UEFA Under-19 EURO 2013 - Officials for Matchday 2

UEFA has revealed the referees assigned for Matchday 2 of the EURO Under 19 tournament in Lithuania. 

Aleksei Kulbakov of Belarus (c) zimbio.com

Group A
23 July 2013, 15:30 CET, Alytus (LTU)
Netherlands - Portugal
Referee: Michael Oliver (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Dermot Broughton (IRL)
Assistant Referee 2: Stelios Nikita (CYP)
Fourth Official: Sergejus Slyva (LTU)
UEFA Referee Observer: Kyros Vassaras (GRE)
UEFA Delegate: Christian Teinturier (FRA)

Group A
23 July 2013, 17:30 CET, Kaunas (LTU)
Lithuania - Spain
Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (BLR)
Assistant Referee 1: Michael Karsiotis (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Mitchell Scerri (MLT)
Fourth Official: Emir Alecković (BIH)
UEFA Referee Observer: Jozef Marko (SVK)
UEFA Delegate: Süheyl Onen (TUR)

Group B
23 July 2013, 17:30 CET, Marijampole (LTU)
Serbia - Georgia
Referee: Orel Grinfeld (ISR)
Assistant Referee 1: Leif Erik Opland (NOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Derya Oguz (DEN)
Fourth Official: Gediminas Mažeika (LTU)
UEFA Referee Observer: Paulius Malzinskas (LTU)
UEFA Delegate: Maurizio Montironi (SMR)

Group B
23 July 2013, 19:45 CET, Alytus (LTU)
Turkey - France
Referee: Martin Strömbergsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Mubariz Hashimov (AZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Nikola Ražić (MNE)
Fourth Official: Felix Zwayer (GER)
UEFA Referee Observer: Nuno Castro (POR)
UEFA Delegate: Matthias Voigt (LIE)

CONCACAF Announces Referees Assignments for Gold Cup Quarterfinals

CONCACAF has officially announced the appointments for the matches of Gold Cup 2013 quartefinals, to be played  respectively on 20 July at Georgia Dome, Atlanta (USA) and on 21 July at M & T Bank Stadium, Baltimore (USA).

Courtney Campbell of Jamaica will handle Honduras - Costa Rica (c)  crhoy.com

Saturday July 20th Georgia Dome - Atlanta, Georgia 3:30pm EST
Panama - Cuba
Referee:  Mark Geiger (USA)

Assistant Referee 1: Joe Fletcher (CAN)

Assistant Referee 2: Eric Boria (USA)

Fourth Official: Jair Marrufo (USA)

Fifth Official: Christian Ramirez (HON)

Referee Assessor: Francisco Ramirez (MEX)

Saturday July 20th Georgia Dome - Atlanta, Georgia 6:30pm EST

Mexico - Trinidad & Tobago

Referee:  Joel Aguilar (SLV)

Assistant Referee 1: Juan Francisco Zumba (SLV)

Assistant Referee 2: Octavio Jara (CRC)

Fourth Official: Walter Quesada (CRC)

Fifth Official: Christian Ramirez (HON)

Referee Assessor: Donald Wilbur (USA)

Sunday July 21 M&T Bank Stadium Baltimore, MD  4:00pm EST
USA - El Salvador
Referee:  Enrico Wijngaarde (SUR)

Assistant Referee 1: Marvin Torrentera (MEX)

Assistant Referee 2: Ricardo Louisville (SUR)

Fourth Official: David Gantar (CAN)

Fifth Official: Hermenerito Leal (GUA)

Referee Assessor: Luis Yero (CUB)

Sunday July 21 M&T Bank Stadium Baltimore, MD  7:00pm EST
Honduras - Costa Rica
Referee:  Courtney Campbell (JAM)

Assistant Referee 1: Ricardo Morgan (JAM)

Assistant Referee 2: Garnet Page (JAM)

Fourth Official: Marco Rodriguez (MEX)

Fifth Official: Hermenerito Leal (GUA)

Referee Assessor: Stanley Darville (BAH)

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 - Referee Appointments for Quarterfinals

These are the officials appointed by UEFA for the Quartefinals matches of the EURO Women tournament in Sweden.

Italian Carina Vitulano  (c) sportingclubtrestina

21 July 2013, 15:00 CET (Halmstad, SWE)
Sweden - Iceland
Referee: Kirsi Heikkinen (FIN)
Assistant Referee 1: Tonja Paavola (FIN)
Assistant Referee 2: Maria Villa Gutierrez (ESP)
Fourth Official: Kateryna Monzul (UKR)
UEFA Delegate: Sheila Begbie (SCO)
UEFA Referee Observer: Carolin Rudolph (GER)

21 July 2013, 18:00 CET (Vaxjo, SWE)
Italy - Germany
Referee: Katalin Kulcsár (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Judit Kulcsár (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Hege Steinlund (NOR)
Fourth Official: Teodora Albon (ROU)
UEFA Delegate:  Aleksandra Nikolovska (MKD)
UEFA Referee Observer: Bo Karlsson (SWE)

22 July 2013, 18:00 CET (Kalmar, SWE)
Norway - Spain

Referee: Bibiana Steinhaus (GER)
Assistant Referee 1:  Marina Wozniak (GER)

Assistant Referee 2: Helen Karo (SWE)
Fourth Official: Cristina Dorcioman (ROU)
UEFA Delegate: Liana Melania Stoicescu (ROU)
UEFA Referee Observer: Katarzyna Nadolska (POL)

22 July 2013, 20:45 CET (Linköping, SWE)
France - Denmark

Referee: Carina Vitulano (ITA)

Assistant Referee 1: Romina Santuari (ITA)

Assistant Referee 2: Petruta Iugulescu (ROU)
Fourth Official: Esther Staubli (SUI)
UEFA Delegate: Marina Tashchyan (ARM)
UEFA Referee Observer: Dagmar Damkova (CZE)

Match Situations - Offside 2

This post is a part of the new section in this blog called "Match Situations" that concentrates on specific match situations related to controversial parts of the Laws of the Game, version 2013/14. Your participation is crucial to make this blog's element give some value for referees and football enthusiasts in general.

You can have your say by giving your assessment on these situations in form of a comment underneath the respective posts. These comments should include a precise assessment and an additional explanation that strengthens your view if needed. Directly quoting from the current version of the Laws of the Game can be useful.

Controversy: Was white forward #18 (Kroos) in an active offside position while white player #8 (Özil) executed the shot on goal? (Difficulty: easy)

Your answer should contain:

Offside (illegal goal) or No Offside (legal goal)

If you have decided in favour of Offside, please add:

Interfering with play by ... or

Interfering with an opponent by ... or

Gaining an advantage by being in that position by ...

Please find a poll on the right top of the blog. You can vote in favour of Offside or No Offside.

Solutions will be posted three days after the match situation had been uploaded.

The video placed in this post is only posted for educational and not for commercial purpose!

UEFA Under-19 EURO 2013 - Referee Appointments

You can find the referee appointments for this year's edition of UEFA Under-19 European Championship listed and being completed during the next weeks here.

Emir Alecković of Bosnia & Herzegovina (c) interlive.it

Group A
20 July 2013, 17:30 CET, Kaunas (LTU)
Lithuania - Netherlands
Referee: Martin Strömbergsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Dery Oguz (DEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Leif Erik Opland (NOR)
Fourth Official: Aleksei Kulbakov (BLR)
UEFA Referee Observer: Kyros Vassaras (GRE)
UEFA Delegate: Christian Teinturier (FRA)

Group A
20 July 2013, 20:15 CET, Marijampole (LTU)
Spain - Portugal
Referee: Felix Zwayer (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Nikola Ražić (MNE)
Assistant Referee 2: Mubariz Hashimov (AZE)
Fourth Official: Orel Grinfeeld (ISR)
UEFA Referee Observer: Jozef Marko (SVK)
UEFA Delegate: Süheyl Onen (TUR)

Group B
20 July 2013, 16:00 CET, Marijampole (LTU)
Serbia - Turkey
Referee: Michael Oliver (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Mitchell Scerri (MLT)
Assistant Referee 2: Dermot Broughton (IRL)
Fourth Official: Sergejus Slyva (LTU)
UEFA Referee Observer: Nuno Castro (POR)
UEFA Delegate: Matthias Voigt (LIE)

Group B
20 July 2013, 18:00 CET, Alytus (LTU)
Georgia - France
Referee: Emir Alecković (BIH)
Assistant Referee 1: Stelios Nikita (CYP)
Assistant Referee 2: Michael Karsiotis (GRE)
Fourth Official: Gediminas Mažeika (LTU)
UEFA Referee Observer: Paulius Malzinskas (LTU)
UEFA Delegate: Maurizio Montironi (SMR)

Match Situations - Offside 1 - Solution

The following solution is supposed to clarify the controversial incident having occurred in World Cup 2010 semifinal match between Uruguay and the Netherlands presented in this blog post.

Assistant Referee Bakhadyr Kochkarov of Kyrgyzstan allowed the goal scored by Wesley Sneijder and did not rule it as an offside offense. It is clear that Robin van Persie, another Dutch forward, was closer to the goalline than the second last defender meaning that some criteria have to be checked to determine whether he was positioned in active or passive offside at the moment when Sneijder touched the ball.

In the context of Law 11, the following defitions therefore apply since 1 July:

"Interfering with play" means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate. - Van Persie neither played nor touched the ball. Therefore this does not apply for this specific situation.

"Interfering with an opponent" means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or challenging an opponent for the ball. - Van Persie did not obstruct goalkeeper Muslera's line of vision, the shot never was optically invisible for the goalkeeper. He made a movement with this feet that could be identified as a form of irritation for the goalkeeper who had to wait a bit to see whether the Dutch striker would deflect the ball. However, this is not of any interest anymore since 1 July. Furthermore, van Persie did not challenge any opponent for the ball.

"Gaining an advantage by being in that position means playing a ball a) that rebounds or is deflected to him off the goalpost, crossbar or an opponent having been in an offside position (not applicable for this incident) or b) that rebounds, is deflected or is played to him from a deliberate save by an opponent having been in an offside position." - As van Persie did not play the ball, this criteria can be ignored.

In conclusion, the correct solution is: No Offside.

How come that 61 % of the votes in the poll favoured the solution "Offside"? Probably, because it was classified as interfering with an opponent until the start of July 2013! Interfering with an opponent meant, until this point of time: "Preventing an opponent from playing the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent". Van Persie obviously distracted (or irritated) Muslera by his movement having been in an offside position so that before 1 July 2013, this allowed goal was a mistake. In 2010, Kochkarov should have flagged it as offside.

Now one can certainly ask to what extent these amendments to the Laws of the Game are compatible with common sense. Ignoring the new version of Law 11 for a moment - should not this goal be an offside goal at any rate?

Good morning text messages

Beep Beep! Yawn... I open my eyes and see what I have been waiting for all night. Your sweet good morning text message. Thank you for making my day!
~ Robson D's

Success is yours this day, believe it. Happiness is in your mind at this time, refresh it. Love is in your heart right now, unlock it. This is your day for a really good morning!
~ Shenzhen Truce

Get the confidence back in your steps. Let the smile on
your face be given out generously to anyone who desperately needs it today and let your heart sing a song of joy. Good morning.
~ Lou Sands

Remember to begin your morning with a prayer in your heart. Ask God to give you the grace to live this day unharmed from all evil. Not just that, but to make you a blessing to others and so find happiness this morning.
~ Vicky Shaw

I can imagine your groggy eyes trying to stay open. I can see those soft little steps you are taking as you struggle to get out of bed. Today is going to be cozy and nice. Have a great day!
~ Catherine Flood

Let the birds lift your spirits higher and let the sun brighten your day. Wake up and thank god for all the good things that he has blessed you with. Let's have a great day today!
~ Josephine Powell

Let the sorrows of yesterday be washed away with the darkness of last night. This is a new morning and we need to fill it with love, happiness and peace. Good morning!
~ Loyal Marine

As you refresh yourself with a cup of coffee let the cool morning breeze refresh your life. As you clean your teeth with a brush and a toothpaste, let the sounds of birds and rustling leaves clean your mind.
~ Moat Golan

Nature has a beautiful connection with the morning. The more you surround yourself with nature, the more you will find yourself around beauty and happiness.
~ Jim Turquoise

Next Page: Beautiful good morning quotes for you

Influencing others by sending morning texts:
Each of us have some influence over the people we know. Just by sending a sweet text on some mornings consistently to a person you can change the way they look at life. You can be a person who cheers them up or gives them the right perspective each and every morning.

They may be extremely thankful to you or may not say anything at all. Some messages and quotes may touch their lives while others may not. But it is worth trying. Making a positive difference just by sending quotes is something which is simple and does not take much from you.

You make a valuable investment into someones life. You can take quotes from this website everyday. Just bookmark this website by pressing Ctrl and D key and visit us everyday to take messages and send them to your friends or family. (Every day maybe too much. Once in two days maybe fine depending on the relationship.)
Please let us know in the comments if you like the quotes or if you have better morning quotes.

Next Page: Good Morning awesome quotes just for you