Switzerland Was Robbed!

I'd like someone to explain to me how this wasn't a handball. A penalty kick absolutely should've been awarded for this, and the fact that one wasn't is a disgrace.

The non-call cost Switzerland at least one point and with the momentum gained from converting a penalty, I don't doubt that Switzerland could've won this game in the 10 minutes that remained. Every point is valuable in a group stage that only lasts three matches.

If Switzerland end up missing out on progression to the quarterfinals by one point, look no further than this as the reason why. They definitely have a legitimate gripe here.

Rob Styles Demoted to League Two for a Weekend

From the Daily Telegraph's website:

"A week after officiating at Blackburn's Premier League game against leaders Manchester United, referee Rob Styles will be in charge of Saturday's League Two match between Shrewsbury Town and Chester City.

Styles turned down two United penalty appeals and cautioned Wayne Rooney when he complained about a challenge by Steven Reid.

The Premier League would say only that referees' supremo Keith Hackett had 19 referees to choose from for 10 Premier League games each weekend, but it does appear a huge drop in status for a man regarded as one of England's senior referees.

Last month Styles was criticised over a penalty he awarded to Birmingham and in August he was sanctioned following his performance in Liverpool's game at home to Chelsea."

This is why the higher-ups in the Premier League, particularly Keith Hackett, are nothing more than a joke. This is why there's a major problem in England in terms of respecting the referees.

As the article says, there are going to be nine eligible referees every week who don't work a Premiership game. No one makes a big deal about it when a referee isn't picked, unless it's a form of punishment for poor performance in a previous game.

My question is this: Why embarrass the referees by making disciplinary action public? If Keith Hackett didn't want to assign Rob Styles to a Premiership game this weekend, that's fine; there are nine other guys waiting to step in, and he quietly could've sat Styles down and chosen a replacement.

Styles is very experienced and has been around the block a few times. He doesn't need to subjected to the relative humiliation of working a League Two match, and he doesn't gain anything by doing it. Like I said, if Hackett didn't want to select Styles, then he should've just given him the weekend off altogether.

All this does, and we've seen it before with other referees (Mark Clattenburg earlier in the season sticks out to me), is gives players and managers more ammunition to criticize the referees and treat them without respect. It's obvious that Hackett doesn't have the backs of his officials, and demoting them to lower-league duty just chops their authority off at the knees when they get back to the Premiership.

Good For You, Steve Bennett

I don't want to hear Liverpool fans criticize referee Steve Bennett for dismissing Javier Mascherano late in the first half today. I just don't want to hear it, simple as that.

It's about time that a referee stood up for himself and didn't take any BS. I've complained all year long about the referees and how they're too weak and inconsistent to punish players for dissent. In midweek, I sat there and watched Ashley Cole, who was fortunate to not be sent off for his horrific challenge on Alan Hutton, turn his back on Mike Riley as if to say "Hey, do you know who I am?". Cole gave Riley an earful, didn't come over to receive the original yellow card, and still didn't get the second yellow for dissent.

Javier Mascherano must be an idiot. Has he not been watching the news or reading the paper at all this week? Did he not see that the FA just came out with a "respect the referees" initiative? Did he not remember that he already had a yellow card and was walking on thin ice? Did he not see that his teammate, Fernando Torres, had been booked for dissent just a second earlier?

I guess not. Sorry, this guy is a moron. He had basically been begging for a second yellow card ever since he got the first one. He'd committed two or three additional fouls since being cautioned early and took every opportunity to give Steve Bennett a piece of his mind. He then went out of his way to question an innocent play right before the half ended. Bennett gave him a chance to be quiet and motioned for him to walk away, and Mascherano didn't. He kept going, Bennett reached inside his pocket, boom, see you later.

Where was the captain, Steven Gerrard, in all of this? One would think he would've gotten in there and separated Mascherano right away, or tried to calm him down a little bit and then speak to Bennett himself.

Nope.

Sure, after Mascherano had been dragged to the sideline by his teammates (where he proceded to rant and rave like a lunatic), Gerrard went to the Argentine and spoke to him, but that doesn't exactly do much good.

Good for you, Steve Bennett. I applaud you for having the stones to do what Mike Riley and others haven't done all season.

Hands Off!!

So there I was yesterday afternoon, watching Liverpool's Champions League clash with FC Porto (Liverpool won 4-1), not exactly rooting for the Merseyside Reds. The first 78 minutes of the game were pretty even, but then Fernando Torres coolly slotted a right-footed finish in the back of the net to break open what was then a 1-1 affair. Liverpool won a free kick just five minutes later, and captain Steven Gerrard served the ball into the box.

Then it happened.

Porto's Milan Stefanov was lucky not to be sent off after reaching up and handling Gerrard's ball in, and match referee Roberto Rosetti had no choice but to point to the spot.

Steven Gerrard converted to put Liverpool up 3-1, but before he took his penalty, I had expected to see something and was disapoointed when I did not. Maybe it's because John Terry and Chelsea weren't playing, maybe it's because an English referee wasn't in charge. No one from Porto put their hands on the Mr. Rosetti!!

It's absolutely ridiculous when I see this happen almost on a weekly basis and to be honest, usually with Chelsea. Whenever a referee awards a controversial red card or a PK against one team, players on that team protest vigorously (which in itself is fine) and often physically confront that referee, either putting their hands on him or bumping him or as John Terry is famous for doing, literally trying to hold him back from showing the card.

Physical contact with a referee should be grounds for an immediate red card, and the sad thing is that at the lower levels this goes on too and the referees put up with it. I've seen countless yellow cards awarded for dissent when a player is 20 yards away from the referee and mouthing off, but I've never seen one red card or even one yellow card from making contact with the ref. That doesn't make any sense; so words (dissent) can earn a card but actually physically intimidating and touching doesn't get a player in trouble?

In baseball, ANY contact with an empire in that context is an immediate ejection, no questions asked, end of story, and that player and/or manager will be suspended for several additional games. A game misconduct or a match penalty (both of which result in ejection but the length of the suspensions handed down after the fact vary depending on which of those two infractions you're penalized under) is given in hockey for abuse of officials, both verbal and physical. Same thing goes in football (unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and/or ejection), basketball (technical foul/flagrant foul), and seemingly every other sport besides soccer. Excessive and obscene arguments seem to be tolerated in soccer, as does physical contact. This simply shouldn't be the case.

To be fair, referees are partly to blame as well. They have the authority to send someone off under FIFA's Laws of the Game for contact made and often choose not to, which just encourages players to do it again the next time they don't like a decision made against their team. If players see that a referee is a pushover, they know that they can do almost anything they want without fear of reprecussion. I can't count how many times I've seen Chelsea players standing over the referee and flapping their hands and arms around, showing him up, holding him and whatever else, and get away with it scot-free. If these players were to be sent off or at the very least, cautioned for their actions, it would help deter those players from doing whatever they were doing again. It's at the point now where I start laughing when I see these small, skinny referees get bossed around by players when the opposite should be the case.

Grow some balls, fellas. The crowd may not like it, they may even boo (Oh no!), but you have to start taking a stand against these players.