Canadian Ref Reviews

[dpetzz]

Grizzly having such a thread is not a bad thing we just need it moved to its own area away from MNT stuff. Unfortunately the game I assessed tonight was in winnipeg lol. Although in the first game of the night Vergara looked relaxed and calm...not as much pressure as a world cup match

[loyola]

^^

What I meant is having the knowledge of the latest FIFA interpretation on certain aspect of reffing. We might read something about a ref being poor because he missed a handball in the box but we don't know if he was correct based on what was told to him by FIFA, USSF or CSA assessors. That's what we are often lacking.

Between 10 and 15 posters in the game thread are mistakenly saying the ref ruined the game with the red card while 2 or 3 are saying it's the correct call. I wanted to show how it's easy for us to be all wrong about a decision but still blaming the ref for it.

That's why I doubt we have the credibility to be taken seriously by refs who might read that kind of threads.

I think the quality of the reffing is proportionnal to the quality of the players in a country. I don't think fans evaluating refs is really helping. How many times have EPL coaches (and the fans behind them) and commentators been wrong about their complains of a certain call? The real difference is made by the number of quality games available to the refs and the quality of their assessors/superiors.

I'm not against the thread, I express my doubts about the idea that it will help the reffing in this country. I would've continue to discuss ref performances in the game threads but I don't have a problem with people doing it here.

BTW, it would help if videos of litigious plays were posted in order to get a better idea of what we are talking about when criticizing a ref.

[tmcmurph]

For example in last night's Caps - Timbers game.

Ref = 4 (missed a handball in the box, called a PK when it should have been a FK 1 yard outside the box)

Sideline refs = 3 (let Portland take a corner kick 1 yard outside the arc, Taka was given a dangerous cheap shot right in front of him doesn't say anything)

PS. Is there any listing of which ref crew is assigned to which games?

[loyola]

PS. Is there any listing of which ref crew is assigned to which games?

Mike Edmunds from Newfoundland was the CR in last night contest.

[El Hombre]

For example in last night's Caps - Timbers game.

Ref = 4 (missed a handball in the box, called a PK when it should have been a FK 1 yard outside the box)

Sideline refs = 3 (let Portland take a corner kick 1 yard outside the arc, Taka was given a dangerous cheap shot right in front of him doesn't say anything)

Is it a coincidence that 3 of the 4 plays you mention were plays that went against the Caps? It could possibly be 4 for 4 but I don't know what potential handball you are talking about. If the roles were reversed, would you have noticed? Did you take a close look at where the whitecaps took their corner kicks from?

I think this might be why some posters doubt the value of this thread. Not trying to be a dick, just throwing this out there.

[loyola]

I think this might be why some posters doubt the value of this thread. Not trying to be a dick, just throwing this out there.

Pretty much this.

Without videos of the plays tmcmurph is talking about, it becomes difficult to evaluate his opinion and to assess the ref performance. It's not that I doubt him but if we want this thread to become a tool to help refs we have a long way to go.

[jonovision]

I watched the game, and while the ref made mistakes that benefitted both teams, the 4 incidents mentioned were all pretty glaring, even without the benefit of replay, and all calls ended up going against Vancouver. There were no ref errors nearly as obvious that went in Vancouver's favour.

[Regs]

Impact-Carolina July 14, 2010: Mauricio Navarro: A The third Impact game he has reffed this season including the AC Milan game and the third excellent performance. Consistent in his calls, not afraid to call fouls but doesn't buy diving or play acting. I like how he smiles at players when he thinks they are trying to pull one over on him. Very confident in his decisions.

Sorry but he is a prick of the highest order and has NO clue on how to manage a game. He is the show in his mind, full stop.

There is a reason he is no longer "able" to officiate VMSL games.

And that smile you are talking about? It is probably just after he is trying to goad players into another card... "you want one, you want one?"

[Grizzly]

A bit late on this one:

Impact-Baltimore 0-0 August 11, 2010: John Oliva Ontario: Mark= A: Nothing to complain about here. No major errors or game changing decisions. Stayed in control of the game and had the respect of the players. The Impact completely outplayed Baltimore who as they got closer to stealing a point played very negative/dirty by fouling and falling down, feigning injury at every opportunity. Oliva called the necessary fouls and added the correct amount of time. Good job by the ref, bad job by the Impact, Baltimore has some decent players but they make the Central American teams look like models of fair play. Very few of our games have been reffed this well this year.

[jonovision]

I also remember thinking about this thread while watching that game. I agree that Oliva was excellent, but he didn't really have much to do until late in the match.

[jonovision]

If you're really interested in judging Canadian refs at work, Paul Ward is working the RSL-Arabe Unido match this evening. He just handed out a deserved red card to Arabe Unido for a two-footed challenge.

Edit: I didn't see all of the match, but Ward ended up handing out a half dozen yellows in the second half for some typical Central American behaviour, and then awarded a penalty (probably the right call) in stoppage time. The announcers seemed to agree with most of his calls, but they were total USA/Salt Lake homers, so it's hard to judge from that.

[Grizzly]

Impact-Rochester 2-0 August 27, 2010: Geoff Gamble Ontario: B I have to admit Gamble is not one of my favourite refs. He just seems to lack any confidence and presence on the field and somehow one always has the feeling that if there are any hard decisions to make he will probably screw it up. He doesn't seem to command much authority with the players. Nevertheless, there wasn't much to complain about in this game and he got most of the decisions right. There may have been a case for red on the foul against Gerba near the end of the game since there seemed to be no effort to go for the ball but otherwise a pretty decent job by Gamble.

[Keano]

I thought the foul on Gerba was cynical and also the defender was last man back. It should have been red.

[loyola]

I thought the foul on Gerba was cynical and also the defender was last man back. It should have been red.

The fact he was the last defender doesn't matter here, the foul was on the touch line a long way from goal. No clear cut goalscoring opportunity was denied here. You could argue that foul was reckless and worthy of a RC. I think a YC was fair but a RC would've been OK as well.

[Grizzly]

A little late but here it is:

Caps 0 Impact 1, September 24, 2010: Justin Tasev, Ontario: F A fairly predictable mark and I doubt one that will cause much controversy. Tasev has been mostly a CSL ref up to now and was in fact last year's CSL ref of the year. Despite the low mark, I don't think he affected the outcome of the game nor did he make many mistakes. The reason for the low mark though was he failed to punish fouls adequately and firmly and thus lost control of the game. In the end it became dangerous for the players on the pitch. While the players have to share the blame for this, it was a rough game of retaliations with a ref afraid to make tough calls and punish players for their actions so things just escalated and got out of control. On the positive side he treated both sides fairly and fouls from both teams received the same lack of punishment yet any ref that allows the game to get out of control and dangerous for the players deserves an F. To be fair to Tasev though, he is a fairly inexperienced ref and did a pretty decent job in other aspects of the game. If he can learn from this game to be more firm with punishing fouls so they don't keep occuring he might turn out to be a good ref. If he doesn't become more firm though he shouldn't be reffing at this level because someone is going to get injured as a result.