The first 10min of the game was pretty even, and you probably know what happened after that, and what we are going to spend 99% of the time in this article talking about. Yes – it was that horrendous decision made by the refereeing team to send Anu off for an innocuous pull on Tadanari Lee on the halfway line. Let’s get this straight. Foul? Definitely yes. Yellow card? Definitely yes, it was cynical, calculated to stop an opponent from going past him. Red card? Nah you’re having a laugh.
Anyone who’s ever played football knows this – if you’re gonna bring your man down, bring him down early. Do not let him go all the way into the penalty area, or just outside, where conceding a freekick or a penalty kick can have disastrous consequences. Manchester City practically turned this into an art form – the sight of Fernandinho putting on an innocent face after he trips someone on the counter is both annoying and also funny.
Enough of the preamble – let’s dive right into it. I will try to be as objective as possible and lay down the facts as they are – feel free to let us know in the comments, or on our IG post if you have an alternative view. We’ll do a step-by-step analysis. We won’t even bother to talk about the rest of the game because once the red card was shown, the referee killed the game. Facing Albirex is tough enough with 11 men – with 10 men it’s almost impossible.
Was it a foul? And was it a foul deserving of a yellow card?
I don’t think Anu, or even the most hardened LCS fan will deny that this was 101% at least a yellow card. Tadanari Lee had cleverly flicked the ball around Anu, and was about to race onto it when he was pulled back slightly. I don’t even think Tadanari Lee made a meal of it. He was blameless in this – he tried to go for the ball, he was pulled, it was a tactical foul.
Answer: Yes it was a foul, and yes, it definitely deserved a yellow.
What is the VAR process? When can a VAR intervene?
To answer this question, there is no better place to start than looking at what FAS themselves said in a press release prior to the start of the season.
This is consistent with the International Football Association Board’s rules, specifically the VAR Protocol, which states that –
Looking at the above rules, the VAR should assist the referee to check if a red-card offence has been committed. The on-pitch referee had given a yellow card, but it is appropriate for the VAR to check, and advise the referee if he feels there has been a mistake. In this case, we can assume that the VAR felt that this was a foul that denied a goal scoring opportunity.
Not only that, but the VAR felt that this was a potential sending-off offence. Let’s look at IFAB’s rules when it comes to sending-offs for denying goal scoring opportunities. Focus on the wording here.
The key words to look out for here have been highlighted in yellow. To qualify for a red card, the referee needs to be sure that Anu’s actions have denied a goal, or an OBVIOUS goal-scoring opportunity.
There are two questions to then ask:-
- Was Anu’s foul a foul that denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity?
- Even if the VAR felt that he did, did the on-pitch referee make a clear and obvious error? (more on this later)
Was Anu’s foul a foul that denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity?
I shall start referring to the denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity as a DOGSO offence for the ease of my typing and your reading. Whether or not Anu’s foul is a DOGSO, is dependent on four factors. These four factors are :-
- distance between the offence and the goal;
- general direction of the play;
- likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball;
- location and number of defenders.
General direction of the play
Let’s clear up the easy one – “general direction of the play”. This is an important factor to consider because even if the foul were to happen in the penalty area for example, which is obviously a dangerous area of the pitch – if the attacker was moving away from the goal to such an extent that he is unlikely to score, then it cannot be said that an OBVIOUS goal scoring opportunity has been denieed. In this case, I would say that Tadanari Lee’s push of the ball is right towards goal, and so factor no. 2 is fulfilled.
Distance between the offence and the goal
The next easy one is factor no. 1. There is obviously a reason for why distance between the offence and the goal is a factor to be considered. Generally, the further away from goal a player is, the more uncertainty there is when it comes to scoring the goal. Any number of things can happen – the player may lose control of the ball, the defenders may catch up, the keeper has more time to set himself, etc etc etc. Let’s take a look at the still image of when Anu fouls Tadanari Lee.
Try not to chuckle (or chuckle in pain if you are me) when you see that the foul literally happens not just in the centre circle, but on the halfway line. An easy decision here on whether factor no. 1 is fulfilled – it is very far from goal and so this is a clear “no”.
Likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball
I think the touch taken by Tadanari Lee to bring it around Anu is a smart one, and I think he pushed it the right distance to still be able to get to the ball. As much as I hate to admit it, it was a very good touch, and Tadanari Lee would have been able to reach it and regained control of the ball.
Factor no. 3 is thus fulfilled.
Location and number of defenders
I think this one is debatable. You can see in the image above that there are 2 other defenders with Anu. Bill is closer to his own touchline than Tadanari Lee, while Chris seems to be on par or slightly behind Tadanari Lee. However, what I think counts against them is the fact that they are split rather wide.
However, given that there is so much space that Tadanari Lee needs to eat up before he can even think about getting a shot away, I think it is absurd to claim with any certainty that neither of them will be able to put themselves in a position to stop Tadanari Lee from an OBVIOUS goal-scoring opportunity. However, I accept that this is a subjective call to make, and it is not an easy one for a referee to decide on.
In totality, given the step-by-step breakdown of the factors above, I think it is debatable if a red card should be issued. The on-pitch referee gave a yellow card, and then this crucially brings us to the next and final step of the analysis, which is the part that the referees screwed up big time.
Even if the VAR felt that it was DOGSO, did the on-pitch referee make a clear and obvious error?
Well then, given the debatable nature of the factors as stated above, there is no way that this can be classified as a clear and obvious error. The time taken by both the VAR and the referee during the on-pitch review also speaks for itself.
If you have to spend close to 4 minutes (10:58 to 14:25) to decide whether or not Anu should be sent off, then that is not a clear and obvious error. That’s common sense – this is not even an offside decision where you can perhaps forgive the officials for wanting to draw lines, and rewinding back and forth to ensure that they draw the line at the exact point that the passer’s boot contacts the ball.
Overall, just a poor, poor decision, both by the VAR, and the referee.
Some concluding thoughts on the bad refereeing decision
If the decision is so poor, then why did the referee give it? Unlike some critics of local football, I do not actually think our local referees are that poor. The fact that VAR has been used for more years in the English Premier League and there is so much money in the league there but yet they cannot sort out the errors made on a semi-regular basis, shows that human beings are error-prone after all.
I think another human factor is at work here as well. The referee Muhd Syarqawi bin Buhari should be congratulated for getting the decision right immediately when the foul was made. He was close to the action, he saw everything unfold, and he made the right call under stressful circumstances. However, and this is where I think I feel some sympathy for him, the VAR was Jansen Foo.
Before you think that I am one of those people who blindly whacks Jansen Foo, I’d like to clarify that this is not the case here at all. In fact, I think Jansen Foo receives too harsh criticism sometimes. What I am focusing on here is that Jansen is of a much higher stature in the local refereeing landscape than Muhd Syarqawi. Jansen is a FIFA referee, while Muhd Syarqawi is not.
Let’s take a work analogy – assume you prepared a presentation deck and you are confident that it wil impress your clients. However, after your senior reviews it, he tells you that although it is entirely your decision, he would go with a different approach. How is that supposed to make you feel? You start to doubt your own choices, even though a second ago you were super confident.
Even if the final decision still lies with you – you know that your senior does not agree with you, and I dare say it has an effect on whether or not you change your decision. A suggestion perhaps, is that the VAR should not be someone of a much higher stature than the on-pitch referee.
Importantly, I would like to stress and clarify that I do not think our referees are bad referees. Bad decisions happen from time to time, but the hope is that they can learn from this.
Thoughts and prayers for Kodai
Last but certainly not least, losing Kodai to injury, and seeing him close to tears as he limped off on crutches, is truly a painful sight. Forget the fact that he is an essential member of the team – from a human point of view it just sucks to see someone in so much pain. We wish him all the best in his recovery.
Written by Eddy Hirono
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