For all those not in the know, Norberto Longo is the older guy who does the color commentary for the Telemundo futbol broadcasts with Andres Cantor. I honestly would love to make a tape of all of Longo's sayings about the US team and its referees. They crack me up. Longo is definitely the poster boy for all those latin fans who can't cope with a US team that knows how to play soccer and a strong MLS league that's beaten the best in Concacaf. This was my favorite Longo quote from last night, during the Mexico vs. Columbia game played on February 12, 2003, after watching the American referee make a call with which he disagreed: "El arbitro es Americano. Pero esto es el precio que se tiene que pagar por jugar aca." Translation in context: We have to deal with an American referee for this game, but that's the price we have to pay to play in this country. The guy's so far out there, it's become comical. My brother and I usually call each other after he's made an especially outrageous statement.
You aren’t the only one. There are hundreds –possibly thousands of Hispanics—who feel the same way. Read what I sent to Anderson in another post: Anderson: You are right. Cantor has improved greatly and, at least, tires to call the game. He also has gotten rid of the inferiority complex he had toward Longo, and doesn’t sound as wimp as before, standing on his own when he needs to be. Before, he wouldn’t dare to contradict him. Longo is a piece of work. An awful, at that. Anti-American -- constantly belittling U.S. players and referees—tautological, full of empty verbosity and snobbish rhetoric. Longo is always looking down on the televiewers. He probably thinks that accumulating words will give him an intellectual aura when, in fact, only proves his trashing of both syntaxes and grammar. I wonder how Telemundo can afford such a phony announcer. His wife once said in an interview that she was amazed at his intelligence. Given their Argentinean descent, only can only say “it takes two to tango…”
Robviii is exactly right. That was the comment that really stuck in my craw. First of all, there is no law they must have an American ref. Second, Longo is an American as well, all though he might not feel like it. Third, he is broadcasting on an American station. It is really amazing to me that someone who knows so little about soccer can get such an fantastic job.
Well the match is taking place in a neutral country so it makes perfect sense the referee crew would be American, and as far as his comments go, while there is a lot of venon and bias in many of his remarks. The sad fact is that Ricardo Valenzuela did not perform well in what was and should have been a relatively easy match to officiate. Many of the critiscisms were unfortunately spot on. Valenzuela did not recognize early to caution to stop the slow escalation of chippy play, and failed to recognize the tactical fouls too. By the time he started cautioning, the game was close to getting out of hand. The comments regarding the handling of the Columbian player getting hurt and not coming off and the subsequent replay of the throw-in is a good case in point. I believe Valenzuela does not have a good feel for the game. He doesn't recognize or anticipate where the problems are and fails to take premptive actions to keep the match fair and enjoyable for the players.
I think you are missing the point. What Longo was saying is that the "ref is bad because he is american." I have seen them do games where the ref from another country is pretty bad. In those games he never says that the ref is bad because he is Mexican, Colombian, Honduran, etc.
he never said he was bad just because he was American. This is not the first time he comments on the assigned refs from CONCACAF whether they are American, central american, or from the caribbean. And yes, he is not a big fan of the refs in our area and he has said numerous times that they do need to improve. Don't you agree? Its not like these refs are officiating year round. Some of these refs dont even have legitimate professional leagues in their native country. What does an MLS or Canadian or Central American ref do when thier leagues are not active? Officiate college agmes? high school games? That ref last night was horrible. HE was more Latin than American if you ask me.... but he didnt even know the rules or how to control the game. Something has to be done to improve the referees in our confederation. The only federation that plays year round is the Mexican league. taking a week off during the holidays and 3 weeks during the summer. Maybe their needs to be some ref swapping between some of the federations. When a refs native league is over, the ref with the best season can participate in another league and so forth...
Precisely. Longo's hilarious because everytime he has a problem with an American referee, he critiques the referee because he's American. And if the referee does a good job and is American, Longo will go out of his way to describe how amazing it is that an American referee got the call right. One of the most entertaining things about the guy is that he can't let a single game pass with an American referee without making at least one jab at the guy. It's really funny. I don't recall the game, but last month, my brother and I were watching the US play and Longo was being unusually mild in his comments. Nevertheless, I guarateed my brother that by the end of the match Longo would say something: he just couldn't resist it. Sure enough, with just minutes left, Longo wen't absolutely ape sh-t on the referee and about the poor quality of MLS in general. Absolutely hilarious!
I beg to disagree. I have heard him enough to know that other than Mexican Officials and Carlos Batres he has gotten down on other officials for poor decisions and performances. Based on what happened in the Argentina vs Mexico and last nights match you cannot come away being impressed with our officials, regardless of Longo's clear bias in favor of Latin American teams. If you watched the USA vs. Argentina match they were glowing in their praise of Batres. Clearly it was deservd Batres did a fine job. The reality of Longo's criticism is he likes to see a game with South American flair and he was very critical of both teams last night, especially Colombia of whom he said they had no idea on how to attack the goal. With regard to the match taking place in the USA, he was clearly offbase and just plain stupid in his remarks. Mexico has a large immigrant population and it is to both the USSF's and the FMF to stage matches in the USA. How he fails to recognize that is his problem and points to his ignorance.
Norberto loves to spend a lot of time second-guessing referees, but you're deaf if you haven't noticed the special glee he gets out of harping on American referees. When longo says: "..es el precio por jugar aca," it's great comedy, but he's also making a generalization about the US and its referees. Call a spade a spade. I don't know about the "being more Latin" part, but no disagreement that Valenzuela is not a good referee. I've seen enough MLS games with him in the middle to know that. Off the topic, but nice idea. Any idea on whether there's any relationship beween the Mexican and American referee organizations, and if there is what it's like?
(Should this not be moved to the Mexico forum, Telemundo had another pair doing Jamaica v US) Yep, after all this time I still miss Ramos and Mayorga, for me they are Telemundo. Yeah, Mayorga can be pompus and wordy, but never stupid. He has been a fine addition to the competition over at Univision. And having Ramos do the more important matches on Radio Unica is great too.
I really miss Ramos. He was so good, when Telemundo first started to announce MLS games, back when MLS could truly be dreadful, he still made the game exciting. What I would give for another Ramos on television!
Well, considering the fact that the Mexican referee chief called for his OWN firing due to poor officiating in the MFL last week, it seems the US isn't alone when it comes to the pereceived quality of its referees. The USSF assigns referees to all games that take place inside the US and will request neutral referees for games involving US national teams. If Mexico wants to play national team or club games here, they get US referees. I see things from referees that confuse me in every competition I watch. It doesn't matter the level, country, or prestige of the competition. Between MLS, international matches, and foreign clubs visiting the US, our referees get a good number of high-level matches. Has anyone actually watched the referee and AR's in an Argentine match? Norberto can bite me. As far as I know there is no relatinship between th USSF and the FMF referee departments. It's really not in the interest of the FMF or MFL to develop USSF referees and vice-versa.
Norberto's rants and American refs Just saw this thread. I posted this in today's post-game thread, but I'll move it here: As to Norberto's interminable ranting about US officials, he's clearly over the top. But it doesn't help when the officials handle these games like Stott in the Mexico x Argies game and Valenzuela in last night's Mexico x Colombia game. Both refs missed clear fouls, but the more serious problem is that they aren't assertive enough. They chat way too much with the players and give a lot of verbal warnings - a common practice in MLS and also something that I've seen the commentators in EPL broadcasts actually praise. But all that chatting and verbal warning is just viewed as a sign of weakness in the Latin American game. The players view it as a lack of confidence and the ref inevitably loses control of the game. American refs need to call these game more tightly in the beginning and even dish out an early yellow to establish that they're firmly in control. They also can't allow players like Blanco - headcases in even the best of circumstances - to ride them all game long. Norberto's completely wrong to spin a few weak officiating outings into blanket condemnations of US officiating, but American refs need to understand what they're getting into and adjust accordingly.
I agree FlashMan, I wish Longo wouldtake a course in refereen, 90 % of his comments are totally of base, I never never heard a comment when referees from Arg. or Uruguay, made a bad call, he thinks they are godsend people. He hates american refs, but kiss their butts to mexican refs. whants to get on the good side of the fans. Big mistake, we don't like liars because we know our soccer.
Originally posted by Al Salinas He hates american refs, but kiss their butts to mexican refs. whants to get on the good side of the fans. Big mistake, we don't like liars because we know our soccer. We, does not fit into the equation. You are a Real Madrid fan. Telemundo will rarely show a La Liga game. I on the other hand am Telemundos target audience and I like Cantor and Longo. Long Live incompetent Reff Bashing..
Longo should see some of the "best" Southamerican referees. Byron Moreno anyone? No one can beat them. And how about Copa Libertadores, in that tournament you can see some of the most hometeam biased, inept officiating ever. And nowadays it's not that bad as before. In the seventies those refs were literally petty thieves.
Well, considering the fact that the Mexican referee chief called for his OWN firing due to poor officiating in the MFL last week, it seems the US isn't alone when it comes to the pereceived quality of its referees. That is partially true. Codesal (Director of the Referees) did announce he was going to resign. But it goes a little deeper than that. The referees are asking for help and they want help from a technological standpoint or an assigned 5th referee. Granted, there are a couple that just blow, but the majority of them are profesional and good. The biggest problem I see and this is just not in the Mexican League but in just about every league is that the player tries to fool the ref. But as far as applying the rules, they know thier business. But they can only call what they see or what they believe to see... and granted its those plays that he doesnt see is what he gets criticized for The USSF assigns referees to all games that take place inside the US and will request neutral referees for games involving US national teams. If Mexico wants to play national team or club games here, they get US referees. I see things from referees that confuse me in every competition I watch. It doesn't matter the level, country, or prestige of the competition. Refs make mistakes every where just as players.... but there is no excuse for not knowing basic rules such as advantage rule, or throw ins, or player injuries. Most of the refs in CONCACAF are not up to the job. For what ever the reason (not having professional leagues in thier nativce country or officiating 6 months out of the year), something has to be done. And I dont blame Longo for criticizing that refereee because he didnt even understand basic rules... maybe he did know them but just didnt know how to apply them. Between MLS, international matches, and foreign clubs visiting the US, our referees get a good number of high-level matches. On the average, how many games would you say a ref in the US officiates per year? How many does a central American ref officiate per year? How many games does a carribbean ref officiate per year? Do refs in the MLS get punished or sat out for sub par performances? As far as I know there is no relatinship between th USSF and the FMF referee departments. It's really not in the interest of the FMF or MFL to develop USSF referees and vice-versa. I do know that the FMF have set up work shops for officials in the area. To the extent of how much emphasis are put into these work shops. I dont know? Supposedly the funds were never distributed by CONCACAF Its not in the best interest of the FMF to develop other federations refs. CONCACAF is suppose to do that. I also dont see the FMF swapping oficials...FMF refs are paid very well and would make less going else where. If CONCACAF were to take it serious and they cough up the bill.... then it could work out for everyone.
Longo What I find the funniest about this guy is that every time the US wins he says "Y Estados Unidos, sin futbol, esta fabricando este resultado". translation : " ...an USA without playing soccer, is fabricating this result.. But seriously though the target audiance of Telemundo is the large Mexican population inside the US... most of these fans believe Mexico is the best of the America's so Longo just says what they want to hear. If Longo would be impartial, all these mexican viewers would get pissed off and boycott Telemundo and maybe switch over to Univision.
Longo What I find the funniest about this guy is that every time the US wins he says "Y Estados Unidos, sin futbol, esta fabricando este resultado". translation : " ...an USA without playing soccer, is fabricating this result.. But seriously though the target audiance of Telemundo is the large Mexican population inside the US... most of these fans believe Mexico is the best of the America's so Longo just says what they want to hear. If Longo would be impartial, all these mexican viewers would get pissed off and boycott Telemundo and maybe switch over to Univision.
I have discovered a great way to make money. Buy an Argentinian for what he's worth, then sell him for what he thinks he's worth.
Re: Norberto's rants and American refs robviii, thanks for starting this thread. I almost did so last night after listening to the Longo comments made last night. I was laughing my head off last night when Longo said..."Oh no, here we go again with freekick ceremony." He thought the ref was taking way to long to get play going again. I agree. LOL! I am getting pretty tired of his antics.
Do you know why every time there's a lightning storm Argentinians go out and stare at the sky? Because they think that God is taking them a picture.