HuffPost: FIFA Apologizes to England & Mexico for Referee Errors

[AsburySkinsFan]

Who said the ref on the field had to go run over to the sideline to check it? They could do it differently from football. Maybe a hockey system where they just radio it in from fifa headquarters or something of that nature. A replay official somewhere else in the game that gives him the call. That wouldn't be too difficult.

Exactly, something has to give. I remember watching that Argentina game and the announcer was saying, "This is awful, everyone including the referee knows that the goal should be disallowed, but nothing can be done about it." I'm sorry, but when a sport has a situation like that in it that can be so easily fixed and they don't do it then that is a shame to be sure.

[thehogs]

so the extra assistant they are trying is a waste then?

[renaissance]

so the extra assistant they are trying is a waste then?

I think it's a great idea. Nobody else here seems to agree though.

[thehogs]

I think it's a great idea. Nobody else here seems to agree though.

LOL! I dont think anyones taking the blindest bit of notice renaissance - too busy with their techno gadget solutions!

[karmacop]

I think it's a great idea. Nobody else here seems to agree though.

I think both an extra linesman behind the goal and instant replay would be best. But if they're only going to do one, it had better be replay. More definitive, no errors, and only minor stoppage in play for only a small handful of game-changing calls. It would take just as much time to communicate with a replay official as it would to talk to the linesman behind the goal.

[visionary]

They should just replace the refs with unmanned drones.

Then if they catch someone diving, they can blow them off the field.

[karmacop]

They should just replace the refs with unmanned drones.

Then if they catch someone diving, they can blow them off the field.

Not a bad idea! Maybe those drones can also scan the physical condition of players who claim they are injured to determine if they're telling the truth. Anyone faking gets a yellow card.

[renaissance]

In theory I have no problem w/ retroactively punishing players for diving. The only problem is drawing the line btwn someone who goes down for no reason, and someone who goes down and embellishes their "injury". That can get pretty hard to judge honestly. I think the best thing immediately is for refs to continue piling on the stoppage time for "injuries" at the end of a game.

[rocazares]

OK I take the apologies but ... Mexico was dead even before the kickoff.

Bautista a starter?????????????????????????

C'mon!!!!

Same old way for us.

[Merlin Emrys]

In the past few years I've felt that stuff Wilbon says is generally wrong. But yesterday he spouted pure truth. Something along the lines of FIFA's stand against tools that could help them fix this is what keeps Soccer a 2nd tier sport.

BAM.

I think your original instinct on Wilbon is correct. Implying video replay is all that holds soccer back in the U.S. is shallow and absurd. It leaves out the more important historical and cultural forces.

Soccer's place as a "2nd tier" U.S. sport is closely tied to our country's isolationist past and rugged individualism, not to mention severing our colonial ties and that physical barrier called th Atlantic Ocean. We have a proud past of doing it our own way and falling in love with individual stars.

Europe loved/loves soccer. So what? We made up our own football and refuse to let Europe's passion dictate our own.

Soccer is the ultimate team sport where stars can impact matches dramatically without pilling up stats. We hate that. We're in love with stars who pile up records and statistics. We'll take heart stopping individual performances over 11 individuals flowing up and down the field as one any day.

Beyond that, it will take much more than video replay to move soccer into the U.S. sports mainstream. Economics and the changing demographics of the U.S. population will play a bigger role than replay.

As for Wilbon I wouldn't pass off anything a sports journalist like Wilbon has to say on this topic as thoughtful analysis. The guy has a jock sniffing degree that he probably earned will serving as a water boy or team manager in college. What wider understanding of economic, historical, social, and cultural factors would inform his opinion? Has anyone looked at his resume to determine if he's a credible authority on this topic?

[Merlin Emrys]

OK I take the apologies but ... Mexico was dead even before the kickoff.

Bautista a starter?????????????????????????

C'mon!!!!

Same old way for us.

It was a bad call, but frankly I don't have any sympathy for the Mexican side. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them get thrashed.

[karmacop]

A Washington Post columnist agrees with me today on the need for replay, and cites the "fake injuries" problem as a reason for it -- if soccer allows all that time for acting injured, surely FIFA can allow much less time to get a serious call correct:

Like the NFL, the NHL and NBA have managed to institute instant replay without ruining their respective sports or measurably slowing their games. FIFA, on the other hand, already allows a player to take a dramatic dive, writhe on the field in agony, then lie motionless on a stretcher until he reaches the sideline, when he pops up like a horror movie villain, alive and well again. When you let that slide, it's tough to deny a delay that could help determine fairly the winner of a game.

Plays such as dives can't and shouldn't be reviewed, of course. You can't mandate judgment out of an official's job, much as you might like to. But at the very least, FIFA could allow the use of electronic chip technology to determine whether a goal crossed the line. FIFA pleads cost, but every pickup game in the world needn't be wired. Start, at least, with the sport's upper tiers. If marathons can outfit entire fields with electronic chips, surely FIFA could manage a few before the 2014 Cup?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR2010062803768_pf.html

A related poll asking whether soccer should use instant replay has the "Yes" beating "No" by 4-1:

http://views.washingtonpost.com/post-user-polls/2010/06/should-instant-replay-be-allowed-in-soccer-matches.html?hpid=talkbox1

[Merlin Emrys]

A Washington Post columnist agrees with me today on the need for replay, and cites the "fake injuries" problem as a reason for it -- if soccer allows all that time for acting injured, surely FIFA can allow much less time to get a serious call correct:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR2010062803768_pf.html

A related poll asking whether soccer should use instant replay has the "Yes" beating "No" by 4-1:

http://views.washingtonpost.com/post-user-polls/2010/06/should-instant-replay-be-allowed-in-soccer-matches.html?hpid=talkbox1

It's unlikely that soccer would use instant replay. The sport doesn't lend itself to replay. It doesn't have endless commercial breaks and built in stopages of play where guys stand around with their hands on their hips. Frankly soccer would go in the wrong direction if its matches drug on as long as NFL, NBA, and MLB games. The above journalists left out that fact that these games are already long because of all the stopages. Soccer isn't. The theatrics add under ten minutes per match.

What's likely is goal line technology and more refs. Offsides calls, for example, would be aided by another ref making calls to the center ref through a headset.

[Corcaigh]

Another argument is to remove offside completely. Other sports have done it and it hasn't changed the game for the worse.

Then with goal line technology and a policy of suspending divers after the event.will take away most of the issues.

[[[ghost]]]

Video evidence aside, I don't see why divers shouldn't get lifetime bans after games when we have clear video replays.

If it's clear a player is faking to draw a foul, he should be suspended for a long time at teh very least. It would discourage flopping pretty effectively.

[AsburySkinsFan]

OK I take the apologies but ... Mexico was dead even before the kickoff.

No way, Mexico was controlling the pace entirely before the off-sides goal, Argentina was on their heels up until that point, then the wind was sucked out of Mexico's sails after that allowed goal.

Another argument is to remove offside completely.

No way, the off-sides rule is the only thing that keeps a player from camping out in front of the goal and getting a 1-on-1 verses the goalie...off-sides has to stay in soccer.

[dfitzo53]

I think your original instinct on Wilbon is correct. Implying video replay is all that holds soccer back in the U.S. is shallow and absurd. It leaves out the more important historical and cultural forces.

Soccer's place as a "2nd tier" U.S. sport is closely tied to our country's isolationist past and rugged individualism, not to mention severing our colonial ties and that physical barrier called th Atlantic Ocean. We have a proud past of doing it our own way and falling in love with individual stars.

Europe loved/loves soccer. So what? We made up our own football and refuse to let Europe's passion dictate our own.

Soccer is the ultimate team sport where stars can impact matches dramatically without pilling up stats. We hate that. We're in love with stars who pile up records and statistics. We'll take heart stopping individual performances over 11 individuals flowing up and down the field as one any day.

Of all the reasons soccer hasn't quite caught fire in the U.S., I don't know that I've heard that one before. I'm not sure I agree. I mean I didn't know much about soccer as a kid, but I knew who Pele was, and Mia Hamm and Alexi Lalas.

Nowadays you have people like Beckham, Kaka and Ronaldo that are household names. Stars may not pile up stats (and I will grant you that we Americans love our stats) but the stars get plenty of attention.

Maybe it's that a nation of fat ****s gets tired just watching people run around for 90 minutes straight, let alone trying to do it themselves.

As far as replay itself, everyone is talking like replay systems are infallible, but we've all seen replays in (American) football where we still think the ref got it wrong.

From the perspective of someone who's not very emotionally tied to the sport it would probably solve some problems and would be worth implementing, but it's not a perfect system.