Japan 0-3 Germany - FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, Semi-Final (4th September 2012)

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Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on September 6, 2012 at 18:24

“Holy cow!” I was chuffed to see my random musings generate so much activity. I ought to write more often in WSU, obviously. I will enadeavour to exapnd and mystify my writings. Maybe we should go backwards forward in time?

Ladies’ football’s finest hour so far is, no doubt, the 2011 World Cup final. The 2000 Sydney Olympic final comes close partly because it cemented ladies’ football as worth persevering with. It could be argued that Pia Sundhage taking over a factious and dejected USA team, reading them the riot act and not only taking them to Beijing but winning the gold (without the Wombat who sadly broke her leg) is another piece of  ladies’ soccer lore.

      Therefore, my hope is that this upward helix will not now be sliding downhill as a result of the 2012 Olympic tournament. It would be rather sad if the next 20 years or so were to be bland fare and that people will sit and look back and sigh in their cups “you should have been around in the early 2000s because that was some time for ladies’ football”. Perish the thought!

Regarding Ms Iwashimizu and Ms Morgan, I see it quite simply. Ms Iwashimizu knew she could not let Ms Morgan near the goal. The danger was too great. Ms Morgan wanted to make sure she got the free kick. As I wrote in another WSU entry, had there been 10 or even just 5 min left, the referee would likely have given a yellow card but, because it was in the time added on to extra time, the referee felt she could afford to send the defender off without altering the balance of the game. It was fine refereeing.

      Was Ms Iwashimizu too assertive? Did Ms Morgan fall thoroughly? Our opinon does not matter; the referee’s did. Ms Morgan never took one of the penalites and only the ever reliable Ms Wambach coped with the situation. Instead, Ms Kumagai wrote herself into the annals of football.

How do I fit Nelson into all this stew? Good grief. I will do my duty. Nelson won several battles, not just Trafalgar (we went horse-riding on the seashore by the lighthouse at Cape Trafalgar, or, more correctly my wife rode and I cycled) but he really cut his teeth fighting corrupiton as a young officer. Thus, were he around today, we might want Nelson to take a major role in adminsitering the beautiful game.

      The blind eye story comes from the battle of Copenhagen, where allegedly when told of a signal ordering him to change, Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye and said, “Funny. I can’t see a signal. Carry on.” If Pia Sundhage is the Montgomery of ladies’ soccer, would Norito Saski be our Nelson? But, I see him more as the Washington of ladies’ football.

 

Someone else please take over because I am running out of steam and grasping at straws. Roger, over and out.

Permalink Reply by Ken Suzuki on September 7, 2012 at 10:54

I have a suggestion, related to not only this problem but the problem discussed in this website shortly before.

What if we have a post-game public conference involving both teams and the referees? Each team, winner and loser, can question judgments made during the game. Why that was called foul? Why that was not? Referees must be held accountable for the decisions they made, which means their decisions must be explained.

Of course, referees should never be questioned IN GAME. But demanding explanation after the game is a different matter. It does not infringe their authority as long as all parties agree whatever discussed is not to change anything of a finished game. Just imagine a session like this was held after the USA-Brazil QF in 2011, or the USA-Canada SF in 2012.

Is this an unreasonable burden on a mere referee? I don’t think so. A referee has an absolute power to impose decision against any protest, which means his accountability must be absolute too. I personally believe this kind of post-game activity will greatly reduce such nasty controversies we saw, without sacrificing any bit of authority referees need to execute game.

And if I were involved in such session after the 2011 final, I would ask the referee a simple question.

“You red-carded Iwashimizu for her act you judged to be foul. Then, how she should have acted, in that particular situation, to stay clean?”

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