This thread is not belong to any referee match so I though the General forum is the appropriate one. We've seen so many bad calls for the World Cup lately, the point that human error is not tolerable anymore. However, back in March, Blatter has said that: "... even after a slow-motion replay, ten different experts will have ten different opinions on what the decision should have been." He has the point. If the replay system is used on every fouls, what's the point of the referee? But why can't FIFA compromise something in between? How about using the same technique as tennis tournament. Each team could have 1 challenge in each half. If they're right, they still have the challenge, if they're wrong, they will lose it. The challenge will be decided by the 4th official, who could overrule the main referee decision (only if it's correct one). Using this system, we could definitely keep the game fair, at the same time, we don't waste time because if the coach decide to use challenge recklessly, he won't be able to use it again for the rest of the half. The example would be: someone who is acting to get other player get yellow, then the decision could reverse. The same for U.S-Slovania match etc. I think this system would eliminate a lot of errors and make the game much more interesting, what do you think?
Re: Referee challenge system Bad Calls: 1. Klose sending off, both yellow cards were far too harsh for a player that had never been sent off for Germany in his entire career. 2. USA goal vs Slovenia. Although the whistle was clearly blown BEFORE the ball was volleyed in (and so the goal should not stand anyway, because play was officially stopped when it was scored), there is still no clear idea why the referee blew it. If he saw infringements, it must have been by Slovenian players, and by that logic he should surely have given a penalty. 3. Tim Cahill Red Card vs Germany. All I can say is it was a very harsh decision. 4. New Zealand goal vs Italy. The goalscorer was about 100 yards offside (exaggurating a little) when the ball took the flick off his teammate's head. 5. Italy penalty vs New Zealand. De Rossi takes a dive for minimal shirt pulling. Either this referee is plain wrong, or the refereeing is inconsistant. Because if they were giving penalties for this type of infringement all the way through the tournament, we would have seen about 40 penalties already in the 2010 World Cup. 6. Luis Fabiano double handball to score Brasil's second goal. I wouldn't mind if the referee genuinely did not see the incident, as he was in a bad position. But he later walked upto the player before the restart and literally asked him if he had used his hand. What d'ya think he answered? 7. Kaka sending off. Ok so I didn't mind this one too much as I was cheering on the Ivory Coast. But it was a silly decision 8. In a twist of irony, Thierry Henry has a goalbound shot handled away in the Uruguay game. (Or at least I remember it being goalbound; I cannot bear to watch the 'highlights' of that borefest again to confirm) There have probarbly been a fair few more, but I can't think of any just now.
Re: Referee challenge system This has everything to do with FIFA and almost nothing to do with Referees. I'm moving it to the main FIFA forum.
Re: Referee challenge system Tennis challenges are all about matters of fact. Did the ball catch the line, or was it out? Most of the complaints about football 'errors' are matters of judgement or interpretation. Was the handball deliberate? Was the shirt-pulling trifling? Did the tackle endanger the safety of the opponent? I would have no problem with implementing video replay in some form to help decide matters of fact (was the attacker past the second last defender at the moment the ball was played?) but not judgement (did the player in an offside position interfere with an opponent?). The problem becomes when you do it. Unlike sports such as American football and tennis, dead ball situations are very infrequent in football. You cannot pull up play to review a potential penalty, because if it turns out not to be a penalty then play should have continued. If you wait for the ball to go out it might be 5 or 10 minutes. At present there is no real way to implement video replay effectively without drastically changing the way football is played. And because of that, I am opposed to it.
Re: Referee challenge system Referees have always made mistakes and will continue to do so. It's part of the game. Deal with it. I will say however that for many years I've wondered what it would be like to have a more referees on the pitch. If basketball, which is played in a surface 20 times smaller than a football pitch, requires 3 referees, you would think we could use a few more pairs of eyes on football play.
"That when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one planet to dissolve the FIFA bonds that tied them together and to assume among them the powers of video review, whose separate and equal station to which justice and honor hold dear, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." You would think after the Ireland v France debacle FIFA would have put refs behind goals as at least a minimal effort to prevent cheating and horrible calls. But then, the incompetence of FIFA in its most disparaging and disgraceful existence has been so clearly evident to everyone that no one should be surprised. And now one of the largest soccer countries gets denied a goal in a knockout stage in the world cup. I'm a USA fan, but what happened to England was more aggregious than what happened to USA's disallowed goals. The soccer federations need to just to leave FIFA and create a new soccer federation based on video review, extra refs, etc. Disgraceful.
Re: FIFA is a joke I was going to post something similar. FIFA is keeping this damn sport in the stone ages. It's hurt the integrity of the game with their stupid stubborness. Everyone watching the game saw the Lampard non-goal as a good goal except the freaking linesman. This is a disgrace. I've been a futbol fan for 15 years, but this shit really makes me despise the officiating. Video replay is absolutely needed in some capacity. This World Cup has made that painstakingly clear.
Re: FIFA is a joke I agree completely. Imagine how terrible things would be if we were governed by fifa in everyday life? The arrogance & ignorance is unbelievable. They'll issue a press release saying that everything is fine. With the available technology it is unbelievable that they are stuck in the 1960's. The arrogance comes from the fact that they have a monopoly on football and there is nothing anyone can do about it!
Re: FIFA is a joke This vhatever guy is completely missing the point. This is NOT about England vs Germany. I'm a neutral there. The integrity of the whole sport is in question. From the Hand of Gual, at least 3 disallowed goals, phantom yellows, dives, this sport NEEDS video replay. No excuses.
Re: FIFA is a joke Yes video replay is needed, but its funny that there will only be a fuss when a " big nation " is cheated, otherwise it would be business as usual.
Re: FIFA is a joke I agree. There were soo many bad calls in the group stage and now knockout stage. For a game of this magnitude and importance there really has to be replays. They need to do it like the NFL. (american football) The NFL calls everything spot on and relooks at every uncertain call.
Re: FIFA is a joke I also like the suggestion about adopting the tennis system. Coaches can have 1-3 "challenges" per half. If they are correct on the challenge, they do still keep the same number of remaining challenges.
Re: FIFA is a joke As has been said many, many times before, that kind of intervention would kill the game. There are adjustments that should be made, but nothing remotely like what we see in the NFL.
Re: FIFA is a joke It's been said... by Darth Blatter. Which means it is surely as false as anything can be.
Re: FIFA is a joke I'm all for goal line technology that would have prevented what happened in this morning's game. But do you really want them stopping the game and going to the video over every big call? Really?
Re: FIFA is a joke Yea i understand what you're saying. They could at least adopt the 3 challenges rule like the NFL.
Re: FIFA is a joke One challenge a half.. You lose the challenge you lose one of your subs since there are no timeouts to take away. They have 1 minute 30 seconds i believe to overlook a replay add that on to extra time at the end. Teams waste more time than that during the game.
Re: FIFA is a joke Yep, I hear you. I just am not willing to go that far. I would like to see the chip technology implemented ASAP, to help prevent legitimate goals being disallowed (or illegitimate ones from being allowed). I would also like to see whatever changes need to be made (either stricter implementation of current rules or introduction of new ones) so that post game review of simulation is strong enough that the threat of subsequent suspension can act as a deterrent. I think those are the two on-field issues hurting the game most right now, and I think those responses have a chance to address them without hurting the flow of the game. I understand that referees make the wrong call (in areas other [result]than the wrongly disallowed goal today by England[/result]) sometimes and sometimes it has a significant impact on the outcome of a game. But I think regularly stopping the game to make sure the call is right would do more harm than good. I am willing to put up with human error in order to avoid the tedium of official time outs.
Re: FIFA is a joke I agree. At the very least the ref should have stopped the game to consult with the linesman, and while they are doing that, simply glanced up at the big screen. It was as clear as daylight. A beautiful goal! Like it or leave it, it changed the direction of the game, and Germany, once again (like in the game against Australia) under the protection of the match referee, archieve a four goal scoring performance. These kinds of decisions make the game look like it can be decided, not by the players, but by the arbitrary decisions of one person. In which case why bother to play? might as well get a comittee of referees to decide what country to award the world cup to!
Re: FIFA is a joke At least we can start from dubious goal decisions being reviewed. Things like what happened this morning make the game of soccer look awfully ridiculous!
Wait till this finally happens in a Final then there will be an inquest. No more hiding for Septic Bladder. There will be uproar. I am so deflated over that disallowed goal. Far more then the defeat.
Re: FIFA is a joke You said it. Fifa is a joke, lead by old conservative men that don't like changes. We need goalline technology and suspensions for diving. That has become perfectly clear with this world cup.
You mean happens again in a final? At least in this incident, the linesman simply did not have a good enough view to call it. In 1966 Wembley, the linesman was there and clearly saw it-- saw it did not go in but called it a goal anyway. So even if we had another set of assistants whose only function was to watch the goal line, it would still have problems. I think Germany has been lobbying the FIFA for some kind of micro-chipped soccer ball and/or video replay since the 1966 game. Wouldn't surprise me if Brazil was against it, however, as they tend to a whole heckova a lot of favorable calls in WC play.