The Lead
This is one of those days when I wish I’d gotten into backgammon instead.
I have an opinion about the refereeing decision last night in Manchester United’s round of 16 second leg loss to Real Madrid.
It’s pretty simple: most referees would probably have given a caution to Nani for his high boot to the upper body of Alvaro Arbeloa, rather than showing him a red card. That said however, referee Cuneyt Cakir was well within the purposefully vague boundaries of the FIFA Laws in sending the Manchester United winger off. On the rule of what constitutes “excessive force” worthy of a red card, the Laws have this to say:
“Using excessive force” means that the player has far exceeded the necessary use of force and is in danger of injuring his opponent.”
Which is about as clear as a bag of potatoes, but there is certainly a reasonable case to be made that Nani jamming his foot in mid air with Arbeloa’s frame directly in his path falls within this definition. Anyway, here’s what the laws don’t say:
“The red card shall be shown only if the opponent is badly injured.”
“The red card shall be shown only if there is a clear intent to injure.”
“The red card shall not be shown if the game is exciting with everything hanging in the balance.”
“The red card should only be shown if it accords with the conventions of the domestic league of the nation in which the game is being played, particularly England.”
“The team to whom the red card is shown should defensively capitulate and allow at least two goals.”
“Only those who have ‘played the game’, which includes everything from rec soccer to the Premier League, shall be judged fit to correctly interpret whether the call in question was correct.”
Trust me, they’re not there. I’ve checked over and over and I can’t find them. You might hate the decision, you might think it’s a conspiracy against everything that’s good and holy in the world, but there isn’t a lawyer in the world who’s going to argue this case with the Laws being what they are. Sucks the bag, but that’s our silly sport.
Anyway, Dortmund won!
England
Uefa supports referee Cuneyt Cakir.
Joe Cole says playing for Liverpool was a mistake, regrets decision.
SAF silence says it all.
Reina urges Liverpool board to invest in better players.
Italy
Celtic’s manager praying for a miracle.
Bologna haven’t made a decision on the future of Diamanti, will wait until season ends.
La Liga
Valdes suspended for four games.
Simeone extends contract with Atletico.
Germany
Huntelaar may end career with Schalke 04.
Klopp reflects on last night’s victory.
Bit and Bobs
When players take justice into their own hands. Lebanese referee is chased and abused on the pitch.
Interested in buying Messi’s golden foot? (Didn’t he just say a day ago he had no ego?)
Thanks to Alima Hotakie for compiling today’s links.
While still not agreeing with the sending off, i’m really starting to look disapprovingly on the way the entire situation was handled, from SAF on down.
I thought Mike Phelan was a credit to the club. Having been at United since the 80′s, it would be understandable for him to have been wrapped up in the emotion of the evening (ie, THE TRAVESTY!!) he had just witnessed. Instead he spoke calmly and articulately. Although I didn’t care for Rio’s sarcastic clapping at the end but then I think he thought about it and ended up shaking hands with the ref crew afterwards.
That’s fine about Phelan, and I don’t disagree. But SAF losing his shit at the end was embarassing for a man of his stature. Even his tactics after the sending off. Want to know how to hold a slim lead after going down a man in the CL knockout rounds? Take an example from the man in the neighbouring technical box. And he did it at the Camp freakin Nou against one of the greatest sides ever assembled.
To me, it’s further proof of just how great of a manager Jose Mourinho is.
“Only those who have ‘played the game’, which includes everything from rec soccer to the Premier League, shall be judged fit to correctly interpret whether the call in question was correct.”
… unless you’re Roy Keanne
Almost all of the force that was applied came from Arbeloa who was running towards Nani.
Diego Lopez applied a lot more force to Vidic’s head with his fist.
Agreed. But since it’s United, obviously no one will talk about that incident because of course Diego Lopez was simply going for the ball and had no intent in injuring Vidic
Yes, since it’s United. Obviously.
I’ll take your Lopez punch and raise you Rafael handballing off the goal line.
OH but since it’s Real Madrid NO ONE will talk about that incident because they won anyway and United now has to deal with their highest paid player wondering why he didn’t get to start the most important game of the season.
Yes Moruinho maybe a better manager because of his nack of making the right subs at the right time, but to say SAF got it wrong is bull. United were leading, they were the dominating team and over the two legs they had the better/best of chances to score. Yes they didnt score and thats down to finishing by the players and good goal keeping.
To say SAF reaction was disgraceful is pathetic. They had a real chance at a treble, and with Madrid eliminated, maybe yes but was definately looking so till the red card, would mean another step closer to that final, and a big mental boost by outplaying them in the 2 legs. He has every right to be angry, expressive and all that….some may consider this a disgrace to the game maybe because their teams are never in this situation of contending on 3 different fronts and be legitimate favorites. Maybe they are tired of his ranting all the time, but if you stepped in his shoes and see how he prepares his players for the game and the tactics, i am sure he must have hated leaving Rooney out but he did so for the team and the game and it worked, and to have a ridiculous refs decision spoil the game and what could have been a classic….he has every right to act, say and behave the way he wants
And as for Chelsea playing against Barca with 10 men, Barca and their system is very different that Madrid and the system they play. The only players on Barca who shoot from anywhere outside the box is Alves, Busq, Fab, and their conversion rate is the poorest amonst the top teams. They like to ‘pass’ the ball in the net and to be honest its easier to bombard the box with 10 men and cut out those neat 1-2 passes in the box. Madrid are another beast, they shoot from distance and score! as evident yesterday. So the comparison is useless.
Yes Madrid still had to score the 2 goals to go thru, and they did so congrats to them and that speaks strength about the team to score from out and inside the box, but to say that United still had a goal lead at home and lost the game irrespective of the red card is stupid
The stats say it wasn’t looking so at all. Just because Man U had a one goal lead, and appeared more “electric” going upfield doesn’t mean they were looking like the ones who were going to advance. Madrid was leading or tied in every stat category at the time Nani was sent off – possession, shots on target, passes completed, etc. One goal and Madrid has the upper hand.
Also, I was referring to Jose holding onto the tie with Inter in 2010, not Chelsea.
Speaking of Arbeloa, how was he on the pitch if a studs up challenge is always a red? Seems to me that he should have been sent off for his challenge on Evra in the first half if that’s the case. And that was actually an attempt at a tackle without any doubt towards his intent or awareness of the other player.
“with Arbeloa’s frame directly in his path falls within this definition” did you not see the play? Arbeloa came in from behind Nani’s sightline (from his side really but Nani was looking towards the ball) and that is why hit the side of nani’s foot and spun him. when he went for the ball, nothing was in his path and they came together at a 45 degree angle.
I laughed at this decision because it was united but it was completely botched. The only thing we can say here is the ref saw it one time at full speed. for those of us with the benefit of multiple replays etc. to call this a red is flat out stupid. Only in the context of one view at speed could this ever be a red.
too funny though, Nani finally contributes (his action led to the OG) after months of inaction and then gets sent off for something so minor.
I think most people saying it was a red didn’t actually see the play. Nani had his eye on the ball and Arbeloa ran into his blind spot. I guess Nani should have known Arbeloa was there or something.
Unlike De Jong, from what I can remember, saw Alonso the whole way and still planted his cleats in his chest.
Also, yes United should have done better after the sending off, obviously the players reacted poorly to the sending off but I think the main grievance to us “blind” and “hypocritical” United fans is that it should have never gotten to that point.
yeah, somewhere De Jong had a great laugh about that one. that was blatent and head on.
Yup, none of us saw it.
Having watching the Al-Jazeera coverage afterwards, McManaman mentioned that the panel spoke with a current UEFA/Premier League Ref and he told them that UEFA had told every referee that anything dangerous to another player (intent or not) warrants a red card. Clearly this Turkish referee has a history of applying the letter of the law and was essentially following orders. So the real issue must be taken up with Uefa and their directives to referees. I don’t think this instance is nearly as egregious as Chelsea v Barcelona 2009.
I don’t see how can Nani can be adjudged to have used excessive force when it wasn’t even a tackle.
He recklessly stuck his foot up in the air for an errant ball and collided, foot-first, with Arbeloa.
How can he use excessive force against Arbeloa when he didn’t even know he was there?!
To me, the key part of the rule is where it says the player “…is in danger of injuring his opponent.” Was there a danger Nani was going to injure Arbeloa? Absolutely. By that interpretation, the red card was warranted, despite the fact Nani 99% had zero intention of striking Arbeloa with his studs.
It says ‘far exceeded the necessary use of force AND is in danger of injuring his opponent.’ It’s not one or the other for crying out loud. Anyone who thinks Nani ‘far exceeded the necessary use of force’ must think football is a non-contact sport.
Personally I am most confused as to why no one is mentioning the fact that in the last World Cup Final, Nigel de Jong had a similar incident, which everyone said “how did the ref miss that” and “straight red everytime”. For me all that talk had the ref thinking red to avoid the embarrassment of seeing a picture of Arbeloa with Nani’s boot in his ribs go around the world. To think that the reaction to such incidents on the internet and in the media is independent of what happens the next time on the pitch is ridiculous.
I guess I should had read all of the comments first. I agree with you.
actually the two are no where near the same. If you youtube them you will see de jong was looking directly at the other player and went straight in and could have pulled out. In this case, Nani had no clue Arbeloa was closing in from his blind side at 45 degrees. even because of the angle the force applied to the dudes chest would have been fractional compared to the stomping DeJong applied.
Haven’t most people shit on Howard Webb for the past 3 years about not showing a red to Nigel de Jong? Was Nani’s challenge much different?
I guarantee you that there are people (plenty of them, probably) who howled with outrage over De Jong not being sent off, who are now howling with outrage over Nani being sent off. Cognitive dissonance FTW!
Very different, because Nani has his eyes on the ball, he is trying to bring the ball down and control it and within seconds AA is right there to challenge for th eball as well…..for all those who say he shouldnt be up in the air with his boot up and what does he think he would be given 10-15 yards of space…thats exactly the point, because he is having such a good game, defenders were closing him down and he wanted to control the ball and bring it down as soon as he could…very different from Jong…i dont need to go into the technical aspects of that tackle and
And just for the record I am glad HW DID NOT send off DJong, because again it wasnt ment, yes it was dangerous but so is a clash of the heads when two players challenge for a 50-50 ball and one with a wide open wound or when a player gets an elbow to the eye while doing the same….
HW used his common sense, understood the maginute of the game and what effects it would have on the specticle…yes refs should not have those things effect their decisions but its common sense and Red how ever bad it looked is WRONG
If this is the way football should be played, then any over head kick should be deemed a reckless foul, full stop. No exceptions and also with a beautiful red card on the side.