Ok then, but wasn't it their defensive man who was down? Seems like they'd be screaming for the game to stop in case the ball goes to the Dutch and they don't have him up to defend. It might be deception, it might be ignorance, it might be concern. You seem to believe it was only deception, if so you can do what you want.
It's generally the same in the UCL vs the domestic leagues. For a number of reasons IMO. 1. Familiarity breeds contempt. In the PL, the top refs (like Webb) will see the big teams several times in a season and dozens of times over their career. That builds a history which fans, some players and some managers don't forget, and you get niggle. Webb isn't very popular in England among the non-refereeing fraternity because IMO they see him so much that his errors are highlighted far more than anyone else. Also explains his lack of popularity on foreign boards like this. 2. Less leeway. In the UCL and Euros, you get 2 YCs and you miss a game. Given there are only a maximum of 6 games in the Euros, you can't afford to pick up cheap YCs through dissent or getting involved in scraps. 3. Reputations. As much as Webb, for example, might not be popular among English fans or English-based players, he is hugely respected abroad. In England, I've heard so many people (inc. non-refs) speak of how much they like Rizzoli, yet he's massively unpopular in Italy for several controversial decisions that those people won't have seen. It also explains why the likes of Webb, Rizzoli, Kassai, etc, get more respect than the likes of Thomson, Carballo, Kuipers, etc - they've built their reputation over time and are more well known.
Most times, while players are usually moving already, the AR either in a slow side-step or near motionless which makes it much harder to catch-up when you have to turn and run from a standing start.
I was wondering if this was going to come up. 17th minute IIRC. The kicking team doesn't get to have it both ways. Either they put it into play or they didn't. At this level of play there is no way he accidentally kicked it on the way out. The AR needed to step up and treat it for what it was, a properly taken corner kick. As someone has already pointed out, kudos to the NED players not causing a huge stink about it.
Agree. This is one that I am adding to the "why does these games seem to display an unusually high level of professionalism?" file. I continue to be confounded. It's not like this wan't an important game. It's not like the cheating wasn't obvious. And it was the AR managing the players. Hard to believe he exudes an above average level of respect/authority. I love it. But I don't understand it.
Englishref made the salient points in one of his posts. Essentially they are: The stakes are too high to mess around (representing your country once every four years). The penalties are too draconian to mess around (two yellows and you might miss the game of your life). The competition authority, UEFA, actually deals harshly with misconduct (there are fines just if a team gets 5 yellows in a match, for example) and the federations therefore expect their players to behave. You can add in the fact that there's some familiarity with and respect for these referees, as the top players see them semi-regularly (but not regularly enough to breed discontent) in UEFA competitions.