I agree. That second caution for Robinson was really weak. Really surprised that was given in a CONCACAF match.
Once he called the (questionable) foul, the SPA card was proper you’re up 2 sitting on a yellow with only a few minutes left, why give the R the chance to make that call?
In the normal world... That makes sense. In CONCACAF where they don't give red cards... I don't know how he decided to do that besides forgetting he gave one already.
I genuinely wouldn’t care at all about the 2CT if it wasn’t for the inconsistency with how SPA was assessed all game. Yes, it was a weak foul as I said above. But he took a risk, like @socal lurker said. But he took a risk in a match where harder fouls were ignored and SPA wasn’t addressed. So the 2CT was inconsistent in two different ways. The fact that CONCACAF referees usually avoid such decisions is just icing on the cake. I also think we shouldn’t focus just on that incident when assessing Barton. His foul recognition was inconsistent. His player management wasn’t what it normally is. And then I think he let things go too far a little prior to the big flare-up, which resulted in a flare-up that he handled poorly. Whether or not he should have got the VC is an open question, but he bears some degree of culpability for not doing so. This was not a good performance. And I say that as someone who is a charter member of his fan club, which is what makes this so disappointing.
I’d actually say he was passable until he wasn’t. He was really really good relative to other CONCACAF referees. But we should have expect more of him. And I think some of his decisions in the first half, while not terribly consequential, were not optimal (I’ll raise his handling of Musah again) and set himself on the path toward inconsistency.
Does the fact that there is always a flare-up between these teams, and pretty much always a missed red card or two for violent conduct or USB, get Barton some leeway? Other regional refs have blown past iterations of this game and gone on (haven't they? Might just be my lack of knowledge on the topic.)
Fischer also had some interesting situations, including a VERY difficult situation to assess with a potential DOGSO foul by the goalkeeper at 7:00 of the package below.
The 4th should have seen it....he would have been on the opposite side of the field, but with a pretty clear line of sight.....
I think about when we do games at obviously far lower levels and how, frequently, if we know (or see from the first handful of minutes) that a game has a high chance of getting out of hand we will call it extremely tight to start then loosen up as we go because that's much easier than starting too loose to begin with. I'm curious when it comes to USA-MEX seemingly always having some sort of tussle/confrontation: Are these usually the result of the CR letting these games get too physical so some confrontation is the result, or is it just an inevitable result of the rivalry that even if a ref called it extremely tightly it would happen regardless?
How the heck you miss a guy applying the Russian Claw? And give McKinnie a yellow for getting in the guy's face? Unfortunately, I probably agree on the 2 yellows against Robinson, but they hurt more because of the missed clear red.
Fisher did a good job and maintained control. I thought on first viewing Panama's second goal was offside, but the goal scorer was in fact on. That was a very very very tough call to get right, because the offside player ran into the play but then didn't play the ball. I'd guess most of the time that would have been incorrectly ruled offside. I have no idea how that GK tackle is not DOGSO, or even SFP. The delayed whistle gave an illusion of maybe the ball wasn't moving toward the goal or maybe there was a covering defender. But wow. The fact Panama scored on free kick sort of nullifies the complaints though.
Not really excusing this, but the only thing I can think of is that the 4th and AR1 would have an angle to see it, but would have been too far away to have been able to clearly say "excessive force, so I recommend a VC sendoff". The whole situation happened in a bad area for more than official to see the foul AND be able to accurately judge its severity. I thought Barton was pretty solid in the first half. He just seemed like he got into the mindset of, "Uh oh - I'm starting to lose control of this, and I'm not sure what else I can do". Once the Adams play on the near sideline happened, Barton just seemed to lose his focus and confidence. I think if he cards the Mexico player for the shove on Adams on that play, a lot of the stuff that happened later doesn't happen. But the issue is CONCACAF doesn't want that card given, so we see things escalate.
Was able to go to this one so here are my in-person observations First half was fine, probably better than most CONCACAF referees. A bit Inconsistent but didn’t seem bad and nothing I would have described as significant. second half was, well, not good. Not sure how well this was seen on camera but the off the ball shithousing from Mexico was non-stop, especially after Pulisic came on. Just incessant tugs, ankle kicks and slaps away from the ball, behind the play, etc. As far as I could tell this was not addressed in any way and fact that this didn’t boil over is a testament to the mental preparation of the US team. To me, it looked like Berhalter had them ready. by the 75th minute Barton looked hopelessly out of his depth. Mexican players were towering over him and manhandled him on more than one occasion. He responded with the “calm down” sign and smiled a lot which looked weird. It seemed pretty out of place, like he didn’t know what to do, like he was trying to be friendly and chat his way out of it. Didn’t work. Went with a friend who doesn’t follow soccer closely but is a pretty serious athlete. His observation was “that guy looks lost and hopes the players will help him out here” can’t comment on the eye gouge incident or the 2CT as they were pretty far away. I didn’t even know there was a red card in the match until I got to my car. General impressions: unbelievable match. I didn’t see ANYONE sit down at all, just singing and screaming for hours. I haven’t been to any game like this, anywhere.
In spite of all the smiling and lax responses, I got a kick out of Barton throwing the yellows after the mass confrontation. I didn't like those optics -- it felt like he got swallowed by the moment, lost control, and was trying to get it back my slamming those cards. In my opinion, it was a cheap display and didn't seem to inspire the confidence he was trying to exude.
So I think the fact that the ball is played not just laterally, but slightly backward upfield, gets to the "no DOGSO" result. I am okay with that conclusion. And I think the issue of when to blow the whistle--in other words, is there an advantage to allow?--is another component that Fischer got right. But I hadn't thought of the SFP discussion until you raised it. It's quite difficult to tell from the one video clip, but I think you have a strong argument. It's essentially a terrible challenge that probably isn't quite truly DOGSO but is by a goalkeeper and borderline violent... kind of a mash-up of DOGSO and SFP (like 85%+ each?). The more I think about it, I do like red better. But I can understand the argument for only yellow if you're not convinced SFP is there.
I think this whole idea of the 4th or far away AR calling this is fantasy. First, it's CONCACAF. But more importantly there's an issue of credibility. A guy 60+ yards away is going to tell Barton exactly what he saw when Barton was right there and Barton is going to accept it? Then you add in the practical issue which is that in a mass-con like that, the additional crew is supposed to be watching Barton's back. In theory, the four sets of eyes should be looking in four generally separate areas and it's even possible that the fourth is controlling benches at a moment like that. But the bottom line is that unless he's personally in trouble, the rest of the crew shouldn't be looking exactly where Barton is standing. The bigger lesson here is to only insert yourself physically the way Barton did if you are preventing a confrontation or you are absolutely sure that your presence can end it (and you can observe everything if you are wrong). In this case, with the American player on the ground and the Mexican player hovering over him, with misconduct already occuring before Barton was able to intervene, there was just too much risk for him to place himself where he did. He missed the severity of the head grab/gouge, but he could have just as easily missed any retaliation from the American (e.g., a strike to the groin).
Elfath's body language on the four misconduct incidents in the package above is definitely something to watch. It's unique at this level, for sure. And it seems to work here, but it comes very close to not working in the fourth incident. I sort of wonder if this is something that FIFA really likes about him or if it's a component of his man management that they'd rather have out of his game. Lots of big arms and physical interaction with the players while the card is out. I think it's an interesting tool for extraordinary circumstances, but not sure it should be a go-to default mechanic.