Are you seriously arguing that head-butting a guy who is sitting on the ground is "part of the game"?
Almost not worth engaging. However, referees get ripped apart for these types of calls all the time, so it's worth rebutting. Pepe's act puts a referee in an awful situation. It's a red card. He's gone out of his way to headbutt someone. And, in this case, the player was on the floor. There is absolutely no need to do what he did and it is 100% violent conduct. Mazic has to show the red card there or he's not doing his job. Not only would he be risking his tournament, but as @superdave said regarding dissent above... what you don't punish, you condone. A yellow here would be saying it's okay for everyone to do what Pepe did once in the game. Now, with that said, it is, in the grand scheme of things, light contact. And the reaction of the German doesn't help the cause. So some, like this poster, will argue that Mazic could have gone down one notch and went yellow. You'll see articles like this, particularly in the Portuguese press, for the next few days. This play will be dissected ad nauseum. Things would have been much easier if Pepe had put more force into the headbutt, to be frank. Ultimately, Pepe's actions are the worst kind for a referee because he's committed an action that ties the referees hands, but has done so with a level of force that will allow some (many?) in the general public to say the referee overreacted. It's a lose-lose situation the minute that headbutt occurs. I'm glad that, at least here, there seems to be universal support for the red card.
Calling it a head-butt is a bit melodramatic, more like a head-press. I can understand why they have a no-tolerance policy for it, and the fault lies solely with Pepe, but, as a fan, I probably would prefer a yellow (as a policy, not in this case, where Mazic was doing the job he was tasked with).
You use your head to intentionally make contact with another player who is sitting on the ground then that is violent conduct. Every time.
I agree. Purely as a fan, there are some weird norms in soccer refereeing. What Pepe did is a straight red 100 times out of 100, but it was such weak contact! Contrast that with a dangerous elbow to the jaw on a 50-50 header in the 2nd half, which saw a common foul called. (Watching the World Cup, I'm getting more and more appreciative of most MLS refereeing norms, and one of them is the crack down on those kinds of elbows. I'm guessing the NFL's concussion issue is a factor in MLS seeming to be an outlier on how severely to sanction such plays. But I digress.) But as @MassachusettsRef points out, them's the rules. Really innocuous contact that's outside the sport is punished, much, MUCH more severely than more dangerous contact that's part of the game. You don't see that in hockey or basketball or football. In a way, I think this red recalls Beckham's red against Argentina in 1998. Beckham suffered a serious, cynical foul that was properly sanctioned with just a yellow. Beckham's barely-more-than-a-love-tap drew a red. You'd have a hard time explaining that to someone who is a big US sports fan but barely watches soccer, just like you'd have a hard time explaining why Pepe got ejected. But if that's your beef, blame FIFA. Not Mazic.
MassRef, don't you think that the fact that it was Pepe who did it might have caused the reaction? If it was any other player, I have serious doubts that he would show the red card. The fact is, that red card completely destroyed our squad and the game was under control, there was no need for that. That was not why we lost though, some bad decisions from our manager caused that.
Would it have stayed that way if Pepe got a yellow? If you give a yellow you are telling the players what he did was acceptable. When you do that...you leave yourself open for all hell breaking loose.
I don't, no. I think Mazic saw something that he's been trained to view as 100% misconduct and reacted appropriately. If anyone thinks Mazic was happy that he was sending off Pepe in the 38th minute of his (Mazic's) ever first World Cup game, they are wrong. Well, then Pepe's reaction destroyed the squad, not Mazic. Pepe never does that and there's no red card to pull.
This also falls under the category of WTF was Pepe thinking. There was hand to face contact - I can't tell if there was a finger in the eye or if the German was elaborating. (I could see a careless foul on that, but also can see no call at all.) But why would any rational person go over to the guy and the grounds and knock heads, even gently?!? WTF?!? And then be suprised and argue when he gets sent off?! The definition of violent conduct includes "excessive force" -- where the appropriate amount of force is zero, it doesn't take a lot for it to be excessive. I think FIFA has quite appropriately made clear that head to head contact is an absolute no-no. Pepe really damaged his team -- I don't know that they had a plausible come back, but losing 4-0 is a lot worse than 2-0 with the tie breakers they may fall into with a loss, not to mention he misses the next game. The anger and outrage in Portugaul should be toward him, not the referee.
Well, let's just say I am going to look to experienced refs for their viewpoints over whatever Alexis Lalas has to say. If getting an expert opinion over a talking head means I have issues, then so be it!
@Inkie - unfortunately, it was Pepe's bad decision that forced Mazic's hand on this. This is a challenge for both the player and the ref: when a player makes a choice that forces a judgement call on the ref - in this instance, deliberate head-to-head contact w/a player on the floor - in other instances, it's a foul in the box that might be a PK or might not be called, or a tackle that could merit a second caution. In any of these, the player takes an action that forces the ref to make a decision - and then it's the ref's choice and the sanction can appear overly harsh, but is in fact exactly right for the situation. In this instance, it was 100% misconduct and Pepe had to go. The red didn't destroy Portugal - today, Portugal destroyed Portugal.
Guinho, I'd take that post as tongue-in-cheek... and directed at me as much as you (if not more so). I thought it was funny.
Ok, I guess it's just not what it used to be. I'm not excusing Pepe, it was a rough reaction, but the portuguese player is aggressive by nature, all our defenders are that way. Being a former CB (and an aggressive one) myself, I know how he felt. Some common sense should be added to the rule book, in my opinion. Still, thanks for clearing that out
100% agree it mattered not a whit who the player was -- this was going to be a red or the ref was going to be on an airplane going home.
I agree with his initial post! You came to mind immediately on the German penalty kick. In the past you've argued for a pretty broad application, for example arguing that strikers will definitely reach a ball when other posters have doubts about the distance to the ball component. What did you think here, regarding whether the other defenders were well placed enough to prevent it being DOGSO?
I just want to credit @Inkie for treating this forum the proper way a fan should. He brought actual thoughts rather than a rant and as a supporter of a club that he felt was wronged was willing to listen to a logical and reasoned explanation. He is clearly disappointed, but he never attacked the referee nor did he attack those who defended his call. In the end, he understands the decision though he may not like it. Kudos to you Inkie, and please visit again. I visit this forum (and the general ref forum) a lot but don't post much (partly due to my officiating career before I retired). I know MassRef from our time on the pitch and want to also commend him on excellent moderation in this forum. His work to keep off the outlandish comments helps make real discussion for referees and learning for non referees possible.
Pepe was stupid, Müller was very clever and the referee was incompetent. Müller simulated initially and the referee allowed him to get away with it. Pepe reacted to this cheating only for Müller to simulate for a second time. Unfortunately the referee bought it this time.
Initial instinct was red card, watching online. I thought the foul itself pulled the attacker back enough that then the other two defenders caught up. So your snapshot needs to be when the foul starts, not when it concludes (which makes it look less like DOGSO). However, I think the big mitigating circumstance is how easily the German goes down once he's held. That's saying, to me, that he wasn't terribly confident with his ability to finish the ball from 9 yards or so. If he himself didn't think the opportunity was all that obvious, should we? If we go back to strict 4 Ds, I've got a red card. If we apply some common sense based on the totality of the situation, I don't. It really all comes down to which way you like your refereeing. I think, put in the exact same situation, I'm doing what Mazic did so long as I give myself time to think about it.