So he didn’t stop play? Weird. Sure seemed like he did. The body language and lack of a decision is just another one of those consequences of VAR. Ten years ago there’s no way a La Liga referee is passive and non-demonstrative in this sequence. He might get it wrong, so to speak, but he’d look in command.
Exactly. A big part of being a successful referee is lying. You have to lie to yourself and the players that you your no call or no call is right. Even if it is not. I guess with VAR you just don't and you, almost, really can't. You can't scream away a penalty appeal with "no way or it hit his chest or there was no contact" only for the VAR to intervene. You would look like a fool.
VAR intervention from Spanish first division, Mallorca in black and red, Espanyol in blue and white. If I understand the decision-making process correctly, the referee team determines that the two players at the top of the penalty arc--Mallorca #24 and Espanyol #4--are not encroaching at moment the penalty kick is taken because they are in the air. They determine that Espanyol #16 is encroaching because his foot is touching the ground within the penalty arc. I wonder if the Laws' language on restart position is interpreted and applied in similar fashion in other competitions.
Close your eyes and try to imagine the world when we were being sold on the need for video review. Now open them and watch this. Holy hell. Outcomes of matches are being changed over things that literally no one cared about.
Few days ago Bundesliga posted a referee mic’d up video for the dortmund-Bayern match. Always great insight to seeing how much interaction goes on between players and refs all game long, and the types of things to say to them
Was the VAR's argument that Mbappe kicked his leg out to initiate the contact? That's all I've got. I guess if the referee said it was a leg foul, you could have an argument for saying that's wrong. But talk about missing the forest for the trees.
It’s not just MLS. You might never see a DOGSO red penalty ever again at this rate. Roy Kortsmit maakt een gigantische fout en gooit Don-Angelo Konadu op de grond🫣#ajanac— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) April 6, 2025
What's the logic? The attacker is going backwards or did the slide tackle come first and, thus, satisfy the attempt to play the ball clause and the hold was later?
As a point of record, this was Makkelie's second game in less than 24hrs: Sat 5-April, 435GMT: Kuwait (Al-Arabi vs. Al-Fahaheel) Sun 6-April, 345GMT: Ned (Ajax vs. NAC Breda)
Something along the latter line of reasoning, I'm sure. I'm hearing more and more about how basically any data point for being in the vicinty of the ball is going to count as an attempt to play the ball--even, inexplicably, if the foul is a hold or a pull or a push. I believe a week or two ago I said you'd need to see a rugby tackle or a shirt hold with extended fabric to get red. Well, this is a rugby tackle and it's not enough because the ball is near the fouling player. I think the only scenario left is the shirt hold from behind where fabric is stretched. But now I have my doubts about that, should the fouled player end up near the ball after pulling the jersey.
How does that happen? I thought foreign appointments were coordinated with the domestic authority to some extent. Is the Dutch association that lax or is Makkelie going rogue?
Yeah, this sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen anymore. There was a referee who, very much in a 'previous life' now, got into a lot of trouble with doing both Saudi and domestic appointments on the same weekend a few seasons ago, catching up on sleep in airport lounges etc, and UEFA stepped in and were supposed to need approval for all foreign 'adventures'. Something has gone wrong somewhere in this case!
Given the talk that Makkelie might finally be up for a big final, this seems like a silly thing to do at this juncture. Unless all that talk is, yet again, just talk.
Of the numerous controversies, antics, and off-field shenanigans that Makkelie has done over the years, I'm pretty sure this is so low on his list that UEFA/FIFA will probably shrugg and say "oh...Makkelie did something silly again..."
Can't wait until we get a situation like this in the penalty area and the defender gets a yellow card because it was an "attempt to play the ball" and the penalty is missed. I don't even want to discuss the SFP portion of this play because how many VARs would send this play down for SFP in the penalty area. Basically, we end up back where we started when Koeman got a yellow card for a cynical take down in a Netherlands vs. England qualifier which basically gets us back to why the DOGSO law was implemented in the first place. Time truly is a flat circle.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/44569750/neymar-memphis-depay-fume-brazil-fa-bans-skill-move I guess FIFA/IFAB are just seemingly okay with domestic federations making up their own interpretations and own LOTG? You can't just invent a new cautionable offence. Are we back in 1999 with MLS doing their own thing with the LOTG?