January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Seeing red — are refs making too many bad calls?
The panel gives its take on the controversies that have hogged the headlines.
James Whittaker: Massimo Busacca, who refereed the Argentina v Mexico game seems to be attracting a lot of praise. He realized early on it was going to be a competitive game, set the bar high for a yellow card and let a lot of things go — Fair play to him for that.
But there was one crucial call in the match and he got it wrong — Heinze's 'professional foul'. The Manchester United man had to go. He made a mistake and then hacked his man down to avoid giving away a goal. There's no way the guy on the far side was getting back. It was a clear-cut red.
The refs never seem to get blasted for not giving cards. Restraint is what attracts praise from the media — even in the face of blatant bad behaviour.
If you throw around the cards like confetti, however, you've 'lost control'.
Valentin Ivanov could have taken a leaf out of Busacca's book and set the bar higher for a yellow early in the Holland v Portugal game.
Boulahrouz could have easily got a straight red for his studs to the thigh challenge on Ronaldo, and when he went up with his elbows against Figo there was no way he was staying on the pitch. Costinha made several bad tackles from behind before his blatant and ridiculous deliberate handball.
Deco has some mitigation in that he was incensed that Holland, against all fair play guidelines, did not give the ball back when it had been put out so a player could receive treatment, but still it was a horrible challenge to get his first booking and needless time-wasting for his second.
If anything there should have been a fifth red for the Figo headbutt. It was the players that lost control in this game, not the referee.
And, as for the Italy penalty — The ref made a horrible call at a crucial time in the game and cost Australia a shot at the quarter-finals.
Don Burgess: The refs have made several bad crucial calls, which have affected outcomes. Italy was extremely lucky — again —thanks to the officials. They certainly didn't deserve a penalty kick yesterday and they benefited from the ref's sending off in the U.S. match. They could have finished second in the group, faced Brazil and been done and gone. Instead they're up against a Ukraine side and you have to fancy their chances of making the semis. Sometimes winning a World Cup involves catching a few breaks to go along with skill
Robert Calderon: Many calls have ranged from questionable to diabolical. FIFA needs to take advantage of technology, particularly at the World Cup level. Penalty kicks and dismissals that are questionable should be reviewed to ensure that just decisions are made. Having said that a number of players have contributed to their own demise and that of their teams with their irresponsible behaviour.
DB: That's true. We have seen headbutts and elbows to the face. Those players do themselves in, but in a tournament in which one loss and you're out, the officiating must meet the highest standard.
George Holdipp: I am very reluctant to criticize the referees.
No doubt mistakes have been made, but you must consider that we all have the benefit of slow motion replay — they must make decisions on the spot - what options do they have if two teams decide to 'hack one another to pieces' — but show the card — the match between Holland and Portugal for instance demonstrated this — if one criticism can be levelled at the referee in that match it is that he did not call the captains together to try to calm things down. I must confess to being absolutely disgusted with FIFA President Sepp Blatter, his criticism of the referees is totally uncalled for and detrimental to the game — quite frankly I believe it is time for him to go!
RC: Sorry George, but some of the decisions have been horrendous and if players and coaches are judged by results then referees must be held accountable for their mistakes. They have had a significant negative impact on this tournament and the players and coaches that have spent many years preparing for it.
Lee Beauchamp: I'm going to take a bit of the heat off the referees and blame Sepp Blatter. It was he who categorically stated before the tournament that FIFA was going to protect the good players in the World Cup.
I interpret this as FIFA instructing the refs to show more cards than The World Series Of Poker.
I'm sure Sepp's intentions were honourable, and it sounds good on paper, but unfortunately they don't referee on paper, they referee on grass, in stadiums, with 80,000 partisan fans screaming at them.
It will be interesting to see that if after the melee of cards that FIFA instruct the refs towards leniency thus placing even more pressure on the referees.
It looks like FIFA's intentions have completely backfired and their wish to see the good players in the finals has resulted in exactly the opposite.
After the awful penalty decision which sent a bold Australian side waltzing back to Matilda and many other shocking penalty and red and yellow card decisions, surely it is time for a video replay as they have in the NFL or a third umpire as they have in cricket. There is just too much at stake for everyone concerned.
Reputations, livelihoods and even whole economies can turn on a split second decision in an overheated arena.
Finally, let's not forget the players' role in all of this. Behaviour and foul play seem to be deteriorating despite the threat of red cards. Surely its time to take another leaf from the NFL and indeed Rugby Union and start penalising teams in distance for foul behaviour and dissent.
You don't need to possess the lip-reading skills of Marlee Matlin to interpret how some of these players abuse the refs and perhaps it's about time to impose edge of the box free kicks or even penalties for offending teams.
RC: Another classic mistake from the officials leading to Brazil's second goal... Adriano was clearly offside, but it stands and a very strong Ghana team is behind 2-0.
Ghana have bossed this game and a combination of naive defending and poor officiating has resulted in Ghana possibly going out of the tournament.
JW: The refs protect the bigger teams. I doubt it's a directive that they receive its just the pressure associated with giving a decision against one of the top teams. No ref wants to give a false penalty or offside call that puts Brazil out of the Cup because of the heat they would attract.[[In-content Ad]]
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