Discussion about referee's performance in 2023 Women's World Cup Final Spain - England.
Match 64 (Sydney)
20 August 2023, 12:00 CET
SPAIN - ENGLAND
Referee: Tori Penso (USA)
Assistant Referee 1: Brooke Mayo (USA)
Assistant Referee 2: Kathryn Nesbitt (USA)
Fourth Official: Yoshimi Yamashita (JPN)
Reserve AR: Mijensa Rensch (SUR)
Video Assistant Referee: Tatiana Guzman (NCA)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Pol van Boekel (NED)
Offside Video Assistant Referee: Ella De Vries (BEL)
SVAR: Armando Villarreal (USA)
28’ Both Penso and AR2 think it’s an England throw in, but a Spanish player picks the ball up so they change their mind. Indirectly leads to a goal one minute later. Ridiculous!!!
ReplyDeleteAn English player looked like she was complaining to Penso right after the goal, but I thought it might be for the contact on an English player near midfield just prior to the goal, but perhaps it was about the throw in. Would be interesting to see a replay of the throw in situation and of the said contact.
DeleteI think Penso thought it was Spain's throw, AR2 (correctly, I think) though it was England's, and then they both went with the other's opinion, and then Penso had to change her signal to match Nesbitt's.
DeleteOn the subject of AR2, other than that mistake it's been a good half: 25' and 42' are good flags for challenging an opponent, and attempting to play a close ball which impacts on an opponent, respectively.
I've rewinded the footage and smala017 seems to be right regarding the course of events. Certainly not nice to see, especially with the wrong final decision, although I still cannot be 100% sure about that.
DeleteAs for the complaints after the goal, those were probably about the potential foul on Bronze in the middle of the FoP: rewatching it a few times, it probably should have been given, her opponent blocked her path with contact, and that change of possession started the APP resulting in goal scored. However, I don't think it reaches the threshold of "clear and obvious" for the VAR to intervene and I wouldn't be surprised if many do not deem this a potential foul.
Just to mention, I think she missed a YC to Stanway for a step on foot in 36', although I'm not sure if FIFA expect a card there. Penso opted for a public warning.
Good half from Penso. Lots of good facial expressions and player management which has become the trademark of her tournament. The 36th minute challenge was the one notable opportunity to issue the first caution, bin UEFA a YC for the studs to foot would be expected but not so much from FIFA.
ReplyDeleteAmerican referee smiles a lot and gets a lot of respect from the female footballers, proving that you don't need Spartan warrior attitudes and bad looks in battle
DeleteIf she can be supported regarding potential foul before the goal, then certainly a good half, but I agree about the potential YC in 36', definitely a preferable one for my taste. And yes, very nice communication and management, with a nice, "bubbly" personality on the field.
DeleteI share your thoughts Dukat192
DeleteWrong YC for ENG11, clearly careless tackle.
ReplyDeleteBut you're missing the context, she was part of a string of fouls early in the half by England, which included her fouling a player off the ball. It would do better for Penso to sell this more clearly as PO, but I think the yellow card, while not required, makes enough sense in context.
DeleteI'm with smala on this one, I prefer a YC given the overall context.
DeleteSorry, but I'm 100% convinced that Stanway could have avoided this step on ankle in 62'. A card was mandatory for my taste.
ReplyDeleteNow a handball penalty for Spain: for me, definitely handball. Arm was away from the body and clearing the ball. How Penso didn't see it, being right in front of the whole situation, is a complete mystery to me.
Penso was standing too far forwards, had no real insight angle, and couldn’t really assess how far away the arm was from the body. Hand to ball, clear penalty.
DeleteDisgraceful non-YC for unsporting to the England player prior to the penalty execution!
And now the very blatant stealing meters by the same player.
Because she was side on, never going to see it from she was.
DeleteEng #2 should have been cautioned for refusing to leave penalty area
Going to be a much tougher game now
Penso's position made it easier for her to see the hand/ball contact but she lacked the arm perspective that increases volume and also the lack of naturalness. A little too long a review.
DeleteYou're right, Mikael, a YC for unsporting behaviour was a must there, poor to see.
DeleteWell that took a looong time to give. I don't think that being given either way would lead to an OFR in England. But I'm sure it's one that different countries would see very differently
ReplyDeleteLooked like English goalkeeper didn't keep one foot on the goal line before ball being kicked during pk.
ReplyDeleteCorrect YC for ESP18, though I have the intuition that she wouldn't have given it if it wasn't for the English player's nose bleeding.
ReplyDelete*Eyebrow, sorry.
DeleteI agree. To summarize the selection of cautions in this game, it seems like the YCs have been more of a function of game management needs than of the severity of the challenges itself.
DeleteI don't expect injury time to be less than 10' at this point.
ReplyDeleteShould be even more. Several injuries (one of the very long), changes, a long OFR. At least 12 minutes, probably better more.
Delete83' possible miss of foul with contact on Spanish player near touch line, though ball may have been out of bounds, but then definite miss of foul with contact on James pushing her off the ball from behind near Spanish penalty box.
ReplyDeleteReferee losing control of this. How that wasn't a yellow card for a blatant pull back on James in front of the benches is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteNot the best impression from Penso imo (especially since the penalty). Now, a clear missed YC for tactical fouling at 84’ (what do you think about the incident before it?).
ReplyDeleteShe's refereeing the way FIFA likes tbf. Using cards as a last resort or, to some extend, for a tactical value (and no for eg blatant DtR by ESP18...)
DeleteAgreed Upstylon, Penso's no idiot, she knows what got her on this game. All tournament she has been lenient about DtR.
Delete13 minutes, okay for me.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think you can blame her for not giving it, but you can’t really ask for a clearer DtR offence than that by the already-booked Spaniard at 88’…
ReplyDeleteThrowback to GHAURU for Yamashita when the Spanish bench descended on her protesting about the incorrect restart position of that freekick 🤣.
DeleteWas it incorrect position? It looked like the players reacted late to a whistle (or the whistle was late, can't tell). That's where the aerial challenge was, assuming that was what was called (if so, a bit soft for my liking, but anyways)
DeleteAbout 88' - SYCs for DtR are possible in a big tournament ;)
Deletehttps://vk.com/video400374426_456239378?t=17m29s
I remember that, watching it as a child back then and always talking about referees (of course, annoying everyone around me).
DeleteBack to the incident in 88', of course it's super clear DtR, but unfortunately I wasn't even expecting a card there, taking into account the image of refereeing FIFA obviously wants.
Overall good game by Penso; not as good as her performance in the semi-final, but still pretty solid.
ReplyDeleteMissed PK for handball due to being too horizontal to play, but correct decision after OFR. Good cautions overall, especially to spot the reckless challenge with the knee by ESP.
Only gripe: the missed YC for the goalscorer, who lifted her shirt to display a message. Mandatory caution, not sure how not spotted.
Tori Penso has great personal skills, fitness and movement on the field, but my impression was that she wanted to avoid to take any sort of decisions and that was really irritating. Especially after the penalty decision, she seemed totally uninterested about applying any sort of disciplinary control.
ReplyDeleteAlso I think it was not the best image to take that much time in front of the screen, it suggested simply a hesitation and then people will think if this was a really a clear and obvious error. Of course it was a penalty, but she did not want to take this decision.
I think overall this performance was totally identical with the level of refereeing in the whole tournament. (And this bar is not high to reach...)
Not a 'disaster', but even taking into what Upstylon rightly said above: I don't think that was an especially good piece of refereeing by Tori Penso.
ReplyDeleteOthers can technically analyse the performance, but I'd like to say this - there is a reason, beyond 'sharing the big appmnts out fairly', that a semifinal referee shouldn't referee the final in a tournament again a few days. Refereeing a big game, especially at the end of a tournament scenario, is very draining!! And you need more than a few days to (mentally, more than physically) recover. Especially when your preparations for the final would obviously be working on the premise that you wouldn't ref again in the tournament! You can look back on numerous examples of this happening in prior tournaments (Frisk not enough time to rest in 2004, Çakir's big mistake in second of two CL SFs in 2016, Torres Cadena wasn't that good in his '94 SF-after-QF which was an unplanned political compromise, Lanese/Kohl in Italia '90, probably too many games for Pitana in 2018, and so on). Stuff like the throw-in trouble Penso/ARs had can quite clearly, imo, be attributed to this factor (together perhaps with less familiarity with Nesbitt...).
FIFA should avoid repeating this again in the future, IMO.
Agree with every word here. Unfortunately, I have a feeling the authorities don't really consider the aspect of mental fatigue when making appointments, not just at this tournament, but generally speaking. There are numerous examples of referees overused in a certain period of time, especially if appointed to more challenging games. IMO, it was definitely avoidable at this tournament.
DeleteDefinitely one of the most challenging games of the tournament, England especially made it very difficult. There were 3 separate incidents of England players committing fouls off the ball, they must have watched Getafe - Barca last week! 90'+5' especially was a very good spot by Penso. And there were several reckless / borderline-reckless challenges to rule on.
ReplyDeleteThe YC management was a bit weird; some fouls that looked like clearer YCs weren't given, and the two that were given were comparatively very soft. As I said in an earlier comment, to me it seemed like she picked her yellow cards based upon the needs of game management rather than based on the criteria of the challenges themselves. One can find issues with this approach.
The fact that there were several reckless or borderline-reckless challenges but very few that were *absolutely clear* (other than the missed foul at 84') made the game difficult to manage within the FIFA paradigm of leniency. Because one can understand why a referee at a FIFA tournament would prefer no card for each incident in isolation, but that approach would not have been sufficient when you put them all together. And that is how you get a situation where the two YCs that were given felt soft compared to the others.
Not the cleanest second half, but there were several incidents to deal with, rather challenging game.
A more general comment on the tournament. Overall, Fifa must be extremely happy. The standard of officiating at previous WWC tournaments has varied from poor to utterly abysmal. Clearly, investment and better opportunities has led to higher standards and a much better calibre of officials. Gone are the days where there is a Steinhaus/Frappart and no one else, or that only Uefa officials can be trusted. Yes, there are still steps to take and room for improvement, but generally the officiating has been good and miles better than ever seen before so I think Collina should be very happy
ReplyDeleteAgreed completely. After the first few days of the tournament (which were quite rocky) I was expecting the worst, but it turned out ultimately ok. They knew who they could put on the hard / important games, and had plenty of those refs to go around.
DeleteDid Infantino really need to join in on the crew picture at the medal ceremony? This moment should be for the referees only.
ReplyDeleteIt absolutely should be, but anything for positive publicity... if he can be in a photo to improve brand Infantino, you know he will be
DeleteAbsolutely terrible indeed, just watched the picture. He shouldn't have stayed there. Curious that for the first time I think, also the crew for third place game received the medal in the same ceremony but they were alone without Infantino in the official picture, so what this means?
DeleteTwo things to note IMO:
ReplyDelete1- I am not convinced that the GK was on the line correctly for the stopped PK - one foot clearly moves forward before the kick (how far? who knows). That being said, as we did not have a good angle, we have to trust the VAR. German commentators said it was obviously correct as she had one foot behind the goal line, an embarrassing error as it is now several years out of date.
2- Is it standard practice to review handball offenses only in slow motion? From what I can see, Penso didn't once watch it at full speed; I'd have expected that to be standard practice to appreciate the character of offenses. My understanding was that points of contact could be examined in slow-motion, but that the character of movements should ideally be judged in full speed.
Overall, good game by Penso in the FIFA 'no-cards' style. A few missed fouls, but nothing major. In a final, the objective remains to have a fair game with no game-changing errors, and that's what was achieved. She did her job.
Fifa Media on twitter/x published the still which shows it to be close (or not conclusive anyroad) https://twitter.com/fifamedia/status/1693239587378733554?t=WI2pXkcLtjSdZ8XaobvwxA&s=19
DeleteAnd yes, as far as I'm aware, a handball should be live speed, slowed down only to see point of contact/ position of arm when there's contact, but I don't know if this is a universal thing. I'm sure one FA would say natural position and close proximity meant no clear handball, and another would say arm was far enough from the body. What Fifa think I'm no longer sure
To your first point: It is indeed correct that it‘s enough if one foot the goalkeeper is behind the goal line.
DeleteLotG say: "When the ball is kicked, the defending goalkeeper must have at least part of one foot touching, in line with, or behind, the goal line."
Judging by the picture posted, it seems to be in line with the goal line, as FIFA stated, but barely. I had the same impression watching the replays.
DeleteRef_1707: Indeed, monumental brain fart on my part. Of course, you're correct and so were the German commentators.
DeleteSaw this image online. Do you guys think that it would have led to a red card if the referee or VAR saw it during the game? I think in most places (certainly here in the US), a middle finger is a pretty easy Abusive Gesture decision, but I was to hear what everybody else thinks.
ReplyDeletehttps://i.imgur.com/eRXNTcM.jpg
I don't see anything in that tbh. I'm sure a lot worse is said on the pitch without anyone caring, but then I imagine some referees wouldn't like it. I don't have a problem with it
DeleteIt's probably down to specific cultures and/or mentality, but I agree with Daniel here. In Dalmatia, a part of Croatia where I live, and especially in the Split region, this type of gesture is a pretty common "communication" tool. Of course it's deemed offensive, but we use a lot more offensive words and phrases in our everyday communication and most people don't really care (to be completely honest, they respond in the same manner). I think it's probably the same with English players repeatedly shouting "f... off", which I observed quite clearly today (and constantly in the Premier League, if I may say so).
DeleteOf course, if such a gesture were to be shown to the referee, especially in a dissenting manner, then I tend to interpret it as a clear sign of disrespect and and insult to the referee's authority and the organisation they represent, even to the game itself. And if a referee were to be seen using such a gesture, it would be completely unacceptable, IMO. We need to understand the high emotions of the players as long as they don't cross the line, but referees need to uphold higher standards of personal conduct and serve as examples to everyone on the FoP.
"Not great, not terrible" is the phrase I would use to describe Penso's performance today. I definitely liked her 1H more than the second, during which I had a feeling fatigue started to be visible in her overall officiating. Since the OFR for handball penalty in 68', her foul detection dropped in quality and she just seemed to have lost her focus somewhat.
ReplyDeleteAs for the disciplinary management, I didn't find it to be especially sharp, at least for my taste. As smala017 correctly pointed out, it seemed her card selection was led by game management criteria, not by assessing the challenges themselves. I counted 4 or even 5 situations in which I would definitely prefer a YC to be given, but I'm almost sure FIFA sees those differently. And that's not even counting DtR offences, which would deserve a theme of their own. Let's just say I cannot describe her card selection tonight as positive/satisfying. It is rather the contrary.
The aforementioned OFR in 68' is on Penso as well, at least for me. She should have spotted that handball herself on the FoP, and she probably would have if she managed to acquire a better position with the right angle to properly assess the arm position. Which is a bit strange, at least for me, as I find her positioning and movements to be very good otherwise. However, it's still her responsibility IMO. The handball offence itself is pretty clear for me.
As for the management and communication aspects, these seem to be Penso's strong suit. Her people skills are definitely excellent and she's been using her friendly, bubbly personality to keep control over the match for the entire time, and it succeeded all the way until the very end of the match IMO, when emotions started to break away a bit. I feel like she wasn't aided especially well by Yamashita in calming the benches, but that's something I expected to happen, given how things went for her in Qatar. The only time when I feared for her control a bit was around 84', when she missed that mandatory booking for Abelleira (IIRC), but also a foul (and a possible YC, at least for me) on Hermoso on the other side. Thankfully, she managed to maintain her grip over the proceedings.
To summarize, this wasn't a good performance by Penso tonight unfortunately, at least for my taste. There were too many mistakes to simply ignore, but I also have a certain feeling she wasn't mentally ready or fresh enough to handle this final in a better way. It is far from a catastrophe or an outright bad performance, but I certainly expected more, especially taking into account her very positive tournament IMHO. Having said that, I still want to emphasise that, at least for me, Tori Penso is a very good referee, who can be proud of her achievements at this WC. Taking everything into consideration, I'm glad she was given the honour to officiate this final, although her semifinal appointment should have definitely been avoided in this instance. I'm especially impressed with the way she communicates and manages players, using her friendly personality as a very powerful tool. Personally, I'm more of an Orsato-type person, but it was really refreshing to see a referee maintaining an adequate level of control and arousing respect using a smile and some friendly chat. Frankly, she very much reminds me of Eddie Janko from the Blue Bloods series, and I say this as a serious compliment.
I personally prefer the referee who gains ascendancy and respect with a smile, for me this is a great value that elevates a referee so much over one who uses Sparta warrior methods. I love personality, charisma and I look for these characteristics in a referee, whoever obtains them without shouting, without brutal facial expressions and without intimidating orders in my opinion is a very good referee.
DeleteThe great disappointment of the Tournament for me was Cálderas. I think we all had very high expectations of her and she ended up disappointing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Huerta could be with her at that "disappointment table"
DeleteThanks to your comments, please find below the clips of Tori Penso in Women's WC final.
ReplyDelete28' - Goal scored by Spain
https://streamable.com/2b47fd
In my opinion correct throw-in decision before and then not a clear foul, OK by VAR to stay silent, regular goal. I wouldn't put in relation the former incident with the goal, though, too long time had passed... and other events in the middle.
https://streamable.com/2b47fd
36' - Possible YC
https://streamable.com/u7zl5j
Referee could (should..) have started with booking, in my opinion that's a step on foot, if you want read it as less, you can justify no card, but still (WC final disciplinary management...)
55' - YC for reckless challenge
https://streamable.com/eboq1j
In my opinion wrong decision if we look at the fou, but reading smala comment I can't question on the context. One point for discussion for accepting this YC would be the contact with right leg, but in my opinion not worthy of being punished. I still think that referee had another perception of the incident.
62' - Possible YC for reckless challenge
https://streamable.com/v35mpo
I agree with referee, no YC for me in this incident.
64' - Penalty after OFR for handball
https://streamable.com/sm4yno
Correct decision by VAR to call referee, arm open and punishable position, but I really don't understand why she needed so long time at monitor. For a UEFA referee, making this long conversation at monitor with VAR would mean bad mark... what they should discuss about?
Interesting that indeed the touch happened exactly in front of her, but if you watch live sequence you can maybe guess that the momentum of the handball was not exactly perceived by referee, she was looking there but not focused on a possible handball.
68' - Penalty management
https://streamable.com/432wew
Absolutely lenient Penso, she allowed everything to English player who indeed returned there beging sure to stay unpunished.. blatant action to disturb kicker again and again... mild officiating, I can't add more, in my opinion in such situations you should see a referee on the pitch (more than other moments, I mean).
Don't know about the keeper and the positioning, but this is not something interesting for the analysis (my opinion). VAR surely checked that.
78' - YC for reckless challenge
https://streamable.com/p79ish
Acting on the effects of a foul, she booked because aware of the injury, this is absolutely poor... but still once you realize at least you book. She didn't want to do that.
823 - 84'
https://streamable.com/w3z5b1
A couple of missed foul, first one close to sideline (AR1 to be mentioned looks like a clear reckless), then evident missed whistle and booking at the edge of penalty area...
88' - Possible YC for kicking ball away
https://streamable.com/a73y1h
Mikael wrote it.. not given anymore nowadays, but blatant action in order to waste time, so clear YC according to LOTG. Only according to LOTG, but not in reality.
I would say not a fully satysfying officiating,I would describe it more below expectations than above. The US referee with a lenient and mild approach, she didn't want to book players. There were incidents deserving cards more than the first she gave, and of course the missed handball. I think one can add this to a rather negative assessment because she could have detected it, despite of, and we all know, the difficulty of handballs. Still not a terrible refereeing, and maybe this performance can be described nowadays in this way only on this blog... all are happy and that's the important thing.
Last but not least, nice presence by referee with smiles and interaction with player, this is a positive point, better than other officials we saw in past games, looking bored of making their work. I think you shouldn't be forced to smile, but at least having a positive approach to what you are doing, is a nice thing from which to start.
In 88' yellow card is the expected decision, even if it is a second one.
DeleteStieler correctly gave a second yellow card in a very similar situation in Genk-Olympiakos just three days ago. Genk gets a throw in and Olympiakos player throws the ball away, perhaps because he expected to get a (non existant) foul call. Unfortunately, I don't have a video.
"Don't know about the keeper and the positioning, but this is not something interesting for the analysis (my opinion). VAR surely checked that."
DeleteWhich bit is not interesting?
Is it the complete failure of the whole VAR system and team operating the technology to notice the goalkeeper is off the line before the penalty is taken?
Or is it the complete failure of the referee to use the VAR team's insight?
Isn't a penalty taken illegally an interesting enough point for you?
I didn't notice the 88' being so blatent at the time. In a world cup final, I expect that to be managed and forgiven (or even ignored), but the 'not given nowadays'. Is England the only place that would 100% be punished (even for 2YC), or is there anywhere else that would still deal with that more severely?
ReplyDeleteTo play Devil’s Advocate (because I absolutely believe that this should be a YC in every game, even the WWC Final, and no matter whether it’s a first or second YC), I think the reason we didn’t notice it right away is that the thrower was able to get another ball very quickly. The action only delayed the restart by a couple seconds at most. Of course, a couple seconds could easily be a tactical advantage and it’s still delaying the restart! But perhaps that is the argument against it, in FIFA’s eyes.
DeleteName - VAR - AVAR
ReplyDeleteAl Marri - 2 - 6
BinJahari - 2 - 3
Chenard - 6 - 4
de Vries - 0 - 1 - 10 OVAR
di Iorio - 0 - 5
Fischer - 5 - 5
Fritz - 6 - 5
Gallo - 6 - 4
Guzman - 5 - 4
Hernandez - 4 - 4
Irrati - 8 - 1
Martinez - 2 - 2
Massey - 0 - 0 - 10 OVAR
Muniz - 3 - 2
Soto - 3 - 6
van Boekel - 6 - 4
Villareal - 3 - 9
Zourak - 3 - 3
We can say the most dissapointed performance by VMOs in this tournament goes to Martinez, clearly his decision to intervene in Monzul game was disaster :)
DeleteKit colours
ReplyDelete39 Black
10 Blue
7 Red
6 Yellow
2 Purple
Which referees has the purple kits in their games? I remember Keighley in her first match, but who ist the second ref?
DeleteThe Rwandan referee in her second game wore purple. They seem to avoid the purple kit for some reason? Looks smart imo and often would’ve been a better choice or avoided a class with a GK.
DeleteUnpopular opinion: the purple kit is the best :)
DeleteA truly shocking performance from Penso. I'm an England fan and the better team won in the end but the referee made too many errors and lost control of the game towards the end. She was completely out of her depth and made too many incorrect decisions for a game of such magnitude. I don't expect to see her officiating in a game of this stature ever again. All the evidence is laid out in this thread pretty clearly and many comments above.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of key points to add or expand on:
Failure to award a corner to both Spain and England-
In the 2nd half Penso missed a clear corner for Spain and then for England. It was almost as if she let the other error cancel out her first one! Watch the replays it really is laughable. Unbelievable. I don't understand what is the purpose of AR1 or AR2 if they don't intervene with common sense? Perhaps its so Penso doesn't lose face on such a large stage, do they feel they are better off letting the error go as they are long time colleagues, right? We don't use VAR for corner decisions but the assistants can and should intervene if a clear error is made.
Penalty-
The England protests in the penalty box were for the ball not actually being on the spot then once resolved this disruption carried on too long. Penso needed to be more forceful and give one warning to leave the box or be given a yellow. Instead the player entered the box two more times and caused more disruption. The penalty itself should be retaken as Earps is clearly off her line before the kick is taken. Either the VAR team are asleep at the wheel and fail to flag this with Penso or if they did, then Penso is at fault for ignoring a clear infringement. Is this the new FIFA instruction to keep the game entertaining and pick and choose when to use technology in such a high profile match? Shocking decision.
Foul on James outside box-
In real time the initial thought is a clear foul on James as the opponent made no attempt to win the ball and blatantly pushes James over. Slow motion the action looks even more obvious as a clear foul. There is no advantage to England so a free kick should be given. Penso waves play on.
Spanish foul awarded-
Moments later a Spanish player goes down from a challenge near the side of the Spanish bench and Penso lets play continue until the aggressive protests from the Spanish bench forces her to call a foul. The delay from the challenge to the whistle is far too long and clearly influenced by the Spanish protests. The challenge is a less obvious foul to the blatant one on James but more concerning is how the referee has lost control of the game and is being too easily influenced by external factors.
Kicking the ball away-
The Spanish player already on a yellow card kicks the ball away near the end of 90 minutes to help Spain gain an advantage and waste more time. In every pitch across the globe the punishment for this action is a yellow card. Penso initally makes a motion to her pocket but then reconsiders when she realises the player has already been booked. Again more evidence that the rules have not been consistently applied and the referee has made the conscious decision to ignore the laws of the game.
Overall it is a complete horror show by the referee and for a game of this magnitude to be riddled with so many basic errors is both shocking and farcical.
FIFA should hang their heads in shame and learn from this, they need to launch a full investigation to ensure this is never repeated.
The foot was in line. And wow, how do you even have time and energy to write such a long comment? https://twitter.com/fifamedia/status/1693239587378733554?s=46&t=BLMWnP6dqNaw76CyzRYwWA
DeleteThe above post is a complete load of nonsense.
DeleteIf this is written by a referee ,then he or she need to really think about what they write .
As for FIFIA to hold an investigation is nonsense .
They will have a detailed analysis with the refereeing team .
As normal after a game .
And if any person takes this post seriously .
I would ask them also to think .
And if a referee wrote that post .
I would really like to read their refereeing career .
"They will have a detailed analysis with the refereeing team" - and when they dissect the decisions you will then find Penso won't be invited to referee a game of such magnitude again.
Delete"The foot was in line" - subjective decision. Majority of VAR teams would rule that past the line not inline.
DeletePart of the foot seems clearly in line based on that photo. So there is nothing subjective about it. Maybe only to you.
DeleteWith the tournament now over, below are the tiers based on performance in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteTop Tier:
Penso, Koroleva, Carvajal, Fortunato, Keighley, Foster, Staubli, and Olofsson. I am surprised that Fortunato, Keighley, and Olofsson did not get KO assignments based on their strong performances in the group stage.
Middle Tier:
Jacewicz, Hyeon-jeong, Yamashita, Caputi, Frappart, Martincic, Monzul, Welch, Beaudoin, Borjas, and Alves Batista. Borjas would be in the top tier but for her final performance. One of the biggest surprises of the tournament was the treatment of Martincic, who I thought was solid in her assignment. Hyeong-jeong I thought did fine but struggled with the announcements. Yamashita's treatment would lead one to expect top performance, but I thought she was just above average for the tournament.
Bottom Tier:
Reibelt, Amedome, Karboubi, Mukansanga, Garcia, Calderas, Huerta, and Lehtovaara. The referees in this category were disappointments for different reasons. Huerta and Lehtovaara performed under their expected level given their experience and pedigree. Calderas might have been the biggest disappointment. But Mukansanga is also a candidate. Garcia is in this category not because of obviously poor performance, but because she struck me as overmatched for the gravity of the situation.
Let's hope that FIFA and the respective confederations continue to invest in quality referee development. Despite some sub-par performances this tournament, I do believe the quality of refereeing as improved since 2019.
Collinas appointment strategy showed that the only top tier performers were Batista and Penso . Otherwise why would you assign the same ref (who only performed on par even though i liked her mimics and smiles) to both a SF and the final. Really bad image for FIFA and Collina imo. But they wont care
DeleteFrappart and Monzul surely on bottom tier, Monzul after revoked penalty and Frappart you can watch how worst her especially in the last 2 games of her.
Delete"Otherwise why would you assign the same ref (who only performed on par even though i liked her mimics and smiles) to both a SF and the final. Really bad image for FIFA and Collina imo. But they wont care"
DeleteThe USA had to be involved in the final in some form, whether that was for marketing purposes or otherwise and they got their wish, just a shame it had to be in the form of an error-strewn shambles!
Top Tier Penso?
DeleteDon't be joking.
To take a cross section of your later comments
ReplyDelete64 - "I really don't understand why she needed so long time at monitor. For a UEFA referee, making this long conversation at monitor with VAR would mean bad mark... what they should discuss about?"
68 - "Absolutely lenient"
78 - "Acting on the effects of a foul, she booked because aware of the injury, this is absolutely poor..."
82-84 - "missed whistle and booking at the edge of penalty area"
88 - " blatant action in order to waste time, so clear YC according to LOTG. Only according to LOTG, but not in reality."
This is just from 24 minutes - hardly a glowing reference for a top official for a FIFA World Cup Final?
Overall summary - Absolutely poor and lenient.
IMO, there are two mistakes made by Collina and Comittee to handle the appointments in a rather decent way:
ReplyDeleteIt's not Penso put in a SF and the Final - it's with Alves Batista. A SF was too much. This place had to be Staublis.
Then, second task - the QF for Frappart. An appointment only made by name- there had to be a change so that Olofsson could have handled a QF.
A larger comment about American referees is near the end, but from the clip posted above at https://streamable.com/2b47fd, the throw in call looks correct (the AR probably coudn't see it, as she starts to raise her flag in the opposite direction, but Penso signals correctly), and the contact on Bronze near midfield appears to be a foul, as it looks like the defender turns her back towards Bronze not to protect herself but to impede Bronze's progress, and the fact that Bronze kicked the ball too far away to retrieve it doesn't negate the foul. American officials, from my experience, are at a severe disadvantage because of football's lack of popularity in the country. That is, most American referees are not, from what I've seen, football fans, meaning that they don't watch it as a fan at home, so they don't have the shared experience of seeing many good referees in action and reacting to the many different types of situations one encounters on the field. American referees may have played the sport, but without watching it and instictively studying the officials, they lose so much training and, therefore, have a hard time equaling their more more knowledgeable countparts.
ReplyDeleteGreat points. I've been watching world cups since a tiny kid, playing and coaching the game and watching full 90 minute games live in stadiums and on tv for decades. It makes a big difference when you have that built into your sporting knowledge and you understand the natural flow of the game as a player, coach, spectator and official. I am sure as part of any top fifa referee development programme they should watch the best referees past and present and analyse how they handle the very highest pressure games. The US is still developing the sport and I think it is essential that the referee is a fan of the game itself. I am sure that is the case in Tennis and Rugby and many other sports.
DeleteThanks! Yeah, that's true that as the sport grows in a country, the officiating should improve, as well.
DeleteGood Tournament for the Referees
ReplyDelete