Translate

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Euro 2016 Matchday 5 Reports Day 3: Another strong performance by Euro referees

Scotland 6-1 Gibraltar                    Referee: Mattias Gestranius (Finland)
In a game where Gibraltar scored for the first time ever, they will not feel helped in the game by Gestranius, who called two tight penalties against them.
17th Minute: Gibraltar keeper Jamie Robba comes out of his box and trips up Shaun Maloney, a move he didn't need to make since the ball was well on it's way put of play for a goal kick. It's a dumb penalty to give up, but Gestranius absolutely made the right call.
33rd Minute: Gibraltar's Lee Casciaro and Scotland's Steven Naismith come together in the box and Naismith goes down a little theatrically for the little contact there was. Unfortunately for Gibraltar, Gestranius is fooled and points to the spot. Maloney would bury both the penalty and Gibraltar's hope for a win.

Ireland 1-1 Poland                          Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden)
Eriksson didn't face much controversy, though he may have missed an Irish foul leading up to the corner kick that set up their stoppage time equalizer.

Romania 1-0 Faroe Islands             Referee: Artur Soares Dias (Portugal)
Dias was strong in the match, as was his Portuguese team (especially the Right AAR).
64th Minute: Credit has to be given to the AAR on the right goal (I think it was Hugo Miguel, though Manuel de Sousa is another possibility.) for seeing that the ball was out of the goal on Faroe keeper Gunnar Nielsen's fantastic double save.

Albania 2-1 Armenia                      Referee: David Fernández Borbalán (Spain)
Borbalán was good in the match and continues to prove himself as an elite referee.

Northern Ireland 2-1 Finland          Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Marciniak was very good in Northern Ireland's victory, as he continues to shoot up UEFA's ranks.

Georgia 0-2 Germany                     Referee: Clément Turpin (France)
The French referee looked confident in the match and his performance reflected that confidence.

Hungary 0-0 Greece                        Referee: Sergey Karasev (Russia)
Karasev had a fine game in Hungary, making one strong call when he disallowed a goal because the ball had been knocked out of the keeper's hands.

Portugal 2-1 Serbia                          Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)
Rocchi and his assistants were very solid in the match. Nice onside decision by the AR on Serbia's goal.

NOTE: Northern Ireland-Finland report by Will Cole. Rest by Harrison Johnson.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

MLS Week 4 Reports: Referees regress in Week 4

New England 2-1 San José                  Referee: José Carlos Rivero (United States)
Rivero got an extremely tough assignment in the snow of Foxborough, and there was one incident that caught my eye.
60th Minute: Rivero judges New England's Scott Caldwell to have clipped Clarence Goodson in the box. Personally, I am having a hard time seeing any contact by Caldwell, so I have to disagree with Rivero's decision.

Montreal 2-2 Orlando                           Referee: Ted Unkel (United States)
Unkel had a mediocre performance in Montreal, and I think there is room for improvement.
14th Minute: Unkel calls a hand ball on Orlando's Sean St Ledger in the box after the ball comes off fellow Orlando defender's head onto his outstretched arm. My problem with the call is that the defender's head was maybe 2 feet away from St Ledger's arm. That was no time for St Ledger to be expected to react, so I question the legitimacy of the penalty.

New York City FC 0-1 Sporting KC   Referee: Edvin Jurisevic (United Sates)
Jurisevic, decent throughout, originally made a mistake in what would have been a crucial call, but did well to work with his assistants to make the right call.
68th Minute: Jurisevic points to the spot after he judges a handball against Sporting KC. Here's the problem: The handball should have been called on NYCFC's Andrew Jacobson. Luckily, Jurisevic, his  assistants James Conlee and Brian Dunn, and fourth official Alex Chilowicz come to the conclusion that there was no contact by any SKC defender. For some reason, though, they call a drop ball instead of a free kick to Sporting KC. Regardless, good job consulting with his assistants by Jurisevic.

Columbus 1-2 New York                      Referee: Sorin Stoica (Canada)
Stoica had another tough match in his second assignment of the year, but this time he struggled.
50th Minute: Red Bull Midfielder Lloyd Sam is hacked down in the box by Emanuel Pogatetz. No doubt about this one, but some will argue that Sam should have been called for a PK earlier for a similar challenge he committed on a Crew player.
83rd Minute: Columbus' Federico Higuain is called for an obstruction foul against Felipe, and reacts angrily for a prolonged period of time. I agree with the second yellow for dissent, but not with the original foul call. There is no way that is a foul for me, since Felipe made more contact if anything.

DC United 1-0 LA Galaxy                    Referee: Ismail Elfath (United States)
Elfath was the first referee on Saturday to put in a good game free of controversy. He deserves credit for not blowing the whistle Galaxy defender Robbie Rodgers and DC forward Chris Pontius were battling for position right during the build up to Pontius' late goal. The aggressor clearly was Rodgers and Elfath does well to wait and see instead of prematurely calling what probably would have been a penalty to DC. 

Vancouver 2-1 Portland                         Referee: Allen Chapman (United States)
Chapman had a pretty good game, but many wanted harsher punishment on Gershon Koffie for a studs-up challenge.
12th Minute: Vancouver's Gershon Koffie comes in studs up on Maximiliano Urruti. It's bordering on a red card but I would have to barely lean towards agreeing with Chapman, mainly because it seems like Koffie lost his footing a bit before the challenge. 

Dallas 0-0 Seattle                                   Referee: Kevin Stott (United States)
Stott was outstanding in Dallas and looked like the ref who represented the US at the 2006 World Cup.
17th Minute: Dallas' Kellyn Acosta puts his studs into the stomach of a Sounders player. After playing advantage, Stott goes back to the foul and sends off Acosta. The decision to play on knowing a red was a strong possibility was unusual, but the important thing is that he got the red card absolutely right in the end.

Chicago 1-0 Philadelphia                       Referee: David Gantar (Canada)
Gantar had an extremely tough match to deal with, and I think he got one out of his two crucial calls right.
20th Minute: Chicago want a penalty after a bouncing ball strikes the outstretched arm of a Union defender. It was impossible for Gantar to spot, but I think Chicago has a case because the arm was not tucked in.
71st Minute: Philadelphia's Fred punches the face of a Fire defender. Hard to judge intent, but Gantar had a better angle, so I'll agree with his red card decision.

Houston 0-0 Colorado                            Referee: Marcos de Oliveira (United States?)
The selection of de Oliveira struck me as odd given that de Oliveira is listed only as a fourth official on the MLS referee list. The reason couldn't have been lack of available MLS referees, since regular official Juan Guzman served as a fourth official. Regardless, de Oliveira made no decisions that showed that his opinion wasn't warranted. 

Salt Lake 2-1 Toronto                            Referee: Hilario Grajeda (United States)
Grajeda struggled in this match, his key blown decision being disallowing Nick Hagglund's goal. 
73rd Minute: Nick Hagglund of Toronto gets a header goal disallowed for what Grajeda deems a push in the back of Chris Schuler. To me, there seems to be a lack of contact from Hagglund and a large amount of contact from Schuler. Huge mistake by Grajeda.

Thanks for reading!

Euro 2016 Matchday 5 Reports Day 2: Strong Performances in second day

Croatia 5-1 Norway                                Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain)
Carballo was excellent, and he continues to work his way past his World Cup struggles.
69th Minute: Carballo calls a penalty against Croatian Verdan Corluka for a push on Tarik Elyounossi in the box. I don't have a good angle, but I think Carballo got it right. It looks like Corluka extends his arm on Elyounossi, so I agree with the decision. Carballo also got it right when he sent off Corluka two minutes later for another challenge that warranted a second yellow.

Israel 0-3 Wales                                       Referee: Milorad Mazic (Serbia)
The veteran Serb referee was strong, as he also continued to work past his own World Cup struggles.
51st Minute: Isreal's Eitan Tibi, already on a yellow, blocks off Gareth Bale without getting the ball. Mazic awards a clear second yellow for stopping a promising attack.

Netherlands 1-1 Turkey                           Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)
Brych was excellent with his calls and could be a CL Final contender in the next few years if he improved his timekeeping.
Full Time: No idea why Brych blew the final whistle after 5:46 of the 6 minutes of stoppage time. 6 minutes should be a minimum, and Brych could have even added on for the goal. He has got to improve his time management if he wants to take the next step.

Andorra 0-3 Bosnia-Herzegovina           Referee: Itsván Vad (Hungary)
Vad had an easy game and continued his run of good performances. Nothing important for us to look at.

Belgium 5-0 Cyprus                                Referee: Ovidiu Hategan (Romania)
Hategan did well with the easy task of refereeing a 5-0 game. Easy game, but good job nonetheless.

Azerbaijan 2-0 Malta                               Referee: Halis Özkahya (Turkey)
Özkahya was strong in a relatively easy match. Good work from the Turkish referee.

Czech Republic 1-1 Latvia                      Referee: Javier Estrada Fernandez (Spain)
Fernandez saw no controversy in the match. Nice work from the Spaniard.

Kazakhstan 0-3 Iceland                           Referee: Anastasios Sidiropolous (Greece)
Sidiropolous worked well in a relatively easy match, continuing today's trend of strong performances.

Bulgaria 2-2 Italy                                     Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
Skomina lived up to his top class standard and continues to push forward in his career with a good game here. No controversy.

NOTE: Isreal-Wales report by Neil Tyler. Others by Harrison Johnson.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Euro 2016 Matchday 5 Reports Day 1: Montenegro madness mars qualifiers

Montenegro 0-0 Russia                    Referee: Deniz Aytekin (Germany) [pictured]
Fan violence caused the match to be suspended, then eventually abandoned. In my opinion, the match could have been handled better. 
1st Minute: Russian Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev gets hit in the head by an emergency flare thrown by the Montenegro supporters. Good work by Aytekin to suspend play. However, I do not understand why the match was resumed. I won't blame Aytekin since I don't know for sure if it was his decision, but I think that choice, whoever made it, was daft at best.
66th Minute: Montenegro's Murko Vucinic appears to get both Aleksandr Kokorin with a challenge, so I agree with the penalty decision by Aytekin. After Montenegro save the penalty, a russian player is pelted with missiles as he takes an ensuing throw in. Good call by Aytekin to finally stop the match, though I still think this could have been awarded if the match had been abandoned after the first minute flare incident.

Moldova 0-2 Sweden                       Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)

Bebek had a tough game, and I thought he was very strong.
83rd Minute: Bebek awards Sweden a penalty after Vadim Bolohan extends his arm in to push Emil Forsberg in the box. No doubt about the call from Bebek, who showed good poise in the decision.

England 4-0 Lithuania                      Referee: Pavel Královec (Czech Republic)

Very easy game for Královec in London. Nothing important enough to take a closer look at.

Slovenia 6-0 San Marino                  Referee: Oliver Drachta (Austria)

Always helps when the game you are charge of is 6-0. Not much here either.

Liechtenstein 0-5 Austria                  Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany)
Zwayer had a much easier game than his fellow German Aytekin. No controversy.

Macedonia 1-2 Belarus                     Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)
Good game by Taylor, who did well to not call Belarus' second goal in the goalies possession when it was kicked.

Spain 1-0 Ukraine                             Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)
Çakır, one of Europe's top referees, was excellent again, seeing no controversy (notice a trend?).

Slovakia 3-0 Luxembourg                Referee: Stephan Studer (Switzerland)

In what may be the last match for the retiring Studer, there was little controversy.

Switzerland 3-0 Estonia                    Referee: Danny Makkeile (Netherlands)
Makkeile put forth a strong effort throughout the match, and the only tough decision was to correctly disallow a goal for offsides. 

Monday, March 23, 2015

MLS Week 3 Reports: One of the best weeks ever in the MLS

Welcome to MLS Week 3 Reports, where I give you my take on the crucial MLS calls this week.

New England 0-0 Montreal              Referee: Edvin Jurisevic (United States)
Excellent refereeing from Jurisevic, who looked good in his 2015 MLS debut.
61st Minute: Montreal's Hassoun Camara, already playing on a yellow, tugs the jersey of Juan Agudelo to keep from advancing. Obvious stopping a promising attack and second yellow for Jurisevic.
86th Minute: Revolution fans want a PK after Charlie Davies goes down in the box. Not much replay on it, but I think it was a good tackle by the Montreal defender. Good no-call by Jurisevic.

Colorado 0-0 New York City FC     Referee: Sorin Stoica (Canada)
Stoica was very strong, especially on a crucial 82nd minute decision. On an unrelated note, Pablo Mastroeni's bow tie rocks.
82nd Minute: Colorado's Juan Ramirez is knocked over by NYC's Shay Facey on the edge of the box.  Great job by Stoica and his assistant to spot the foul location just outside the box. Also a good decision to send Facey off with a second yellow.

Philadelphia 0-2 FC Dallas               Referee: José Carlos Rivero (United States)
Good work by Rivero, who showed real guts to make a key red card call.
41st Minute: Philly's Zach Pfeffer leads with his elbow on Mauro Diaz. It looked intentional to me, and Rivero did well to send Pfeffer off.

Orlando 0-1 Vancouver                    Referee: Jorge Gonzalez (United States)
Gonzalez was at expected level in the game with one debatable call.
31st Minute: Orlando's Kevin Molino goes down on a challenge from Kendall Watson from behind. Hard for me to tell from the only angle I could find, but my hunch is that it was enough to warrant a penalty kick.

New York 2-0 DC United                Referee: Alan Kelly (Ireland)
Kelly was once again excellent, and I was impressed by his continued poise in key situations.
91st Minute: New York's Matt Miazga fouls DC's Davy Arnaud in the box. It doesn't look like much at first, but after another look it is clear that Miazga stuck his leg into the path of Arnaud. Good decision by Kelly.

Sporting Kansas City 0-0 Portland    Referee: Silviu Petrescu (Canada)
LA Galaxy 1-1 Houston                    Referee: Juan Guzman (United States)
San Jose 2-1 Chicago                       Referee: Ricardo Salazar (United States)
No controversy in good efforts from these crews.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Premier League Review Week 30: Swarbrick, Atkinson, others draw questions

Manchester City 3-0 West Bromwich Albion       Referee: Neil Swarbrick
Swarbrick opened up the day with the week's first full blown controversy. Good besides that though.
2nd Minute: Swarbrick calls a foul after Wilfred Bony is fouled by the last man back for West Brom, Craig Dawson. Then Swarbrick shows Gareth McCauley, who had fouled Bony just after the whistle, the red card instead of Dawson. I agree with the red card decision but Swarbrick has got to notice who committed the foul. Swarbrick later apologized for the mistaken identity.

Tottenham 4-3 Leicester City                                Referee: Mike Dean
Dean was pretty good, save for one crucial call gone wrong.
63rd Minute: Dean points to the spot after a sliding challenge by Leicester's David Nugent on Danny Rose. After seeing a couple replays, it is clear that Nugent actually made a fantastic tackle, so I strongly disagree with Dean on that call. However, I think that "arrogance", as Nigel Pearson accused Dean of having, is a little much.

Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal                                           Referee: Mike Jones
Jones was decent, but he could have been better, especially with his strictness.
61st Minute: Newcastle want a penalty after a cross hits the hand of an Arsenal defender. To me, it looks like the hand was tucked in, so no penalty is the right call for me.
87th Minute: Newcastle's Remy Cabella gets tripped up in the box by Laurent Koscielny. It is a borderline penalty, but in my opinion Jones probably should have pointed to the spot given that Cabella's run was impeded.

Southampton 2-0 Burnley                                      Referee: Roger East
Keeping in line with previous games, East was decent besides one controversial call.
31st Minute: Burnely want a PK after Southampton captain José Fonte steps on George Boyd in the box. Tough to spot for East, who doesn't call a foul.

Stoke City 1-2 Crystal Palace                                 Referee: Andre Marriner
Same situation as the past. Marriner was decent except for one bad call.
40th Minute: Palace F Yannick Bolaise collides with Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic in the box. Begovic seemed to get the ball first, and Bolaise comes in with a high leg, so I would have given a free kick to Stoke. Marriner instead awards a penalty to Palace, who take advantage.

Liverpool 1-2 Manchester United                           Referee: Martin Atkinson
What a day Atkinson had. I think that, besides sending off Gerrard, he could have sent off 2 or 3 more players in the game.
46th Minute: Atkinson rightly sends off Gerrard for his stomp on Ander Herrera. Liverpool fans are mad about the call, but Atkinson got it 100% right.
56th Minute: Phil Jones comes in from behind on Jordan Henderson. Atkinson shows him a correct yellow, but Liverpool fans will rightly argue that Jones should have already gotten at least a yellow, if not a red for a 21st minute rugby tackle on Adam Lallana. Jones however escaped without even a warning. Put all this together and we should have been playing 10 v. 10
71st Minute: Wayne Rooney appears to intentionally kick the plant leg of Liverpool Goalkeeper Simon Mingolet. That should have been at least a yellow to Rooney, and possibly a red. If you ask me, a retrospective fine should have been given to Rooney.
94th Minute: Atkinson misses a stomp by Martin Skrtel on David de Gea. Luckily, the disciplinary committee didn't miss it and suspended Skrtel 3 games.


Hull City 2-3 Chelsea                                            Referee: Michael Oliver
Oliver put in a good effort, but he should have taken action against Cesc Febregas for intentionally shoving him in the above scenario. You simply can't put your hands on a ref.

West Ham United 1-0 Sunderland                         Referee: Lee Mason
Aston Villa 0-1 Swansea City                               Referee: Robert Madley
Queens Park 1-2 Everton                                       Referee: Jonathan Moss
Mason, Moss, and Madley refereed solid controversy-free games. Nice work.

Thanks for reading!

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Europa League Review: Referees struggle a tiny bit in round of 16

Sevilla 2-1 Villarreal (Sevilla 5-2)                      Referee: Martin Atkinson (England)
Atkinson's follow-up from an impressive Premier League Outing was exceeding lukewarm, to say the least.
77th Minute: Vicente Iborra of Sevilla and Eric Bailly of Villarreal are battling for a ball when Iborra suddenly goes down. Atkinson immediately shows a second yellow to Bailly. I disagree with the call, since I can't see any contact from any angle and the play looks like a dive if anything.

Roma 0-3 Fiorentina (Fiorentina 4-1)                 Referee: Cüneyt Çakir (Turkey)
Overall Çakir was decent, but he wasn't at his best in my opinion.
7th Minute: Roma's José Holebas trips up Matías Fernández in the box. Good early penalty decision by Çakir.
88th Minute: Roma's Adem Ljajic is called for tripping up Alberto Aquilani and is shown a second yellow. My first thought was that this was the right situational call, but looking closely, it was actually a strong tackle by Ljajic, not a foul.

Ajax 2-1 Dnipro (Dnipro 2-2 on away goals rule)    Referee: Aleksei Kubalkov (Belarus)
Kubalkov was solid throughout the match, but the post match fight involving Mike van der Hoorn and Denys Boyko was what caught my attention.
After the Match: After the match, Ajax's Mike van der Hoorn gets into an aggressive argument with Dnipro goalkeeper Denys Boyko. Kubalkov issued a red to van der Hoorn, who appeared to be the initiator and a yellow to Boyko. The red seems like a moot point at first, but it does mean a mandatory one game European ban for van der Hoorn, meaning he will miss Ajax's inevitable first European match next season and possibly more. Regardless, well handled by Kubalkov.

Inter Milan 1-2 Wolfsburg (Wolfsburg 5-2)        Referee: Mark Clattenburg (England)
Clattenburg was decent throughout the match, but could have been a little bit sharper.
71st Minute: Inter's Rodrigo Palacio makes a nice run to score a goal, but another Milan player was in an offsides position and obstructed the Wolfsburg defense, creating separation for Palacio. The Assistant Referee was at the best angle to make the call, but I think that Clattenburg and AAR Anthony Taylor also should have seen the contact. Luckily, it didn't matter because of how many goals Wolfsburg scored in the two games.

Besiktas 1-3 Club Brugge (Brugge 5-2)              Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia)
Torino 1-0 Zenit St. Petersburg (Zenit 2-1)         Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)
Dynamo Kiev 5-2 Everton (Kiev 6-4)                 Referee: Daniel Aytekin (Germany)
Dinamo Moscow 0-0 Napoli (Napoli 3-1)           Referee: Bas Nijhuis (Netherlands)
Good games from these crews with no controversy.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Bits and Pieces: FA Cup Replay, CONCACAF Champions League and news topics

FA CUP REPLAY
Reading 3-0 Bradford                Referee: Mike Jones
Jones had a relatively easy game, but he did have one tough call to make.
62nd Minute: Bradford's Felipe Morais sends his studs into the stomach of Nathaniel Chalobah. It was a borderline call between red and yellow, so I don't fault the straight red from Jones for Endangering the Safety of an Opponent.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Herediano 3-0 América              Referee: Jhon Pitti (Panama)
Very tough game with a lot of intensity for Pitti.
27th Minute: América's Micheal Arroyo is about to be shown a yellow by Pitti when a fight breaks out with Arroyo in the middle of it. Pitti does well to break up the fight and then show Arroyo a red card for his role in instigating the fight. I do think it would have been better from Pitti if he showed yellow cards to a couple other players that were involved in the skirmish.

Montreal 2-0 Alajuelense           Referee: Jair Marrufo (United States)
Good game from Marrufo with no controversy.

REFEREEING NEWS
Trattou's car burned in Cyprus
More scary news from Nicosia, Cyprus, where top referee Leontios Trattou's car was burned by angry fans in a garage under his apartment. This is the latest in a string of attacks on the island, where one referee's car was smashed with a lead pipe and another referee's mother had a bomb go off in front of her house. All of us at the soccer refereeing blog are saddened that fans will go after referees this much and hope that the violence will stop.

Note: FA Cup Replay Report and Refereeing News by Neil Tyler. CONCACAF Champions League reports by Manuel Martinez.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Champions League Review: Referees with good performance in final 4 round of 16 matches

Welcome to the Champions League Review, where I give you my take on the crucial calls in recent Champions League action.

Monaco 0-2 Arsenal (Monaco 3-3 on away goals)                     Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (Norway)
Overall, a strong effort from Moen, though his assistant may have gotten a key 23' offsides call wrong. Much of the talk from the refereeing side revolved around Alexis Sanchez's yellow card for diving.
42nd Minute: Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez goes down in the box, and Moen is quick to call a dive and give Sanchez a yellow. If you ask me, this play was in between a dive and a penalty, as there was enough contact for Sanchez to go down but not enough for a penalty. Play on would have been the correct call in my book

Atletico Madrid 1(3)-0(2) Bayer Leverkusen                             Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)
Rizzoli was up to his excellent standard besides maybe missing a knock to the face of Raul Garcia. Nothing much to go into detail about.

Barcelona 1-0 Manchester City (Barcelona 3-1)                         Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)
Rocchi was quite simply up to the task of a critical Champions League Match.
77th Minute: Barcelona's Gerard Pique clearly trips up Sergio Agüero in the box. Good penalty call by Rocchi. City would fail to capitalize, however.

Borussia Dortmund 0-3 Juventus (Juventus 5-1)                         Referee: Milorad Mažić (Serbia)
The veteran Serb had an easy night with no controversy. Very strong performance.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Premier League Review Week 29: Decent week for much criticized referees

Welcome to the Premier League Review, where I give you my take on all the crucial calls from this week's premier league matches. Thanks for reading!

Leicester City 0-0 Hull City         Referee: Jonathan Moss
Moss had an important game in the relegation battle and he handled it well.
72nd Minute: Hull's Tom Huddlestone, already on a yellow, barges into Jamie Vardy on the left wing. It was an obvious foul on a promising attack, so I think Moss got it right when he issued Huddlestone a second yellow.

Arsenal 3-0 West Ham                 Referee: Chris Foy
Nothing to talk about in this game except Foy's injury. Foy was replaced by 4th Official Anthony Taylor in the 60th minute after he suffered an apparent calf injury. This was very reminiscent of Phil Dowd's early departure a week ago, and it is interesting to note that Foy and Dowd are the Premier League's two oldest referees. We wish Foy a speedy recovery!

Sunderland 0-4 Aston Villa         Referee: Neil Swarbrick
Easy game for Swarbrick, as the scoreline got out of hand quickly, sucking the energy out of the game.
33rd Minute: Sunderland want a penalty after a Jermaine Defoe shot bounces first off the leg of Ciaran Clark and then onto the Villa defender's arm. It would have been an extremely harsh call from Swarbrick since the defender had no time to react, so I agree with the call.

Burnley 1-0 Manchester City       Referee: Andre Marriner
After drawing Brendan Rogers' anger last week for not calling 4 potential PKs, Marriner again controversially chose not to award a critical penalty.
93rd Minute: City's Pablo Zabaleta gets his legs taken out from under him in the box by Ben Mee, but Marriner refuses to award City a penalty. It is an easy penalty for me, since Mee got no ball in the tackle, but Marriner had other ideas.

Chelsea 1-1 Southampton            Referee: Mike Dean
Dean was exceptional in this game, getting two key penalty decisions right.
18th Minute: Chelsea Midfielder Nimanja Matic goes in a little too strong on Saido Mane in the box. Excellent decision by Dean to point to the spot.
23rd Minute: Chelsea want a PK of their own after Branislav Ivanovic gets his heel stepped on in the box by a Southampton defender. The contact was poorly timed, but incidental. Good call by Dean to play on.

Everton 3-0 Newcastle                Referee: Martin Atkinson
Atkinson shook off recent struggles to have a good week. In fact, he gets my vote for Premier League Referee of the Week.
3rd Minute: Newcastle want a penalty after the ball hits the tucked in hand of an Everton Defender. Good call by Atkinson to signal play on, since there was nothing more the defender could have done to avoid it hitting his hand.
55th Minute: Everton get a penalty kick after a clumsy challenge by Yoan Gouffran on Aaron Lennon just inside the box. Gouffran gets more leg than ball, so I support Atkinson's decision.
59th Minute: Newcastle skipper Fabricio Coloccini goes in on Lennon far after the ball had gone. I absolutely agree with the red card Atkinson showed.

Crystal Palace 3-1 QPR               Referee: Lee Mason
West Brom 1-0 Stoke                  Referee: Kevin Friend
Man United 3-0 Spurs                 Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Swansea 0-1 Liverpool                Referee: Roger East
Not much to say from any of these fixtures. Good work by the officiating crews.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

MLS Week 2 Reports: Controversy in Columbus and Salt Lake

Welcome to the MLS Week 2 Reports, where I'll give you my take on all the crucial calls from the past week.

Houston 0-1 Orlando City             Referee: Chris Penso (United States)
Relatively easy game for Penso, who only had to issue two cautions all game.
74th Minute: A poor clearance attempt from Houston Goalkeeper Tyler Deric deflects of Orlando's Pedro Ribeiro. Ribeiro then gets position on Deric, who does everything he can, including fouling Ribeiro in every way possible. The ball eventually finds its way into the back of the net. Great job by Penso to wait on blowing the whistle.

Chicago 0-1 Vancouver                Referee: Fotis Bazakos (United States)
4 penalty appeals, but all were excellent no-calls. Good work by Bazakos.

Columbus 2-0 Toronto                  Referee: David Gantar (Canada)
Toronto have had their gripes about Gantar in the past and this continued today against Columbus.
45th Minute: Ethan Finlay goes down on a challenge just outside the box from Toronto's Justin Morrow. Gantar calls a foul and after discussing the play with his assistant referee Danny Thornberry, decides to issue a red card to Morrow. The problem is that, for me, this was an outstanding challenge by Morrow, who seemed to mostly get the ball. Once Gantar called the foul, he didn't have another option besides red, given that Finlay had an obvious goal scoring opportunity.

FC Dallas 3-1 Sporting KC           Referee: Jair Marrufo (United States)
Veteran referee Jair Marrufo a solid game, but his assistant found himself at the center of controversy.
52nd Minute: Dallas Striker Blas Pérez scores his second goal of a corner from Michel. The problem is, replays show that Assistant Referee Eric Boria should have signaled for offsides on Pérez
79th Minute: Kansas City are awarded a penalty after Dallas Defender Matt Hedges blatantly holds Bernardo Anor in the box. This often doesn't get called, but it still is a clear penalty according to the Laws of the Game. However, Sporting KC's Dom Dwyer squandered the spot kick opportunity. Regardless, good work by Marrufo.


Real Salt Lake 3-3 Philadelphia     Referee: Allen Chapman (United States)
Chapman found himself the second referee today to draw the ire of supporters after a questionable PK in the 85th minute.
85th minute: RSL's Nick Mullholland goes down in the box after battling with Maurice Edu. The contact from Edu looks minimal to me, and I do not understand the penalty call from Chapman. This call would prove to be crucial as Álvaro Saborio buried the spot kick to knot it up at 3.

Seattle 2-3 San Jose                       Referee: Baldomero Toledo (United States)
Tough game for Toledo, who faced difficult decisions throughout the match. 
52nd Minute: San Jose's Víctor Bernárdez tries to kick the ball but misses and sends his studs into the leg of Michael Azira. Toledo shows Bernárdez a red, but I would have been okay with a yellow because I think Bernárdez couldn't have done anything to avoid it.
83rd Minute: Clint Dempsey appeared to be offsides before passing to Obafemi Martins for the Sounders' second goal. It was extremely tight, however, so I can see why the Assistant missed it.
UPDATE: I have watched this again and changed my mind. Great run by Dempsey, actually. 

New York 2-0 New England        Referee: Mark Geiger (United States)
Geiger got a milestone first home match for NYCFC, and the CONCACAF Referee of the Year lived up to his many awards.
66th Minute: New York's Khiry Shelton breaks towards goal. Revolution defender José Goncalves has no choice but to chase him down and foul him from behind. Obvious free kick and mandatory red card from Geiger. Good handling of the situation by Geiger.

Portland 2-2 Los Angeles              Referee: Hilario Grajeda (United States)
Pretty straightforward game for Grajeda. Nothing important to review.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Europa League: Referees Put in Strong Performance in Round of 16

Welcome to the referee review. Today we take a look at the crucial calls from the UEFA Europa League.
Manuel de Sousa sends off Torino's Marco Benassi

Zenit St. Petersburg 2-0 Torino       Referee: Manuel de Sousa (Portugal)
De Sousa looked up to the challenge of his first UEFA Knockout Stage Appointments, presenting a strong case as Portugal's new top referee.
27th Minute: Torino's Marco Benassi, already booked, delivers a late, studs-up challenge to Alex Witsel. Good call by de Sousa to give Benassi a second yellow. An argument could be made that Benassi's foul warranted a straight red for endangering the safety of an opponent. Despite Witsel's injury, I think that the challenge was not exceedingly dangerous and is barely a second yellow. Good handling of the situation by de Sousa!

Napoli 3-1 Dinamo Moscow          Referee: Anastasios Sidiropoulos (Greece)
The Greek referee had a tough game to referee and, in my opinion, he got 1 out of the 2 big decisions correct.
30th Minute: Sidiropoulos whistles for a penalty and a yellow after Napoli's Dries Mertens goes down in the box near Mathieu Valbuena. I don't have a good replay, but I am having a hard time seeing much contact. Maybe a minor heal click, but not enough for a penalty. Gonzalo Higuain would take advantage for the second goal of his hat trick performance.
46th Minute: Already on a yellow, Moscow's Roman Zobnin slides in late from behind on Faouzi Ghoulam. Good call on the second yellow from Sidiropoulos.

Everton 2-1 Dynamo Kiev            Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain)
The Spanish UEFA Elite referee did not disappoint. Expect a Champions League appointment next week.
39th Minute: Carballo first does a very good job playing advantage after Everton's Romelu Lukaku is fouled but retains possession. Afterward, there is an even better decision from the Assistant Referee, correctly ruling Steven Naismith onside by a hair. Naismith would then bury the shot to draw the hosts level.
81st Minute: Excellent penalty call by Carballo on a handball by Kiev Defender David Silva. Silva had slid in to try to block a shot from Steven Naismith. However, the ball hit his extended hand. Lukaku buried the spot kick to give the English side a 2-1 win. Great eyes by Carballo to call the penalty.

Fiorentina Goalie Neto made a fine save, but Roma deserved a retake.

Fiorentina 1-1 Roma                     Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain)
The newly promoted Spanish UEFA Elite referee had a decent game. The only crucial call he was faced with was a penalty decision in the 59th minute
59th Minute: Fiorentia Goalkeeper Neto appears to trip up Roma's Juan Iturbe in the box. I have suspicions of a lack of contact, but I'll agree with the penalty call because the referee had a better angle than I do. On the penalty, Neto made a fine save to hold a 1-0 Fiorentina lead, but I will argue that should have been a re-kick. See in the image above how a Fiorentina player is well over the line before the kick. Lahoz should have blown his whistle after the save.

Club Brugge 2-1 Besiktas            Referee: Craig Thomson (Scotland)
The Scotish referee had a quiet game besides one penalty call.
77th Minute: Club Brugge are award a penalty after Felipe Gedoz gets clipped from behind by Serdar Kurtulus. Despite the fact that Gedoz excessively sold the penalty (and did a horrible job at it), there was enough contact to warrant a penalty. Good call by Thomson.

Dnipro 1-0 Ajax                           Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)
Wolfsburg 3-1 Internazionale       Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Villarreal 1-3 Sevilla                     Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)
Quiet games for these referees. Nothing important to look at.


Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Champions League Matchday 2: Chelsea Sent Packing Despite Man Advantage

Welcome to my first referee review, where I look at crucial calls in crucial soccer games and give you my take. Today we look at some of the calls in the Uefa Champions League Matchday 2

Bayern 7-0 Shaktar Donestk (Bayern 7-0 on aggregate)     Referee: William Collum (Scotland)
Not much to talk about in a game like this. In fact, only one incident really caught my attention.
4th Minute (BAY 0-0 SHA): A wide open Mario Götze is hacked down in the box by Shaktar Defender Olexandr Kucher. Collum correctly awards Bayern a penalty and sends Kucher off for Denial of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity. Thomas Müller would convert the spot kick and the route was on.

Chelsea 2-2 Paris St. Germain (PSG 3-3, wins on away goals rule)     Referee: Björn Kuipers (Holland)
Rough match for the Dutch referee, and in my opinion he was lucky that PSG won the game, otherwise he would face heavy criticism.
31st Minute (CHE 0-0 PSG): Zlatan Ibrahimovic comes in with a sliding tackle on Oscar. It is clearly a foul, maybe a border line Yellow, but the Red card from Kuipers was absurd. I think some simulation on Oscar's part might have fooled Kuipers into thinking the challenge was studs up. PSG will certainly miss Ibrahimovic in the Quarterfinals.
90+2 Minute (CHE 1-1 PSG): Diego Costa wants a penalty after making incidental off-the-ball contact with a PSG defender. Good call by Kuipers to signal for a goal kick instead of a PK. However, after Kuipers turns his back, Costa, already on a Yellow, shoves a Paris defender to the ground. If Kuipers had seen the push, Costa would have likely received a second yellow.
94th Minute (CHE 1-1 PSG): Just minutes into extra time, Kuipers did award a penalty to Chelsea after Paris Defender Thiago Silva handled the ball in the box while going for a header against Didier Drogba. Great eyes by Kuipers to spot the foul.

First Blog Post

Welcome to my new soccer refereeing blog. I am going to be posting both appointments and my opinions on calls from some of the world's best soccer leagues. Thanks for checking this blog out!

Contributing Writers
Bob Smith, Editor/Premier League and Some European Competition
Harrison Johnson, Most European Competition
Manuel Martinez, North and South American Competition
Mark Bradford, Asian and Oceanic Competition
Neil Tyler and Will Cole, Refereeing News, Appointments, and Various Reports