Just before the end of the United-Chelsea match yesterday, Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated tweeted the following:
I love soccer, but I tire of the constant debate over referee calls. Far more than in any other sport. Gotta be a better way.
The sad thing is, this is a wholly true statement. I managed to see most of the match yesterday from the hospital waiting room, and as I wrote yesterday morning, Mike Dean is “chaotic”. There’s a tendency to have a go at Sir Alex when he inevitably whinges about the decisions during the major points in a match. I don’t think there’s one Chelsea supporter out there who wouldn’t admit that Didier Drogba was offside on yesterday’s winning score. Yet, there is no recourse, there are no replays, there are very rarely any repercussions for this incompetence at the highest levels.
Put it simply, if one were to say that the referees get the bigger decisions more wrong then right, I could not argue. That’s just sad.
That being said, there is not a current clear method to fix these issues. Soccer is not a sport conducive to replays during the run of play. I’m a firm believer that goal-line technology should be used, and I think it’s even possible to get certain decisions reviewed quickly by a sort-of replay guru (penalties, balls out of bounds, etc.). It’s simply not feasible to stop play and change things, but certainly, that offside call could have been reviewed, as could the handball shout after Macheda’s goal. There’s always a short period after every goal where the celebration is happening, the players are milling and the referee is getting the ball back to the center circle. That’s when a quick review could happen. I know it would be ultimately devastating to a team and the supporters if a goal was disallowed after thirty or forty-five seconds, but do we really want to see matches decided on missed referee calls forever? I think even the Chelsea supporters would admit that if that had gone the other way, they would rather see it gotten right then to have this mess hanging over a potential title-winning match.
Maybe not, I don’t know. All I do know is that Grant Wahl definitely has it right. This happens WAY too often. Too much is open to interpretation. Too many referees end up becoming the center of attention rather than the athletes. Too many missed calls are remembered more than the fantastic action on the pitch. It happens way too often.
In terms of the match itself, I felt like Chelsea mostly bossed the action, but it was also clear that United did impose it’s will at certain points especially in the second half. United’s lineup was not conducive to winning that match, however, at least at the outset, and it was clear they missed the Rooney effect. Chelsea played patiently, and were quicker and more decisive. I thought Joe Cole was mostly poor up until his goal, but he managed to slip a fine effort past Edwin Van Der Sar after another fantastic play from Florent Malouda. It was by no means a classic match and it was definitely marred by the refereeing decisions, but Chelsea was the better side and prevailed. That’s what ultimately should happen, regardless of circumstances.
Your television/internet schedule for Sunday:
7:00 AM Willem v PSV Eindhoven ESPNDeportes/3 [Netherlands]
9:30 AM Wolfsburg v TSG Hoffenheim GolTV [Germany]
10:00 AM Birmingham v Liverpool FSPlus [England]
10:00 AM Fulham v Wigan SDD 2:30 PM FSPlus [England]
11:00 AM Everton v West Ham FSC/FSE [England]
11:00 AM Valladolid v Villarreal DTV [Spain]
11:00 AM Valencia v Osasuna ESPNDeportes/3 [Spain]
11:00 AM Almeria v Mallorca DTV [Spain]
11:00 AM Gijon v Xerez DTV [Spain]
1:00 PM Racing Santander v Real Madrid GolTV [Spain]
1:00 PM Toluca v Tecos Telemundo [Mexico]
3:00 PM Atletico Madrid v Deportivo La Coruña GolTV [Spain]
4:00 PM Boca Juniors v Rosario Central FSE [Argentina]
5:00 PM Santos Laguna v Jaguares Univision [Mexico]
5:00 PM Ituano v. Corinthians GolTV [Brazil]
9:00 PM Chivas de Guadalajara v Club America Telemundo [Mexico]
Comments, twitter, etc. It’s a huge match for Liverpool today, as Spurs were defeated and City won yesterday, so the race for fourth place is still wide open. That late-night match between Chivas and Club America is quite tasty, too. Not as heavy a schedule as yesterday, but decent nevertheless. Enjoy the day and Happy Easter, if you celebrate it.
Part of sports is occasionally overcoming a bad decision from the refs. I’ve been on both sides of a call that swings a game, and I know for damn sure United’s gotten one or two (or…) questionable/wrong calls over the years. Chelsea took advantage of it and won.
Agreed, it’s the same at every level. I just wish it didn’t always come down to a referee decision, that’s all. It just seems like it always does.
Chelsea were leading 1-0. Had the goal been disallowed for offside, Chelsea would not have sat back and relaxed (as they did when it was 2-0), allowing United back into the game. The decision in this case did not affect the ultimate outcome of the game.
And that quote is interesting – what annoys me more is the constant debate about a wrong decision rather than the decision itself.