An article for those that always argue refereeing is better in European domestic leagues: http://www.soccernet.com/columns/2002/1112/20021112featuli.html
So if we all suck, there must be a systemic problem? What are you looking for here? By the way, the only game I have seen film from that is covered in this article is the spain game and the reff was NOT on the goal line to make the call.........allow me to hypothisise that if this author could miss this fact it bring into question his entire article...
Do you honestly think my intent was to imply that all professional referees suck? All of my past posts would indicate otherwise. All I was doing was passing along an article for those MLS fans that have a "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence" attitude regarding domestic league refereeing (I assumed if I posted it in an MLS forum it would be moved here anyway). My point is that complaints are everywhere, and are inherent in a sport where so many calls are subjective. I am not implying, by any means whatsoever, that this author is necessarily correct in his assessment of Bundesliga officiating.
I'm glad I did a search before I posted this article myself, though I'm keeping it bookmarked for the next time someone starts one of those "MLS Refs Are the Worst in the Solar System" threads. Whenever I see those threads, I always wonder if there are fans ANYWHERE on the planet who think that their refs are the best. Because of course, fans of most leagues are likely to think that 1) in general, their refs are the worst and 2) their team gets screwed more often than any others.
Please don't go there! Did that referee run at all yesterday? Did anyone else feel the referee yesterday put him self in some bad posistions? One that sticks out was a play in the second half. A US player was mildly lowbridged on a header attempt. Prendergast whistles and signaled an IFK. Why an IFK there? I guess that's another issue. Anyway, the ball is on the far side of the field about 45 yards from the goal line. Prendergast takes a position to left and slightly in front of the ball. It was a very odd position, I thought, as play was obviously going to be with most of the players in the penalty area. As the ball is flighted, he called a foul on the US going out. Fair enough, but he was at least 35 yards from the play. How can the players take him seriously with that call? In an MLS match you'll almost always see the referee in the penalty area close to the players who will contest for the ball. I will take a position at in or at the top of the PA on a play like that because I want to see the play. If he can't see that and the US gets a goal, he's going to have several thousand angry Salvadorans ready to kill him. A situation easily solved by positioning. He had a similar problem when he awarded the pk and missed the call on Frankie in Costa Rica. He was behind the play on both occasions. If I make that call from that position in a men's amateur match, I'm going to hear about it for the rest of the game. I wonder how working domestic matches in a small island country qualifies you for a Fifa badge, let alone a world cup? BTW, I also wonder how the US was able to get so many Fifa referees before we had MLS. I mean no disrespect, but there's a big difference between an A-League match and a Costa Rica - Honduras WC qualifier.
Your comments make me wish I had taped the game and could go back and look at them. Regardless both teams seemed satisfied with the way he handled the game and nothing contriversial happened. I suppose the fact that the game meant nothing helped though.