[VIDEO PICK] Multi-millionaire dollar earner David Beckham was a non-factor for the Los Angeles Galaxy during its 3-0 loss to FC Dallas in theMLS semifinal, but he got on the stat sheet by earning a yellow card for going nose-to-nose with referee Jair Marrufo after Marvin Chavez‘s perfectly legitimategoal. Beckham apparently thought Chavez was offside. […]
referees
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
Is the EPL selling us blood and thunder?
By Paul Gardner I begin to despair of ever making any sense of Howard Webb’s refereeing. He is held out as the best of the EPL referees, maybethe best in the world — he did, after all, get the World Cup final this year. And all things considered — to wit the massive provocation of […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
RSL's Olave wins 2010 Visa Defender of the Year
[AWARDS] Jamison Olave, a key member of Real Salt Lake’s record-setting backline, was voted MLS’s 2010 Visa Defender ofthe Year. Olave appeared in 27 games this season for Salt Lake, anchoring a defense that allowed just 20 goals in 2010, the fewest allowed by an MLS club in a single season all-time. Olave is only […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Chinese move to extend halftime blasted
According to Modern Express newspaper, FIFA has not taken kindly to the move by the the Chinese Football Association (CFA) to extend halftime of Super League matches to 30 minutes as part of itseffort to stamp out game-fixing. “The order by the CFA to standardize the time does not fall into the scope of extenuating […]
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
Please, No Encore for Kovalenko
By Paul Gardner A mere three minutes into Sunday’s playoff game between the Seattle Sounders and the L.A. Galaxy, we had the familiar sight of Dema Kovalenkoengaged in a physical pushing-and-shoving altercation with an opponent. But the incident was unusual in one respect: This time it was the opponent, Osvaldo Alonso — who had committed […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Reffing the most common restart
By Randy Vogt The throw-in is unique as it’s the only opportunity for players other than the goalkeeper to legally use their hands. It is also the most common restartin soccer. A goal cannot be scored directly on a throw-in. A player cannot be offside on a throw-in. A throw-in is awarded when the whole […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Goal-line technology moves closer to reality
The International Football Association Board — soccer’s rule-making authority — moved closer toward approving goal-line technology when it agreed Tuesday to re-examine the issue. Itsmembers — representing FIFA and the four British home associations — reversed their decision of several months earlier. In a statement issued by FIFA, the IFAB said, “Thetechnology would apply solely […]
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
Extra refs could do more
By Paul Gardner Thanks to Michel Platini, we now have two extra officials on the field at Champions League games. This is an experiment, you understand. To get theboasting out of the way, it also happens to be an experiment that I suggested in a SoccerTalk column back in 1977 when, basing my idea on […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Too quick on the whistle
[REF WATCH] Referees can, of course, choose not to call a foul and play the advantage. If there’s any chance that there is an advantage for the team thatsuffered the foul, the referee is supposed to wait a few seconds before blowing the whistle — which didn’t happened in a Dutch Eredivisie game last weekend. […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
How Referees Apply the Advantage Clause
Advantage is a wonderful clause in the rules in which whistling the foul would actually be hurting the team being fouled by not letting play continue. Let’s say the white midfielder is dribblingthe ball outside the gray penalty area when a gray player pushes white. Yet white does not fall down and is still able […]