him. Granted, Fischer would have got it if not, but that would have been a little uglier. The point, though, is that PRO was vindicated by putting two stalwart ARs on the match, despite not being part of Elfath's regular trio. You had two veterans who have/had no qualms helping to guide their referee to the needed result (Dickerson, too, which is impressive). Would Atkins/Parker be as forceful in their assistance? Impossible to say with certainty.
I'm not entirely clear what point you're trying to make here, but it feels a little apples and oranges to your initial statement. The injury happened, period. Nothing the ref did or didn't do had anything to do with it or would have changed it. Was it controversial that he didn't have the card right initially? Possibly. But that would have been the case with or without the injury. None of the talk I'm seeing is using the injury to make this decision any bigger than it already was. And honestly, outside of this forum none of the talk I'm seeing is focusing on the fact that a yellow card was out initially. Since he got the call right without VAR nobody is talking about the call as anything but correct while showing concern for the injured keeper.
From the perspective of someone without inside knowledge… Elfath has been consistent and FIFA likes him; this isn’t new. He’s one of the best I’ve seen in presence and game management, he’s fit, reads the game well and the players respect him; he also seems to be able to take the temperature of a game down quite effectively and he does these things all very well. As for yesterday’s DOGSO, well, he got it right. Somehow he used the tools that were available to him (communication with the rest of the crew or VAR) and got it correct which is ultimately what matters to the invested parties. Should he have got it in real time? Seems like it but given what else he brings to the game I don’t know how much this will matter. I think the potential problem is that every now and then he makes calls that don’t seem to make a lot of sense (lapse in focus maybe?) specifically I’m thinking of the PKs he’s called against Montreal (foul outside the box which was really a penalty) or a foul against NYRB which really was a PK against Cincinnati. Both of those were “huh?” moments and I don’t think it’s wrong to suspect he wouldn’t have called them if he realized what the ultimate decision would be. now, that’s happened three times that I can remember (twice this year and once a few years ago) so it’s not like a common thing but I can’t help but think one of those in the World Cup would not be looked at favorably.
I agree with your overall macro assessment of Elfath. That call won't certainly help him in his prospects on Qatar, but I don't think Busacca, Collina, etc. will watch that and say "Elfath can't get an obvious DOGSO decision right, that means we won't give him a knock-out match." At the same time, they won't watch that and say "look how well he handled that, let's pencil him in a for a semi-final." I do think you are giving him too much credit for the way he managed the change and the reactions from everyone. Everyone in the entire stadium expected a red card there. Look at Philadelphia's reaction at the initial yellow. They all are flabbergasted. There are certain decisions that 99% of all professional players expect and won't complain about even if it goes against their team. This is one of them. Look at Vela's reaction on the sideline. He was practically laughing at the decision incredible that his team got off the hook there. This is basically a long way of say that any referee would have gotten the same reaction from getting such an obvious decision right. Everyone knew that a red card needed to be shown there. Professional players want to win at all costs, but even they have limits for protests against decisions that go against their team. My concern is what are the odds something like this happens again in Qatar? VAR will be there to bail him out to an extent, but what happens if he doesn't get a great VAR on his game and doesn't intervene on something similar to what happened in MLS Cup. It's obvious that something is wrong with Eflath's philosophy when it comes to big decisions. He basically will need a Irmatov type World Cup where he doesn't have to make any big decisions and he'll be fine. That's what happened in 2010 for Irmatov. Had a couple of games where he never really needed to get involved. Then the next two World Cups gradually tested him more and more until he got found out in Russia. If Eflath, however, he gets a game, where he has to make big calls and he gets them wrong initially. Then I don't know. VAR can only bail you out so many times.
hasn't he been to several youth world cups and other big tournaments? I would think he's a pretty well known quantity to the people making decisions
Not only has Elfath been to these events, he had the whistle for the last U20 World Cup final. Some guy named Michael Oliver did a semi in that same event.
Interesting late timing to publish this, but PRO just put out The Definitive Angle for the Playoffs. http://proreferees.com/2022/11/23/the-definitive-angle-mls-cup-playoffs/ Of note, they supported the review on the Diego Fagundez incident in LAFC vs Austin and say that a penalty kick should have been awarded.
The Inside Video Review published today gives the entire audio/video of the Crepeau red card. Turns out it was Ian Anderson that convinced Elfath to change the call.
To be fair, the one affirmative big decision he made in the tournament so far was widely panned as wrong. And if he doesn’t address the headbutt with a card in MLS, we get pages of discussion here. But I still go back to my post in response to @StarTime. Elfath is giving FIFA exactly what it had come to expect and wants. The added bonus in his favor is that he hasn’t faced a true KMI or technical test with the potential to totally blow. The Ronaldo penalty was defensible enough even if not preferred. If he can get through a fourth match like that, it will be the tournament of a lifetime. But the DOGSO decision at MLS Cup shows there is absolutely the potential for a big hiccup along the way, too; we shouldn’t pretend it didn’t happen.