Finals at Olympics, referee appointments.
Women's tournament
9 August
Bronze Medal
SPAIN - GERMANY
Referee: Katia García MEX
Assistant Referee 1: Sandra Ramírez MEX
Assistant Referee 2: Karen Díaz MEX
Fourth Official: Tori Penso USA
Reserve Assistant Referee: Brooke Mayo USA Assistant Referee 1: Sandra Ramírez MEX
Assistant Referee 2: Karen Díaz MEX
Fourth Official: Tori Penso USA
Video Assistant Referee: Khamis Al Marri QAT
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Daiane Muniz BRA
Support Video Assistant Referee: Guillermo Pacheco MEX
10 August
Gold/Silver Medals
BRAZIL - USA
Referee: Tess Olofsson SWE
Assistant Referee 1: Almira Spahic SWE
Assistant Referee 2: Francesca Di Monte ITA
Fourth Official: Rebecca Welch ENG
Reserve Assistant Referee: Franca Overtoom NED Assistant Referee 1: Almira Spahic SWE
Assistant Referee 2: Francesca Di Monte ITA
Fourth Official: Rebecca Welch ENG
Video Assistant Referee: Ivan Bebek CRO
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Carlos Del Cerro Grande ESP
Support Video Assistant Referee: Jerome Brisard FRA
Olofsson as expected and the only realistic choice for this pairing.
ReplyDeleteGarcia over Penso slightly surprising, now clearly the Mexican had the better tournament, while the American remains with one big QF and two low profile GS games - and remarkably no men's game. Will be interesting, whether two CONCACAF women (on the field) are feasible at WC26.
Al Marri clearly is a political appointment to have at least some AFC representation in the medal games. His last (of only two overall) VAR appointment was NZL-COL on MD2...
The three other VARs in the final games are the leading VARs of the tournament together with Brisard.
Bebek especially with three USA games in a row in the KO stage.
Guzman in the men's final probably both political and deserved. Overall this game has officials from 4 confederations, while the women's final is full UEFA.
VAR appointments overall
ReplyDelete(men VAR / women VAR / men AVAR / women AVAR)
Bebek: 4/5/0/1
Guzman: 4/4/2/1
Dieperink: 4/3/1/2
Brisard: 3/3/1/2
Valeri: 3/2/0/0
del Cerro Grande: 3/1/1/3
Gonzalez: 2/1/4/2
Puudom: 2/0/3/2
Muniz: 1/3/4/1
Al Marri: 1/2/4/2
Coote: 1/1/3/2
Pacheco: 1/0/4/3
Hategan: 1/0/4/1
Carvajal: 1/0/2/4
Benbraham: 1/0/0/1
Jacewicz: 0/1/2/0
Paletta: 0/0/2/1
Ashour: 0/0/1/2
Kulcsar: 0/0/1/2
Parchment: 0/0/1/2
Kind of dissapointed as an American fan. I know Garcia is very good, but Olofsson is not that good. She could get lucky and have a decent game, but is a ref who lets too much go and doesn't really know how to control a game.
ReplyDelete"Minimal" style indeed by the Swedish referee who didn't engage too much herself to get this final, just staying in the background and whistling / booking only when 100% mandatory. Enough for FIFA, but I think Collina and Busacca had already her in mind, regardless of the final teams. Maybe not possible only in very few circumstances, but basically an already decided assignment. I had this feeling in mind when I watched Collina and Busacca at stadium in her quarterfinal.
ReplyDeleteBeing still a candidate for Men's World Cup should mean something.
Very curious when a game will require a different approach, what she will do. So far one could say in Women's games, this style can be ALWAYS kept.
Interesting also to point out how much Collina likes Bebek, indeed, also the number of the appointments, reported by Philipp above, gives us the confirmation. In a full UEFA appointment we will have several countries, with AR2 from NED and not AR1 from ENG taken from Welch crew.
Third place gaame for the Mexican referee who had a quite good tournament, I think it's fair to give something to other referees, Penso will have further chances in future.
The appointment of Al Marri as VAR comes out of nothing indeed, it looked like FIFA had left him with only group stage games.
I think he was even kept without games in the middle to be allowed to get this game.
In both semifinals and the finals only referees from the same gender of the competition were appointed, but this was not the same for Video Assistant Referee where, if you ask me, the assignment of Tatiana Guzman for Men's Gold Medal tie is more than deserved.
Guys somebody help please… is the new accidental dogso/spa handball law only applicable in penalty area or the whole FOP?
ReplyDeleteI'd have to imagine it's only the penalty area given it was introduced to match the double jeopardy rule
DeleteOnly penalty area
DeleteSo as i said
ReplyDeleteOlofsson and Garcia.
Garcia had a good tournament and its a good referee.
I dont understand that someone suggest Yamashita in the other blog.
A overrated referee and a crucial faalt in groupstage.
Very good that Collina dont give her any match after groupstage.
I agree with you that Yamashita makes a fault so she gets only 2 matches
DeleteBut she is a good referee.
Obvious dogso in 22min
ReplyDeletehttps://ibb.co/VgBfX78
DeleteI think, not sure attacker would have reached ball, but for sure a missed SPA. Replay showed that Spanish player looked for opponent so it was a deliberate block. Significant miss by the Brazilian referee, who started the game rather in the spotlights, after some roughness the goals scored by both teams put him a bit in the background, but I don't think he had the best start.
Ofr at least the attacker have benfits of doubt he didnt need to take full of control of the ball
DeleteLeniency at it's finest.
ReplyDeleteGoal is here to end the match without cards.
2 to 3 cards should have been shown in first half hour.
Finaly first yc shown by abate
ReplyDeleteYes,but Spain's mobbing is something that needs to be solved cause they are not stopping with that.
DeleteI dont see beida do his job as 4th
ReplyDeleteClear penalty i dont know ref ignore holding in the box
ReplyDeleteVery strange reaction live by Abatti, he didn't see for sure (replays during OFR were clear about his point of view), but he made gestures waving on, based on what, one should wonder?
ReplyDeleteShould be assessed as indeed correct VAR intervention, one-sided holding, from the start to end, until the attacker is taken down.
I think this is an interesting take and perhaps worth discussing what's expected at the top levels now in the VAR era. Because I believe I disagree.
DeleteAbatti's decision in real-time is that there is no penalty. So he has to sell that decision. In the old days, we'd praise that. Now, because there is a chance he might be wrong, maybe he needs to be a bit more measured. But I still think he has to make an affirmative case in real-time that there was no penalty because THAT is his decision. Making no gestures and essentially just doing nothing makes him look indecisive and unsure, which is not what VAR was intended to do to referees. It's an insurance policy, not a method of officiating.
So, for me, I'm mostly fine with what he did. He saw the tail end of the coming together and saw it more as the French attacker going down too easily. So he indicated as such. He probably was a bit too exaggerated, admittedly--I'll agree with you there. But I still think that telling the world "hey, I've got no penalty" based on what he was able to see is helpful. Then, subsequently, he can say at a stoppage "yes, they'll check."
And, of course, I think this was a good intervention.
I fully understand your point of view, but with VAR once you make such gestures, you have to pay then a very big tribute in case of mistake... don't be surprised but I know for sure that some heads of refereeing say to their referees who must officiate with VAR: "Don't make very clear gestures about an assessment, if you are not sure better to avoid...".
DeleteTo add, I think he had indeed made the gesture not for that holding but for the rest of the situations in penalty area and indeed there wasn't any other penalty, unless that one...
93' a very dark YC, Abatti booked the player after a warning.
ReplyDeleteAbout Katia García, I didn't watch the game but about the crucial incidents, personally I think that first penalty, crucial for final score, is an OK decision, somebody could see it differently, but decision fully accepted, and keeper understood she had been late hitting only opponent and not ball. Very curious in case of no penalty given, what VAR would have done. Objective situation? Rather not, but still...
ReplyDeleteSecond penalty: I think that ball was in movement on the previous free kick, the penalty call is very soft, the classic situation I fully dislike, but VAR must support. Very good for me that penalty was saved.
I watched both medal finals in the men's football, here are some thoughts:
ReplyDelete🥉 Eskas
DeleteFirsthalf
https://www.streambug.io/cv/ede421
https://www.streambug.io/cv/606aa7
https://www.streambug.io/cv/a21fa3
https://www.streambug.io/cv/4de122
Secondhalf
https://www.streambug.io/cv/e662cd
https://www.streambug.io/cv/28d581
https://www.streambug.io/cv/3f9027
https://www.streambug.io/cv/5f89fd
https://www.streambug.io/cv/0e2c90
https://www.streambug.io/cv/e223fc
https://www.streambug.io/cv/07463e
https://www.streambug.io/cv/93c83a
Eskas is exactly a 2020s Hauge in terms of his style, but despite quite a lot of angry shouting at players he managed to keep the lopsided Mahgreb derby under full control and should be praised for that. As a criticism, for my taste there were too many mistakes in foul recognition over the 90min. Overall you really can’t win anything in matches like this and Eskas did the job pretty well.
🥇 Abatti
DeleteQuickfire (<5min) review of 1H: https://www.streambug.io/cv/0e7ed6
Penalty 89’ given after OFR: https://www.streambug.io/cv/f48f63
After this game, I acquired a very specific opinion about Ramon Abatti:
• he tries to act as a manager on the pitch, working with the players, displaying very good + proactive body language
• less convincing is his ability to have authority over players, the game; his general calls aren’t at a ‘top’ level either
Enjoyable game and an interesting one for ‘us’, in which by far the most difficult part for the Brazilian ref was the first half. In my opinion he was doing mostly okay (missed incidents 1’, 22’ noted) but he lost control of his decisions when not cautioning Lacazette for a blatant SPA trip at 31’. Abatti was fortunate that such an appropriate yellow card arrived five minutes later or he could have been in big trouble to find a suitable opening caution. I’m not sure if the booking given in firsthalf additional time would have been awarded w/o the angry reaction of the Spaniard either.
The game was always on edge in the first half and I’m not really sure if the warnings he gave managed to take any heat out of the match at all. Abatti has clearly been instructed/learnt well though because his gestures and presence are overall textbook and very (very) good.
Penalty given was correct and very good intv by the world’s leading female VMO for it. Dale Johnson will write 1000 words justifying a non-intv in the Premier next season for exactly the same thing, it’s just idiocy and everyone can agree it’s a clear foul by the defender.
Overall I would say we saw: a) a decently-refereed final by a young referee; b) a shy referee, who has probably worked hard to improve both his presence on the FoP and style in his matches, ‘pretending’ a bit to be an extrovert one; and, c) a WC2026 referee in action.
A more positive than negative performance but not fully convincing all the same.
Oh, my, AR1 in 13:26 of the Women's Gold Medal match seems to have gone up with the flag too early. The TV angle is slightly off-center, but at kick-point seems the American attacker was onside. At minimum, would expect the flag to be held until attack was complete.
ReplyDeleteThough a solid AR2 decision several moments later, with the appropriate wait.
DeleteI think in the situation you mentioned, Will, she punished for the first player, on the blog ball by keeper and you can't see her in the live sequence, so you can't say anything, one must accept that she decided for offside, without any evidence. Indeed the player made a back movement then receiving ball, then on the subsequent pass the teammate is onside. Also, this kind of situation doesn't require the wait by assistant referee, because in the midfield and with a player returning back from an offside position, hard to let the play go.
Deletehttps://x.com/oocbrsao/status/1822292807891014039?t=QmMo4f0RLEZJOHftOuTgWQ&s=19
ReplyDeleteThoughts about this?
The other angle ascertains that it was a correct/supportable non-intv by Bebek.
DeletePenalty
DeleteCrystal clear as day YC missed now 90+6.
ReplyDeleteWatched right now, I think she opted for a very strong but rather not deliberate contact. It can be very clear YC, but in the eyes and the style used by the Swedish, I understand why she made this choice...
DeleteHere is the full sequence of the incident linked to by zwayerbrazil:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.streambug.io/cv/bac8d7
Of course no var stuff but just wanted to hear out the opinions. Thanks Mikael in advance.
DeleteI think penalty to be confirmed only if whistled by Olofsson, correct decision by VAR to stay silent. It is possible there is a minimal contact, but rather attacker used it, trying to win a penalty. No evidence in any decision, I think this is a very good example to be used when VAR shouldn't intervene.
Delete