Ravshan Irmatov's technical mistake in Italy vs Brazil at FIFA Confederations Cup 2014 was certainly the mistake of the year, considering that it was pretty striking and did not offer any room for interpretation as discussed in the blog then: He first whistled in order to award a penalty kick but then changed his mind after recognizing the fouled team had scored a goal a second later. Consequently, Irmatov allowed the goal and infringed the Laws of the Game, which he later admitted to his boss Massimo Busacca. Hence, you should think that this mistake, its consequences and the correct version of the Laws of the Game on this matter have arrived everywhere in the world. And specially within FIFA refereeing. And in particular among Asian referees. But no, that was apparently not the case.
During the Under-17 World Cup 2013 match between Brazil and Russia, the following situation occurred in the 90th minute.
Referee Khalil Al-Ghamdi had obviously first whistled in order to award a penalty kick in favour of the Russian side. The whistle was audible and accompanied by a movement and gesture indicating "penalty!". What he then must have recognized was that the ball crossed the goalline after the attacker had already fallen to ground. Although the Saudi Arabian official had already whistled, he ignored his previous whistle and allowed the goal to count - to the surprise of all players, who however did not protest in any way. And by the way...the attacker slipped on the ground and was not fouled by his opponent. A penalty kick and consecutive red card for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity would have been wrong.
My message to young and amateur referees who are confronted with this kind of unprofessionalism is: Whistling for a match sanction such as a free-kick stops play! You cannot apply an advantage or even allow a goal after having already whistled. You must adhere to your whistle and remain determined - even though it might be painful.
First of all: mistakes are human and can happen, no doubt. But I would like to question the efficiency of FIFA's workup of Irmatov's mistake. Actually, the situation was surely analyzed and paid a lot of attention to during the seminars attended by all pre-selected referees. So Al-Ghamdi could have been familiar with this technical mistake and should have avoided to make it again. And this is the crucial point: we are talking about World Cup 2010 referees and those who want to reach the same in 2014. This technical error happened twice in not even half a year and both times Asian pre-list referees were involved. And here I get to a point where I doubt the sense of writing posts about predictions of possible World Cup referees when parts of these officials fail to apply the A of the ABC of the Laws of the Game in the according way. What should referees on grassroot level think? That's a mistake heaving serious consequences even at the lowest level of amateur football. And to clarify that: such a technical mistake might appear to be subtle. But it is everything else than that. You better miss three penalty kicks in the same match than making such an error. In fact, both teams could have officially complaint against the result of the match and could have gone in front of the responsible sports tribunal with much prospect to succeed.
So, to sum it up: on the level we are talking about, such mistakes are unacceptable and send a daunting message prior to a World Cup. Maybe FIFA should rather focus on lawtests as a basis for the World Cup referee selection instead of all those fitness tests - and yes Mr Busacca, uniformity and understanding different football mentalities, which he has frequently emphasized in the past months, are important factors that are vital for a World Cup referee...but knowing the Laws of the Game is no.1.
Nonetheless, I wish you a happy 2014 and for all referees following the blog, happy whistling and a many good matches!
During the Under-17 World Cup 2013 match between Brazil and Russia, the following situation occurred in the 90th minute.
Referee Khalil Al-Ghamdi had obviously first whistled in order to award a penalty kick in favour of the Russian side. The whistle was audible and accompanied by a movement and gesture indicating "penalty!". What he then must have recognized was that the ball crossed the goalline after the attacker had already fallen to ground. Although the Saudi Arabian official had already whistled, he ignored his previous whistle and allowed the goal to count - to the surprise of all players, who however did not protest in any way. And by the way...the attacker slipped on the ground and was not fouled by his opponent. A penalty kick and consecutive red card for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity would have been wrong.
My message to young and amateur referees who are confronted with this kind of unprofessionalism is: Whistling for a match sanction such as a free-kick stops play! You cannot apply an advantage or even allow a goal after having already whistled. You must adhere to your whistle and remain determined - even though it might be painful.
First of all: mistakes are human and can happen, no doubt. But I would like to question the efficiency of FIFA's workup of Irmatov's mistake. Actually, the situation was surely analyzed and paid a lot of attention to during the seminars attended by all pre-selected referees. So Al-Ghamdi could have been familiar with this technical mistake and should have avoided to make it again. And this is the crucial point: we are talking about World Cup 2010 referees and those who want to reach the same in 2014. This technical error happened twice in not even half a year and both times Asian pre-list referees were involved. And here I get to a point where I doubt the sense of writing posts about predictions of possible World Cup referees when parts of these officials fail to apply the A of the ABC of the Laws of the Game in the according way. What should referees on grassroot level think? That's a mistake heaving serious consequences even at the lowest level of amateur football. And to clarify that: such a technical mistake might appear to be subtle. But it is everything else than that. You better miss three penalty kicks in the same match than making such an error. In fact, both teams could have officially complaint against the result of the match and could have gone in front of the responsible sports tribunal with much prospect to succeed.
So, to sum it up: on the level we are talking about, such mistakes are unacceptable and send a daunting message prior to a World Cup. Maybe FIFA should rather focus on lawtests as a basis for the World Cup referee selection instead of all those fitness tests - and yes Mr Busacca, uniformity and understanding different football mentalities, which he has frequently emphasized in the past months, are important factors that are vital for a World Cup referee...but knowing the Laws of the Game is no.1.
Nonetheless, I wish you a happy 2014 and for all referees following the blog, happy whistling and a many good matches!
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