Reuters Soccer Blog

Soccer Break Friday

How can the upcoming domestic matches beat this week’s European action for goals? 19 were scored in Thursday’s four Europa League quarter-finals, with a further 18 coming in the four Champions League last eight ties on Tuesday and Wednesday.

What the top leagues around Europe do have however is drama, with most leagues set to go down to the wire, whereas only two out of eight of next week’s quarter-final second legs are in the balance.

Do you think the goings on in Europe will affect any title races? Will Inter Milan’s confidence be so badly shattered that they may as well leave Napoli to pursue Serie A leaders AC Milan?

Fan chanting made an unwelcome return to the spotlight this week, while Wayne Rooney’s swearing on camera was dealt with by the FA. Too harsh a penalty?

This time of the year some teams are already looking ahead to the next season, take for example Liverpool. They have nothing much to play for apart from an outside chance of a Champions League berth by finishing in the top four. Captain Steven Gerrard has been ruled out for the remainder of the season, however. Will that knock Liverpool off course?

Now for some transfer gossip. After another fine performance for the ‘Yellow Submarine’ of Villarreal in Thursday’s 5-1 humbling of Dutch champions Twente Enschede in the Europa League, Giuseppe Rossi is again being talked about.

Finally, a sending off for Brazilian Neymar in comical fashion. Agree with the referee or sometimes should the officials ease up on the rules?

Soccer Break Wednesday – Champions League week special

Got your breath back yet? Perfected the Dejan Stankovic volley in your mirror ready to take out on the pitch? Well Tuesday’s first installment of four Champions League quarter-final evenings was spectacular and there is more to come on Wednesday.

First, a recap of last night. The Real Madrid backlash did kick in, though against the 10 men of Tottenham Hotspur and two extremely well-taken goals that on another night may have gone wide of the post.

Would 11 v 11 have made a difference? Is there any way back for Tottenham? And do you think some players may leave the club in search of Champions League next season if Spurs don’t qualify this time around?

And how about holders Inter Milan? Hopelessly outplayed in their last two games and with a creaking defence, can they score four unanswered goals in Germany to make the semi-finals? The Inter chairman has pledged his support for coach Leonardo but surely his days are numbered on this form.

So, Chelsea fans. Worried that a fired up Wayne Rooney will wreak havoc tonight after he was dropped by Coke? Or will that have taken the fizz out of the frontman? Frank Lampard seems to think his team will have to be on their guard against him. Predictions? Something tells us it’ll be a lot less open than Tuesday’s matches.

Finally, Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk just seems about as good as it gets. Two passing teams, easy on the eye, trying to outpass and outthink each other. Only a few more hours to wait so don’t worry.

Read here for a look at strike partnerships in the Champions League this season and of days gone by. Who does Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti pick then? Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba? What about Nicolas Anelka? Or a rejuvenated Salomon Kalou?

Clattenburg’s time out exposes crisis in the game

Administrators, managers, players, pundits and journalists should all hang their heads in shame at the news that Mark Clattenburg, one of the best referees in the English game, has felt the need to take a month off in the wake of the relentless criticism of his performances

Last month Clattenburg was in the spotlight after failing to book or send off Wayne Rooney when the Manchester United striker elbowed Wigan Athletic’s James McCarthy in an off-the-ball incident in a Premier League match that eventually led to FIFA and the FA arguing about whether video evidence could be used to penalise a player after a referee had seen and taken action on an incident

On Saturday he was lambasted again for giving a late penalty against Blackburn Rovers that even the club’s complaining manager reluctantly admitted was “technically correct” – i.e. – absolutely right.

Now, heartily sick of the circle of complaint and, no doubt frustrated by the lack of support forthcoming from the people who run the sport, he has opted to step out of the limelight.

The only surprise is that this sort of thing has not happened before as the relentless climate of questioning and undermining of officials at every level is producing anarchy.

English football is by no means alone in suffering from the problem, as the culture of re-running replays of every incident and analysing and criticising refereeing decisions has become a staple of media soccer coverage around the world.

Why can’t divers be punished immediately?

Juventus winger Milos Krasic dived to win a penalty in Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Bologna. We know this because his team mates have admitted it, even if the replay evidence was pretty clear anyway. No contact at all and no slip.

Justice was done for Bologna when Vincenzo Iaquinta fluffed the spotkick but if he had scored, the goal would have stood and there is nothing in soccer’s rules to reverse it.

Krasic could face a ban from Serie A in the next couple of days because of Italian federation rules allowing video evidence to be used to review referees’ decisions.

Several other leagues don’t permit the referee’s authority to be questioned in this way and only rule on cases of mistaken identity or on action the officials haven’t seen.

But if video evidence is going to be reveiwed a couple of days later, when it would have been no use to Bologna, why can’t the evidence be looked at immediately, therefore preventing the penalty?

Ian Holloway, boss of promoted English Premier League club Blackpool, reckons the fourth official could have a booth by the dugouts with a television feed where he could quickly check crucial decisions. 

The fourth official has slightly more power this season, he can alert the referee to incidents he might have missed, but other than controlling managers in the technical area and holding up the electronic board, his time could be used better.

Italian referee leads the way in battling racist chants

Italian soccer has long struggled with racist chanting, a horror which has largely been stamped out in countries like England and Germany.

The problem persists in Italy but finally the tide is turning and ignorant fans are being beaten.

First Mario Balotelli was racially abused by Juventus fans while playing for Inter Milan two seasons ago. Italian soccer authorities had been handing out small fines for years but this time Juve were hit with a one-game stadium ban.  

A fallout from that incident was the decision to allow referees to suspend games if racist chanting is heard.

The odd racist song has continued in Italian stadiums over the past year and nothing was done. Until Sunday.

Only three minutes had been played in Cagliari’s game with Inter Milan when referee Paolo Tagliavento surprised everyone by stopping the match. A public announcement told Cagliari fans the game would be abandoned if the “monkey noises” aimed at Samuel Eto’o carried on.

The game resumed and no more chants were heard.

Bit late for De Jong rebuke, Mr Marwijk

If Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk had slapped down Nigel de Jong after the World Cup final, Hatem Ben Arfa might now not be facing six months out with a broken leg.

Instead, only after a second “robust” challenge has De Jong been punished by being dropped for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers with Moldova and Sweden.

His kick to the chest of Spain’s Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final was bad enough but the Manchester City midfielder’s fierce tackle on Newcastle United’s Frenchman on Sunday caused real damage. Ben Arfa had to have oxygen on the field.

What happened to the beautiful game? Moreover, what’s happened to Van Marwijk to suddenly make this decision? Sunday’s challenge was not as bad as the World Cup final kick.

“I saw no other possibility,” the coach said in a statement. “In the near future I will discuss this matter with Nigel.”

Why didn’t he discuss De Jong’s recklessness with the midfielder back in July? He did not seem so bothered by his player’s karate kick on Alonso at Soccer City.

“Both sides committed fouls and it may be regrettable for a final and it is not our style but you do play a match to win,” he said in South Africa. “I would have loved to win the match even with not so beautiful football.”

Don’t blame the referees, blame the players

I watched the Brazil v Ivory Coast match in the bar of a Cape Town media hotel on Sunday and, not that it was really needed, was given another reminder of what an impossible job referees have in modern football.

When Luis Fabiano broke through to score Brazil’s second goal, the reaction of around 60 watching journalists ranged from joy to disappointment – but nobody was crying “handball.”

After three TV replays, suddenly it seemed that French referee Stephane Lannoy had blundered in missing what had now somehow become an “obvious handball.”

More replays, a second handling offence revealed, and it was a world conspiracy against African soccer.

Heads were shaken, insults hurled and Lannoy’s competence ridiculed by the assembled throng of “experts” who had, to a man, also missed the offences in real time.

As the match degenerated into its late farce, Lannoy was again abused. But even if the World Cup had been operating under Europa League rules with five match officials on duty, it would have been difficult to see everything that was going on.

Referees wrestling with a problem they can’t solve

How many teams will leave the World Cup happy with the refereeing? If it’s more than one I’ll be surprised as those “crucial” decisions seem to attract criticism only when teams lose.

The dissection of officials’ performances has become the staple of post-match interviews in recent years as, with one or two honourable exceptions, managers let rip (having had the benefit of replays from half-a-dozen angles of course).

I’m struggling to remember a manager complaining that a referee failed to penalise one of his players for holding an opponent while defending a corner or free kick yet every club is guilty of the offence to a greater or lesser extent at just about every set piece.

Last weekend’s highlighted “blunder” was referee Martin Atkinson’s decision to award Aston Villa a late, and as it turned out, decisive penalty after ruling that Birmingham City’s Roger Johnson had fouled Gabriel Agbonlahor.

TV replays showed that Johnson had, in fact, produced an excellent tackle but it was his bad luck that the ball continued in the same general direction it had already been travelling in and when his contact subsequently brought Agbonlahor down, producing uproar from the Villa fans, Atkinson mistakenly pointed to the spot.

It was a bad decision but an understandable one from an official standing 25 metres away with a poor view of the incident. Birmingham were right to be annoyed and frustrated but the same players complaining bitterly about the decision will have got away with worse, if not in that match, then in others.

Johnson let rip after the game, citing the vogue complaint that the referee “should be 100 percent sure” before giving a penalty. Does that imply that 75 percent is acceptable for corners or fouls elsewhere on the pitch?

A great Milan derby but what about that red card?

Sunday’s Milan derby had just about everything.

Red cards, controversies, a missed penalty, great play, Jose Mourinho his usual outlandish self and a another stunning Inter Milan performance (plus unused Inter substitute Marco Materazzi bizarrely walking around at full-time wearing a face mask of Silvio Berlusconi.)

For the leaders to beat their main title rivals 2-0 with nine men is just another example of the remarkable grit of Mourinho’s side.

How many other teams in world football would have folded against an AC Milan team who did not play all that badly?

Inter should be on cloud nine (well, they are now nine points clear) but instead there is a ‘strange taste, strange smell’ about the win, according to Mourinho.

Wesley Sneijder’s 26th minute dismissal for ironically applauding the referee was harsh to say the least.

A referee gets mobbed — for being good!

Around the world referees are forever criticised by fans, players, managers and the media but an Uzbekistan official has managed to buck the trend, receiving an unusually warm welcome after being named Asian Football Confederation (AFC) referee of the year.

Fans at Tashkent airport blew horns and trumpets to celebrate the return of Ravshan Irmatov, a candidate to referee at next year’s World Cup, after he won the award for a second successive year.

“I am overwhelmed by this reception. I am thankful to all those who came to greet me,” Irmatov said. “I have seen this kind of reception only for the players and this is unprecedented in Uzbekistan. I hope I will fulfill their expectations.”

In bizarre scenes, fans were jostling through crowds to try to shake hands with Irmatov, who was returning from Kuala Lumpur where he collected his award on Tuesday.

“He made Uzbekistan proud for the second consecutive year and I hope he will continue to fly our flag in the years to come,” excited fan Ulugbek Salimov said

Whatever next? Manchester United boss and frequent referee critic Alex Ferguson treating match officials to fine glasses of wine after games or Serena Williams praising line judges for good calls?