Yeah ... I liked that he provided that type of insight. It clears things up in one way, but then again, it's messed up because the ref made the wrong call because it seems like it's a clear cut call. You'd think the ref would have to answer at some level why he made that mistake. For me, the picture you posted earlier as an example used in training, leaves no room for subjectivity. VAR called it to his attention which leads us to believe that somebody absorbed the new info in training ... but perhaps the ref didn't. Case of incompetency / too many rule interpretations changing for refs to keep up.
I think you mixed up UEFA and South America. South America felt X was handling while UEFA felt it wasn't and IFAB went with UEFA. Overall, a really good video. Walton, again, and others seem to miss or ignore the fundamental problem with VAR. What on earth is "clearly wrong?" and how can you get consistency on it when we can't even get consistency on handling? They seem to think there is an obvious clear solution to that question, but we know there isn't.
Some more intriguing stuff from Marca: Roddy Zambrano, the referee in charge of Argentina's Copa America semi-final with Brazil, has broken his silence and questioned why VAR didn't call him to look at some of his decisions. "Otamendi also went in to challenge, it's not an elbow [from Arthur]," Zambrano told Ecuadorian radio show Super K-800. "VAR looked at it and determined that it was 50/50, they didn't tell me to look at it, they didn't consider to be a clear penalty. "In Monday's report, I say that they should've called me [to have a look at it on the pitchside screens]." What's surprising from this declaration is that, some days after the game, VAR referee Leodan Gonzalez said that he'd told Zambrano to have a look at it. Argentina's claims for another penalty when Sergio Aguero went down under the challenge of Dani Alves were rejected by Zambrano. "In the first phase, it's almost a foul on the defender. Why didn't they see the camera from behind?" Zambrano said. https://www.marca.com/en/football/international-football/2019/07/09/5d24e5e3ca4741d3488b4620.html
Messi has been banned for three months. This means he will miss the crucial friendlies against Chile, Mexico, and Germany. The first "friendly", to take place in LA, will surely be interesting. Wonder who gets the honor of handling it... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49214183
Yeah. CONMEBOL bans him from matches that aren’t even under CONMEBOL’s jurisdiction and don’t matter. Strong move. The only people who care about this are the promoters of these friendlies. I’d imagine everyone wants to keep Marrufo away from that potential nightmare—nothing to gain for him. Best bet is Villarreal gets it and then Elfath has Argentina-Mexico.
So I was very wrong here. This assignment flew under the radar, but it was Marrufo last night on Argentina-Chile. He had 10 yellow cards, which is very un-Marrufo-like... https://www.espn.com/soccer/report?gameId=547165 Of course, this got no card, despite the label on the video: Villarreal had Peru-Ecuador last night. Elfath has Brazil-Colombia tonight. Marrufo will have Brazil-Peru Tuesday. Unkel on Colombia-Venezuela. Looks like Mexico-Argentina is being farmed out. Oh well. Such is life when your FIFA list is so small.
That was such a “we’ll keep it 11v11” move. I called red watching it live and was floored it wasn’t even a (second) yellow. Anyone know who has the US-Mexico game tonight? I’m hoping it’s Barton and praying it isn’t Escobar again.
Apparently you can slap a player in the face in a CONCACAF friendly and it only warrants a calm down motion.
Aguilar is a CONCACAF treasure. Forget the slap. It was a 22 player mass con. And he had... nothing. I particularly loved the first half caution of Long. Pulisic kicked Chicarito with studs—if there was a caution there, it was on Pulisic. Long literally put a hand on the back of Chicarito as he was already falling. Aguilar slams on the whistle comes flying in with a yellow out... Pulisic acts incredulous... Aguilar realizes it’s a star player who he’s already avoided twice when he dissented, so he picks the path of least resistance and just books Long, who had already left the scene. Amazing stuff.
He’s so bad. Instead of tending to the player on the ground, injured from the foul you just called... you engage the player dissenting (a teammate) and then book him with the little “you talked too much” mimic. Irmatov and Aguilar, man. I’ll never understand it. I mean, I think I now understand them. I just don’t understand what powerful people saw in them.
A statement that could be applied to many referees at different levels, in several counties. Sometimes you never can figure it out, although some have tried. PH
If it was any other referee, I would be stunned at a lack of caution and lack of send-off, but it's Marrufo. I honestly would have been surprised if he did show that red card. He just doesn't do red cards unless it's obvious, obvious DOGSO and he certainly doesn't do second caution send-offs 30 minutes into a friendly.
While I was MUCH more upset about Tata completely schooling Berhalter yet again, I’m completely with you on Aguilar. It was another vintage Aguilar/CONCACAF performance. So many sneaky cheap shots going unpunished while focused on all of the wrong things. I attended the Sporting KC-Independiente CCL match that Aguilar refereed in March. As soon as he was announced, I groaned. A fan behind me asked why, and I told him to just watch. After about 15 minutes of rampant Independiente diving and time wasting going uncalled, the same fan tapped me on the shoulder and simply said, “I understand what you mean now.” I’m not upset to see him in the rear view mirror. Hopefully Barton doesn’t get corrupted by CONCACAF too much.
Copa Libertadores Semifinals, First Leg River Plate - Boca Juniors: CLAUS (BRA) Gremio - Flamengo: PITANA (ARG) All-Argentinian and all-Brazilian semis, so makes sense that these nations swap referees for the first leg. Tobar and Cunha likely to be involved in the final three matches.
Since this thread was bumped... Zambrano, who did the Brazil-Argentina semifinal, is off the FIFA list for 2020. He’s 41. And just did the biggest competitive Brazil-Argentina match in a long time. And he’s from Ecuador. And he’s off the list. Something doesn’t compute.
Probably that CONMEBOL referees with the skill to do Argentina:Brazil without perceived conflict of interest are in short supply
Ecuadoran referees don't exactly have a huge track record of rising to the top. Part of my point was simply that I think he's the first Ecuadorian referee to get that match in a competitive setting in a long time, if ever. I was also implying that unlike, say, Uruguay or Colombia, where a top referee might get displaced or overtaken by internal competition, there probably aren't 9-10 referees breathing down Zambrano's neck.
And they trade referees again for the second leg! Copa Libertadores Semifinals, Second Leg Boca Juniors - River Plate: SAMPAIO (BRA) Flamengo - Gremio: LOUSTAU (ARG) This would never happen in UEFA, with the winning team from each tie certain to face a team from the referee's nation in the Finals. Tobar and Cunha for the two-legged Finals? Probably unlikely, given that this is exactly the pair who worked last year's Finals.
Well it's not going to be Zambrano! Tobar and Roldan seem to make the most sense. Unless Bascunan gets a "turn" because Tobar got it last year and went to Copa as a referee. Looking at the QF assignments (the previous round) is interesting. You had the Argentinian referees and Brazilians referees--with Lousteau working two legs--and then Bascunan and Carrillo, who didn't even go to Copa America as referees. And then Tobar and Roldan. And then the previous round... no Cunha to be found. No de Vivar. No Haro. And no Zambrano. Ostojich actually worked some, so seems like Cunha is now an afterthought. Bascunan, Tobar and Roldan really seem to be the only 3 plausible options. And since I doubt you'd see two Chileans, it's Roldan and one of the others.
My bad, the Final is only one match this year, to be played in Chile. So forget what we've said... Roldan? I'm not sure whether they're more or less likely to go with a home referee.