Here's a link from FIFA. http://www.fifa.com/Service/MR_M/50545_E.html Absence of proof of wrong doing on Mr. Moreno's part.
This is what the announcement says, but one can only believe that this decision was influenced by the fact that he had already (as I understand it) announced his retirement for officiating.
Yes, he resigned from the FIFA panel following the match in the Ecuadorian domestic league where he added 10 plus minutes of stoppage. I did think that other than the second caution to Totti he did an excellent job. In particular the USA vs. Portugal match.
always be quilty and no way to defend himself kinda of sad I would love to talk with him on that issue of Totti if he was aware that it was Totti and that he was on a caution or did that thought never enter his mind? He simply was convinced the downed Italian player had indeed dived and it only happened to be Totti??? Would it affect your decision if you were convinced it was a dive and then realized hey wait I all ready cautioned this guy? More to the point SHOULD it matter? According to Blatter he outright said it should and any referee with a feel for the game would not do so. It was such BS in the lead up about the crack down on the diving at the World Cup and the utter distain shown in this situation. Even when it was BLATANTLY obvious in the Brazilian game on Ronaldino the referee and AR totally wimped out on following that directive and then Moreno was crucified for enforcing it albeit an opinion whether it was indeed true Totti did come up looking for that PK and the tackle looked clean to me.
Re: always be quilty and no way to defend himself kinda of sad Grizz, I recall that Moreno was interviewed on Radio Unica about two weeks following the conclusion of the World Cup. He stated he knew it was Totti and felt he dived and had he to do it over would still caution him. If you recall, he went immediately to his pocket and produced the caution and then if I recalled correctly produced the red card to send him off. If I am correct he did not check his cards or his book to see if he was previously booked. He was also very annoyed and upset about how FIFA handled the entire matter. He felt FIFA let him and all referees down by not backing him up and pandering to the Italian Football Federation. Personally, I am not that sure about the caution. First, Moreno's postion can be questioned, he was a good 20+ yards behind the play. Second, there was no way I could conclusively tell that Totti had simulated a foul in the penalty area. Lastly, I am personally quite annoyed on how people have jumped on the let's dump on Moreno band wagon. People should go back and watch the tape of the USA/Portugal match. That was a great performance. The husky referee moved quite well too for a very dynamic match. Except for the Totti incident he handled the Korea/Italy match superbly. I take exception to the rest of the officiating crew, but those were the circumstances. Moreno did not have much say over the AR's flag unless he wanted to over rule him and who is pompous enough to do that. You trust that at this level your AR's will get the call right. The match in Ecuador, we only have press reports.
Re: Re: always be quilty and no way to defend himself kinda of sad Agreed Alberto, I just finished a most excellent seminar with Canadian FIFA AR Hector VERGARA he did SIX games at the world cup, was the leading spokesperson for the AR group and was rated at 9 or above on ALL performance reviews. It was the best performance by an AR at anytime anywhere and I was damned proud of his performence. Given that we in Canada do not have high level soccer leagues it disproves the theory that only those who do so can make quality officials. I grilled him extensively on this topic of simulation and the FIFA turn about in dealing with it. I tried to guage his feelings as to the referee thinking and how could the AR be trying to give further info to the referee if he felt different. It was illuminating to know that the pre game disscussion was a 2 hour event and was much a bonding as it was a relay or exchange of information. Yet Simulation was a HIGH priority on the FIFA agenda and Hector was very direct in that a referee must STILL pick his spots. I specifically asked if he had of been the AR just what instructions on these simulation incidents was he to follow? How to communicate the fact that Totti was on a card? The fact that if he belived there was some contact how would he relay that info to Moreno? In essence if a referee is determined to go ahead and is convinced it is a correct decision what choice does he have but to follow his conviction? It showed courage and a willingness to step up when it mattered EVEN if I or you or everyone saw it differently. Ever since the ESSE incident Brazil / Norway I will never hold another WC official to a camera replay of an event. You call what you see and they can shove the inuendos up their wahzoo. We discussed the fact that there could have been eye contact and the buzzer flag could be signalling, "Just let this one go!", but it seemed if Victor had blown the whistle before the ball was out of play there was little choice but to follow through otherwise what restart would there be? I remain convinced Totti made a meal out of it even his reaction after falling was looking for the PK. I believe there was some slight contact only AFTER the ball was poked free on a great defensive play. I wish that Moreno had waited a bit on his whistle to check in with the AR. I think Blatter's statement is the biggest load of shyte yet to come from his mouth. Blatter takes far too much credit for the achievements of FIFA as his personal doings, like the game it is a team event. It was amazing to note that in the review of every game it was a group discussion with lots of people in attendance not just the referee crew of that game. And Alberto ,most important was Moreno had recieved great marks for the US / Portugal game and up until that TOTTI incident the FIFA assessors who were watching the match with Hector were stated as saying he was having a career setting match in the most positive terms. THe idea of the referee overruling the AR on offsides is shown in the Graham Poll match where the AR made two calls that were supported by Poll but I am willing to bet neither wished it was so immediately upon seeing the replays. I again asked Hector if the referee is trained to supports his ARs how could a referee in fact unless he was 100% sure not go with the decisions that in theory the ARs are better situated and trained to make? You live on the edge and pray you do not fall off. I feel the three team idea of referee and Ars from the same country would be better followed by the same area as Canada would not do well in that requard but as a support member in CONCACAF it would better for our association .
Re: Re: Re: always be quilty and no way to defend himself kinda of sad While it is of benefit to have a crew composed of officials from the same country, I also feel that FIFA is in a sense coping out. Many of the problems at the world cup by the AR's had to do with a lack of experience and bad mechanics or lack of anticipation. You can't simulate the speed and quickness and the required reaction unless you see and are accomstomed to officiating matches of this type. Hector Vergara has worked a lot of "A" matches. Most of the poor calls were not caused by poor communication. Rather, AR's not being even with the next to last defender or making poor judgements when judging offside seemed to be the primary problems. While certainly the communication and experience in working together are immeasureable, I do feel for countries that have excellent officials, but will miss out the next world cup in germany because of Bladder's (perjorative term) edict. Instead of bringing on so many officials and in particular AR's with little experience, FIFA should have selected the officials based on their abilities and not to satisfy the various confederations or to meet some quota (read politics). There were discussions during and prior to the world cup and many skeptical coments were made regarding officals that had only U17 or U20, or a handfull of A matches. I'd liken it to affirmative action for soccer referees. It proved disasterous.