It’s in the Cards

It may seem relatively unneeded but this I think will set a precedent for players to keep an eye on how aggressive they tackle, swipe, or battle for the ball.

Still…it does seem a huge number…and we’ve only gotten to the good parts of the World Cup! The danger is also that players who have been slapped with the yellow cards will be given reds soon due to their activities.

Not good when you want to see a hard fought Final and the players barely fight for it. Hmmmm…

Posted from  Canada

I think Sepp Blatter is feeling the heat as more tug war happen between club managers and national team managers.

Sepp Blatter wants to make sure this world cup will not cause any major injury for the players, and subsequently no more reasons for club disalowing their players to play for their national teams

Posted from  Singapore

The refereeing in the Spain Ukraine game was atrocious. Not only were the linesmen making terrible calls, but the referee invented a foul on the red card to vaschuk.

It looks like he might have been tugging on the spaniard’s short before they ran into the 18-yard box, but he let go as they entered it. The foul had still not been called. They continued to run towards the net/goalkeeper and the spaniard tried to put it past the goalie, lost his balance, and fell.

At this point, the referee decided to become the man of the match himself, not only awarding the spaniards a penalty, but also taking away any glimmer of a ukraine comeback by sending off vaschuk.

Nobody expected ukraine to beat spain, but ukraine at least expected a fair chance at an attempted comeback in the second half. They were denied it.

The referee should not be allowed to continue working at this world cup, and blatter should issue an apology.

Posted from  Canada

And the fairest game I saw in this world cup was Mexico - Iran. It was a tough physical game, with score tied for most of the stretch, and both teams battling every single ball. Yet,
there were the total of 46 fouls committed (25-21), and only 3 cards shown (2-1), only one of which for rough play. There was
not any cheating, diving, disrespect of the opponent or the
referee. It was a relief to see
such clean, yet extremely un-boring, exhilarating game.

Whenever asked whether a competitive game can be fair and
sportsmanlike, I would point to this match of the two SOUTHERN NATIONS as an example. Flowers
from Iran’s keeper Mirzapour to
his opposite number Sanchez who had lost his father some days before the kick-off made for a very human moment.

Posted from  Azerbaijan

[...] Some have said too many yellows have been issued in this tournament so far. Remember, two yellows in the group stages and you’re out for the next game. Will this play into Coach Luis Suarez’ plans for the Germany match? [...]

Posted from  United States

The worst part of this flurry of phony fouls is that, whereas the refs are whistle-happy outside the penalty area, the standards for calling fouls inside the area are ratcheted up a dozenfold. How many clear penalty fouls or handballs have we seen ignored or consciously waved off by refs? We’re 7 days into the Cup and only one penalty has been called (and that was a bad call!)FIFA can’t seem to get a sound core of refs for the finals, instead having to pander to the national associations’ needs to have their home boys represent “the flag.”

Posted from  United States

[...] 1 minute to go: Argentina carrying 3 yellow cards into this game. Saviola and Heinze will certainly be missed against the Dutch if they do something stupid today. S&M has the same number with playmaker Stankovic the one to worry about. Yellow cards have been an issue so far in this cup. Let’s hope for a hard fought, but clean game. No hacking, no flopping. [...]

Posted from  United States

Performance of the referees in this World Cup is attrocious. Yellow cards are issued for trivial offences often invented by the referees themselves while real fauls and infringements are ignored.
Blatter has never kicked a ball in his life yet he feels that he is the only expert to instruct refs on how to handle the game. The game had changed in last 20 years so much yet the FIFA’s insistence that ref is God prevails.There is not one ref that has required speed or fitness to keep up with the modern strikers yet they are all so sure when calling off sides. Pathetic is all I can say.
Is FIFA coplaining about games being fixed? FIFA has a long history of fixing the games and this tournament is a prime example of it.Underdogs are being eliminated one by one without being given half a chance to succeed.My tip for semifinals are Brazil, Germany, Argentina and England (Not Italy, they must be punished for they domestic affairs)
I was looking forward to this year’s World Cup and could not wait for it to start but now I stopped watching. Can’t wait for Premier League and Champion’s League to start again. UEFA appears to be the only organisation capable of running a fair competition.
Thanx FIFA. Good for the game? More like good for your own pockets. Blatter and his stooges are destroying the game.

Posted from  Australia

I somewhat agree with pequar. For the majority, but not all, referee performance has been incredibly poor. In fact, I wouldn’t doubt that there is an increased tension because of the large number of foul-less fouls being called by the refs which then leads to more true fouls being committed. The refs are not doing a good job finding the balance of control. I wish something could be done about it.
On the side, also disgusting are the large number of players that seem to have taken up acting on the side. I enjoyed the first few games but they have become increasingly distasteful. For the love of the game I cannot say I will quit. I only hope it gets better.

Posted from  United States

Hi folks!

Seeing that pretty much everyone here seems to be “dooming” FIFA for their current policies regarding in-game warnings, I’d just like to throw in a couple more thoughts for argument’s sake.

93 cards in 20 games does seem an awful lot, but I think we should take a closer look at possible reasons and also take a few recent events into consideration.

(in no particular order)

1) “Tactical Fouls”
Anyone who’s been following football games somewhat closely during the past season(s) will certainly have noticed that it has become a pretty common strategy during a match to stop the attacking team in certain situations with so-called “tactical fouls”.

They have really become part of “daily life” meanwhile and even barely get discussed anymore, but they can and do influence the game, in the long run affect match results or even result in injuries. The FIFA clearly stated that, stopping this trend in the future (and the WC06 in particular), would be essential and one of its top priorities.

Now, stopping a trend obviously can’t be done with just 1 or 2 yellow cards; it would require a clear and cut sign. I think 90 cards is a pretty damn clear signal, to both international and regional players and referees.

2) “Protection of exceptional players”
..was pretty much the phrase FIFA officials used on various occasions and something many experts demand, especially after a couple well-known players had been injured lately, ranging from Djibril Cisse to Wayne Rooney, many players were injured close before the WC, preventing some of them to take part, even effectively ending some players careers.

Reason enough for local football authorities and clubs to request for rules to be enforced more strictly? (the FIFA certainly did not come up with that idea, or any idea for that matter, on their own).

3) “But…They’ve been warned!”
…literally. FIFA did announce their plans to enforce rules more strictly far in advance of the WC, so I think it’s safe to say that all teams and all players are quite aware of the FIFA’s policies.

We may or may not be familiar with every little rule or policy, but getting paid a couple million bucks a year, the Pro’s definetely should be.

and last, but not least…

4) “Justice for all..!”

I do have one concern myself, which I’d hate to ignore here.

In my humble opinion, the main problem remaining is probably that there will always be situations where refs and line refs will make misjudgements / wrong decisions…sometimes based on FIFA’s (poor?) use of new technologies and their slow adjustment to the fast, aggressive playstyle of modern football teams.

Referees themselves admit that often it is just impossible for them to see, spot or correctly judge certain situations during a match.

I don’t blame them for that, but FIFA will need to start putting in more effort to make use of new technologies…and more importantly, already *available* technologies, whether that means…

- ..using GPS or alternative transmitters to precisely locate each player’s position, as well as the ball’s position on the field and eventually be able to know exactly, whether a player was offside or not.

- …using cameras, for instance a small camera or sensor (as used in ice-hockey), precisely observing the goal line and giving an accoustic signal when the ball crosses the line, to indicate a goal has been scored;

- …making use of digital 3D technology, i.e. to replay controversial situations such as fouls and offences between two players, often taking place behind the back of the referee.
Referees could be using a small portable / handheld LCD-display for that purpose.

The required technology and resources already exist. Now it’s up to FIFA to make use of them.

Respectfully submitted,
Logician

Anybody know of a place where we can find out if a ref from the current WC has been repremanded or fired by FIFA for poor officiating?..

Logician

I can only agree with everything you have said. There are certain aspects of the game, which should be stamped out. But the process of doing it should be applied moderately rather than in this trigger-happy fashion.
Shirt pulling is obvious one. However lets not forget that it was FIFA and its accredited referees that allowed shirt pulling to take a deep root in this game in the first place by ignoring it for years. Not that long ago Blatter himself said that unfortunately it is a part of a modern football. What a load of ******* !!!!!
Now finally they have decided to do something about it and credit to them but…..
How is it possible that player gets a yellow card in 2nd minute of the game? (For pulling shirt) What happened to warning system? It appears to me that the refs are only concerned with two issues, shirt pulling and time wasting. The result is that after they have issued 6-7 cards in the first half they themselves realize that there were too many cards issued already and blatant fouls such as elbow in the face in clear view of the linesman goes unpunished.
On subject of usage of video technology again I can only agree. Technology is available and should be utilized. Many other sports are using it why not football?
The reason is that FIFA is not in favor, they have said it themselves. Why are they not in favour? Because it would immediately take away from the God like position of the refs. It would indicate that refs can be mistaken and decisions can be reviewed.
In the early days of football it was necessary to create this culture when refs could not be questioned but times have changed. In my 25 years playing career I have never ever argued with refs about their decision, not because I agreed with them, but because I understood that they would never change their decision, right or wrong.
FIFA had made quite a few excellent changes to the game in recent years. Back pass rule, tackles from behind or two footed tackles are the obvious one. Even their current strategy is sound, however the execution is poor. I am not sure about you but I certainly don’t want to see reserves playing in the semifinal or final just because top players are carded out and sitting on the bench. Not to mention that it appears that they mainly are players from the “underdog” teams that are singled out and made example of. As I have said previously FIFA is known for fixing matches and favoring the top teams at the expense of the others. Everyone remembers Pierre Luigi Colina, the bold headed Italian ref. This guy was promoted for years by both FIFA and UEFA as the best ref in the world. Guess what? The very same guy is up to his ears in recent match fixing scandal in Italy. Has he suddenly changed? I think not. I long suspected him of making deliberate decisions to favor the favorites and I’m sure others have noticed as well.
I have taken 5 weeks off work to be able to watch every single game in this tournament but must say that I am bitterly disappointed. Not by the standard of play as most teams are playing beautiful brand of attacking football and all credit to them. I am disappointed by the performance of the referees.
Lets hope that it will get better and more importantly that the trend set out in this tournament will continue and all those ugly tactics and nasty fouls will eventually disappear from the game. But it is not going to happen in next 4 weeks and overzealous application of the strategy now will harm both, quality of play as well as certain teams who worked hard to get this far only to be screwed.
And no, it is nothing personal; both my teams (Australia and Czech Rep.) are still in it I just feel that it is not fair to some of the other teams. Argentina did not need helping hand in trashing Serbia yesterday. They would have done it anyway but ref made sure that after 25 minutes of play,Serbs were completely demoralized and penalized for the same stuff Argentines got away with.

Posted from  Australia

One last post from me on this subject. The incompetence of the referees was on full display yesterday in Italy v USA match. USA was clearly robbed. In the first half US had clearly outplayed Italians in every department. It was the US not Italy who were playing nice, fast attacking football and I was most impressed with the performance. The ref had no option but to give red card for the elbow in McBride’s face but could not wait for the opportunity to even things out. The foul Pope allegedly committed was no foul at all and would not warrant even a free kick in English Premier League. Pope played the ball first and only after had the Italian tumbled over. This incident was followed by a blatant handball in Italian 18 yard box but no penalty was forthcoming.
Whether the handling of the ball was intentional or not is irrelevant since the defender had gained a clear advantage by moving ball away from the goal and into his path for easy clearance. Had it been the other way around penalty would have been given.
However, I must agree with the ref for disallowing the second US goal. While McBride was in “passive” offside unfortunately for US he was interfering with the play by standing on the same side from which the shot arrived and thus potentially obscured the view of the goalkeeper. The number of offside calls when there was no offside was not even funny anymore and this ref should not be allowed to participate even in junior league.
Once again very poor performance by the refs as is now well-established standard in this tournament. All 3 went out of their way to spoil the match and most importantly disadvantage the “underdog”. Shame !!!

Posted from  Australia

Funny how all you amateurs whine about it (of course, usually when your own team is involved) but will gladly support any decision when it is in favour of your teams.

It is easy for you to sit back with your beers and watch TV, but footballers rely on their physical condition and there are terrible injuries taking place in every direction. Yes, its a physical game, but the rules must be followed.

You cannot tug someone’s shirt, or pile into his ankles when the ball is 5 metres away.

Rather than hating on the referees because they’re doing their job correctly, you should be asking yourselves why professional footballers are committing stupid playground-like fouls.

Posted from  Switzerland

In no way in the “red card foul” did Pope pile into the ankles of the Italian player…he played on the ball and I agree that it was a foul. However I think that if the Italian red card hadnt happened previously in the game Pope wouldnt have caught even a yellow card. The US played a great game and with a different ref would have won a well earned 3 points.

Posted from  United States

I agree that the refereeing is biased in favour of the big teams.

Take todays Australia v Brazil match. There were cases of a brazil defender going through the back of an australian player, not getting the ball, but the ref gave brazil the free kick. Similary in a host of other situations Brazil were given free kicks for non-existent fouls. But of course, we cant have Brazil going out of the world cup so early..the sponsors wouldnt like that.

Also the idea of ‘protection for exceptional players’ is stupid, everyone should get the same protection.
The two cases cited earlier, Rooney and Cisse werent the result of bad fouls, Rooney had already gone through the tackle but broke his foot afterwards, and the Cisse tackle wasnt particularly dangerous, just very unlucky for Cisse. None of the guidelines from FIFA would have prevented those things occuring.

If the referees could just be consistent and impartial the world cup might stay worth watching, but at this rate its fast becoming a joke.

Posted from  The Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia

Omg Akbar,

You obviously have not read any of the posts.
I’ve personally refrained from making any comments on matches where Australia or Czechs were involved. But since you’ve brought the subject up, it appears to me that since both, you and Blatter are Swiss you are quite willing to blow each other’s horn whenever possible.
Besides since when are you experts (as opposed to amateurs) on the game? To my best recollection Swiss are not exactly renown for their contribution to anything that is beautiful in game of football. Your involvement over the decades could be summed up in two words; also participated.
So please stick to what you are good at (e.g. Cheese manufacturing)

Posted from  Australia

[...] Yesterday, Portugal and Holland set an all-time record for cards issued during a single match, appropriate because this World Cup is poised to more than double the amount of cards shown during the 2002 edition. [...]