I hardly ever watch soccer, so please correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that a lot of penalties aren’t all that consequential, and that the majority of bad calls can be seen as just part of the game. The really important calls can be reviewed without affecting the flow of the game.
For penalties that result in a goal being given unjustly (Brazil v Ivory Coast) or denied unjustly (USA v Slovenia), the replay official simply awards or denies the goal as is merited. Play doesn’t have to stop, though obviously some players will be angry.
For yellow/red cards unjustly given, simply take back the card. Again, play need not stop.
If a foul calls for a penalty kick, the kick takes time to set up. A penalty that consequential, which gives such a high probability of scoring in a normally low scoring game, should be automatically reviewed. Play has already stopped while the players set up for a kick, so review shouldn’t be a problem.
This is often not possible. In the case of the US goal - which indeed semed fine in the replays - the ref blew the whistle before the ball was in the goal, before the ball was struck actually. You can never decide afterwards that play had not been stopped…Slovenia would claim they stopped playing and you would never be able to prove they didn’t; and it wouldn’t matter because the whistle had actually indicated that play was stopped.
With cards I agree, but it should be done afterwards. I think it wouldn’e work within a game.
The goal is awarded. If play was not stopped at the time of the goal/incident, the review takes place at the next stoppage*. In that case, a good goal is still awarded, and time is reset to the time of the goal when play is resumed.
*: such as puck out of play, offside, icing, penalty, or puck held by the goalie.
Right. I was thinking particularly of cases when play is not stopped, in order to compare it to soccer. What if something significant happens in the meantime, such as a goal?
Basically anything that happens after the goal is wiped out, including goals and most penalties. I believe that misconduct penalties(where a player is sent to the dressing room for 10 minutes or the rest of the game, but their team doesn’t go down a man) are not wiped out.
If nothing else, soccer would benefit from having more referees on the field. Just look at Brazil vs Ivory Coast where Kaka was red carded for a play the ref didn’t see. The ref was looking at the ball when an Ivory Coast player ran into a Brazilian. The IC player immediately fell down and put his hands to his face as if he had been grievously injured when it was clearly a minor bump and the Brazilian hadn’t touched the man’s face. The ref, at best, saw the incident in his peripheral vision and likely only saw the IC player on his back holding his face. The ref red carded the Brazilian.
The Zidane ejection four years ago was similar. The ref probably didn’t see the head butt, but based on reactions, he red carded Zidane. In that case, he got lucky and made the right call, but the ref shouldn’t have to make calls blindly.
There should be more referees on the field. Soccer and American football have the same number of players and are played on fields of similar size. In football players generally start near the line of scrimmage, but in soccer players are spread across the entire area. In football, there are 7 officials, and any of them can call a penalty. In soccer, there is one referee and two line judges, and I don’t think the line judges can call penalties with the same scope as the referee. That’s simply not enough. There is all kinds of action away from the ball, there the referee is usually focusing. Two more referees would do wonders to improve the number of missed and guessed calls.
In regards to instant replay (or additional referees) stopping the flow of the game and interrupting plays, my understanding is that the referee can allow the offended team to “play the advantage” if they still have an advantage after they are fouled.
I honestly try to enjoy the World Cup each four years, but crap like the officiating and the theatrics ruin it for me. If I were a coach, I’d be telling my players they should either be fouling the opponent hard or diving every time the ref turned his back. It’s cheap, but it certainly works.
They had a trial with this in this years Euro league. They had two extra referees standing next to the goals checking what happened inside the penalty area. I think the general feeling is, there were just as many bad calls as in games without these refs. It seems the biggest problem is not the amount of eyes but the speed of the game and the precision that is needed to get decisions right.
If you take - for instance - todays game of Uruguay - Mexico. At one point a Mexican player releases a shot from 35 meters that hits the underside of the bar, but doesn’t cross the line. While they made the right decision, teh linesman was totally unable to make this call. In order to be able to make decision about offside he needed to be far up the pitch, which made it inpossible to be on the goalline when the shot came og the underside of the bar.