Commentary
My World Cup: Use replays now to stop goalkeeper cheating in the shootout
- by Paul Gardner , Jun 30, 2010
By Paul Gardner
The latest U-turn performed by Sepp Blatter on the matter of goal line technology will surprise no one. Blatter has been leaning this way and that for
years now, saying no, maybe, no again, yes, but ... and so on.
Two highly visible refereeing screw-ups in South Africa have put Blatter on the defensive and brought about his latest
re-think. England and Mexico are out of the World Cup, feeling justifiably aggrieved that their exit was assisted by poor refereeing calls.
Maybe so, maybe not. But the idea should surely
be to eliminate, or at least minimize, such incidents.
So maybe we’ll get technological help for the referees sometime in the near future. But not right now, not in this tournament.
But introducing replays is something that FIFA could indeed do right now -- something that would avoid the possibility of yet another embarrassing gaffe.
Think about this. You
are the goalkeeper. You are facing an opponent in a penalty kick shootout. This could be the last kick of the game. If he scores, it’s over, you lose, your team is out of the World Cup. But if
you can pull off a save, your team is still alive. The stakes could hardly be higher.
This was the extraordinarily tense situation in which the Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima found
himself yesterday. What to do? Kawashima did what I feel almost all goalkeepers would do. He cheated. He stepped forward from his line before Paraguay’s Oscar Cardozo had taken his kick. A clear
infringement. But Cardozo scored anyway, so the cheating went unnoticed.
But the same situation had arisen earlier on Yuichi Komano’s kick. He hit the bar, and that was the mis-kick
that decided the game. Yet it is clear on the replays that Paraguayan goalkeeper Justo Villar had advanced forward before Komano took his fatal kick. The kick should have been retaken.
Neither of these offenses was called. You have to wonder why, because one of the referee’s assistants is standing on the goal line, within 10 yards of the goalkeeper, with nothing to do but
watch for goalkeeper movement. Yet in neither case did this official raise his flag.
In short, if Kawashima had made a save, it would have been allowed and Japan would have been
reprieved, for at least one more kick. Actually, this was not Kawashima’s only offense -- he had stepped forward before both Cristian Riveros and Nelson Valdez made their kicks. The assistant
referee should have flagged for those offenses.
Obviously, as all the Paraguay players scored, there is no question of the kicks having to be retaken. But the goalkeeper offenses should
have been flagged, allowing for a retake should the Paraguayans have failed to score.
OK, it is difficult to spot the exact timing of that first step forward by the goalkeeper. Which
makes this an ideal situation for consulting replays. No special cameras or equipment is necessary. All the fourth official has to do is look at the television. This is also not a “real
time” situation, an important consideration, for Blatter in the past has used that argument to condemn replays. As soon as the shootout kicker scores or fails, the action is over.
There follows a non-action pause before the next kick -- a pause offering bags of time for an assessment of the previous kick and for instructions, if necessary, for a retake to be conveyed to the
referee.
The shootout is a highly unsatisfactory method of deciding games anyway. If the referees and their assistants entrusted to making it work fail to do so, it becomes an ever bigger
farce. One wonders what sort of instructions they may have been given about these situations.
Certainly some advice must have been given, because getting the shootout scores wrong is every
bit as damaging as failing to get over-the-line calls correct. Maybe more so, given that shootouts always directly affect the outcome of a game. It is even possible, I suppose, that the officials are
told not to flag until after a goal has either been scored or saved. This would be highly risky, involving an implication that the official can tailor his call according to what
has already happened.
What I have described above indicates that we are in danger of getting another scandalous miscall. This time there is no excuse. FIFA, right at this moment, is
sensitive, probably hypersensitive, to the issue.
I can think of no reason -- other than sheer obduracy -- for not using replays in this situation. I’d go as far as to say that the
shootout, synthetic contraption that it is, seems almost designed to accommodate replays.
But sheer stubbornness is not easy to shift. It has been noticeable that Blatter’s denials
of technology have been making less and less sense. Just six months ago, Blatter, in effect, tried to silence everyone who wanted to discuss the matter with an absurd appeal to the press:
“Please do not insist on this theme.”
Whatever happened, it seemed Blatter and FIFA would not listen. Said FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke: “The door is
closed.” This had the sound of desperation. At a time when the world was getting used to the greatest free flow of information in its history, FIFA decided to buck the trend. Except that it
isn’t a trend, it’s a fact.
The facts have evidently caught up with Blatter. Shamed by yet another wrong over-the-line call, Blatter now talks of “reopening the
file” on technology.
But all of that refers to over-the-line incidents during “real-time.” The shootout, not part of the “real time” of a game, presents a
different situation. One that FIFA could so easily embrace to avoid the looming possibility that another country will exit the World Cup feeling -- or knowing -- that it has been screwed.
Well said, however, penalty kicks are not a "shoot out". The "shoot out" was tried and dropped.
While Paul is correct in his assessment of encroachment by the keeper (and on regular penalty kicks, other players almost always encroach also), the bigger problem is deciding games by "taking kicks from the mark". The shooter is expected to score, so instead of a hero winning the game, usually the game is decided by somebody making a mistake (as was the case in the Japan-Paraguay game). This is particularly unfair for someone who has played well for 2 hrs and then thwarted by a keeper who happens to guess the right way. A better way to decide the game would be to have teams take kicks from either the 18 yard line or the top of the arc. Let the keeper come out to the 6 yard line (largely eliminating the problem of movement by the keeper). Then we would see only the best kicks scoring, and my guess that many kicks that did not score would be because of excellent saves by the keeper (not lucky ones). Then the game would have been won by players who did something exceptional rather than lost by players who made a mistake or got unlucky.
One of the biggest problem is that many of the sideline officials are afraid to make a call, because if they're wrong they'll never advance. It's harder to criticize a "no call" than a "bad call." So we end up with timid little officials who end up influencing games anyway.
to KENT JAMES
...GREAT IDEA! Longer kicks would make this absurd aspect of soccer much more compelling...and palatable.
Yes he stepped forward during the kick. Is this a story - NO.
All certified FIFA refs need to be retrained...tackles from the rear are supposed to be auto-caution...a flagrant foul from the rear is auto-red...jostling, tugging and mugging on corner kicks are not enforced and flying elbows in a heading situation are being ignored; encroachment on free kicks has become none relavent for some reason...AR's need to be involved more through the headset communication system. Getting goal line tech and getting the refs on the same page will give this game a breath of fresh air instead of the chicanery that goes on in light of past changes which are not being enforced.
really putting goal-line technology. replays and goal-line technology has no place on the pitch. whats next after goal-ling technology, um automated offsides caller. the beauty of the game is in the human factor. mistakes will be made and controversy will be there but that gets people talking and makes the game that much more beautiful. with all this technology the game would lose its edge and would become dull. every little contact would be scrutinized and called. Leave the game alone. technology ruins the game.
The inability/refusal of the goal line ref to make the encroachment call (when the keeper steps forward before the kick is taken) has always troubled me. The goal line refs seem especially reluctant to make this call during very big games. The Final of the 1999 Women's World Cup was decided on penalties. The US won, the sport bra made history, China lost with dignity and without complaints, but the US keeper came way off her line on each and every Chinese kick! I applauded each US goal, but I cringed each and every time Scurry blatantly came off her line. Technology was not needed here to enforce the rules of the game. What was needed was a goal line ref brave enough to make the call regardless of the importance of the game or the ranking of the participants.