In a game full of drama and with huge implications for both the top and bottom of the English Barclays Premier League between Aston Villa and Chelsea, referee Lee Mason and his refereeing crew had their hands full. The game witnessed three goals, two of these were historic and record setting goals by Frank Lampard, one controversial no-goal cleared off the goal line, seven yellow cards and two red cards.
Given the high stakes of this game – for Chelsea Championship League spot and Aston Villa relegation from the league - it was not surprising that Mr. Mason was called to action very early in the game. Indeed, he issued his first caution in only the 4th minute of the game. The caution was issued to Nathan Baker for a hard foul on Chelsea’s Juan Mata. In fact, Baker should have considered himself very lucky because his lunging tackle completely missed the ball, violently upended Mata and came from behind. Truth to be told, Mr. Mason could have easily – and should have - sent him off for serious foul play. Under FIFA Laws of the Game, “any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force and endangering the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.” Baker’s foul easily met these criteria.
Arsenal collected important three points in its fight for the spot in the next years Champion’s League by defeating Norwich 3:1 in a dramatic and controversial finish in the Barclays Premier League at the Emirates Stadium. Norwich went ahead of Arsenal on Michael Turner’s goal in the 56th minute of the game. Arsenal could not break Norwich defense until 85th minute of the game when Mike Jones, following signal from the assistant referee Richard West, awarded Arsenal a penalty kick which was converted by Mikel Arteta. Only three minutes later, Oliver Giroud added Arsenal’s second goal sending Arsenal’s fans into wild celebrations. Unfortunately, things got even worse for Norwich when Lukas Podolski scored Arsenal’s third and final goal in the 92nd minute of the game, completing Arsenal’s remarkable comeback.
After a spirited and full of drama game, Borussia Dortmund defeated Malaga 3:2 in Westfalenstadion on Wednesday April 9 2013, securing its spot in Champions League seminal. Borussia Dortmund was favored to prevail in this clash but Malaga did not go down quietly. In fact, Malaga broke the impasse first when Sanchez Joaquin scored the first goal in 25th minute of the game. Borussia’s Robert Lewandowski, however, brought the teams on level terms just before the half-time in the 40 minute of the game. In the 82nd minute of the game, Malaga struck again and recorded its second goal on Pereira Eliseu’s easy tap-in and, with less than eight minutes remaining in the regulation time, a huge upset appeared to be in the making. Just when it all looked like Dortmund was out of the Champions League (at this point the German team needed to score two more goals), Marco Reus breathed some glimmers of hope to the Dortmund’s side when he scored and brought the two sides level once more in the 91st minute of the game. And then the unbelievable happened! With seconds remaining in the game, Augusto Felipe Santana pounced on a loose ball in Malaga’s penalty area, sending Borussia Dortmund to the Champions League semifinals.
Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona drew 2:2 in the first leg of the quarterfinal game in the Champions League at Parc Des Princes this past Tuesday. The game started according to the script with Lionel Messi scoring the first goal in the 38th minute of the match. Messi’s goal came after Barca’s Dani Alves beautifully curved the ball with outside of his foot into PSG’s penalty are and towards incoming Messi. Messi let the ball fall and bounce and then without hesitation unleashed a shot across the penalty area, past the diving goalkeeper, and into PSG’s goal. This was typical Messi, making the difficult look easy. However, in the 79th minute of the game PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic equalized when he collected the ball inside the five-yard box that bounced off the far post after it was headed by his teammate. After the fortuitous rebound, Ibrahimovic was the quickest to react and simply tapped the ball into Barca’s goal. Barcelona players were quick to protest the goal, arguing that Ibrahimovic was in an offside position when the ball was last played by the PSG player. As we discuss it in much detail below, the replays showed that these protestations were well warranted.
The United States Men’s National Soccer Team escaped with one point from the encounter with its south-of-the-border rival Mexico. This was a hard fought scoreless draw and it was only the second time in history that the U.S. earned a point in a WorldCup qualifying game against Mexico in Azteca Stadium. This draw moves the U.S. into third place in the Hexagonal group standings. The Americans are one point behind the group’s leaders Panama. The second place was claimed by Costa Rica which has the same number of points as USA but is placed higher in the table due to a better goal differential.
In blizzard-like conditions, the United States Men’s National Team bested dangerous Costa Rica team in World Cup qualifier played in Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado this past Friday on March 22, 2013. This was crucially important game for the United States. After playing listlessly and losing to a talented Honduras team 1:2 at Estadio Olimpico in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on February 6, 2013, the U.S. desperately needed a win and three points to right the ship. This was especially important because the next game for the U.S. is against Mexico in Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on March 26, 2013.
Chris Penso
The 2013 Major League Soccer season began today and, unfortunately, it did not begin well for referee Baldomero Toledo. In the 38th minute of the game between Houston Dynamo and DC United, Mr. Toledo made a crucial mistake and awarded a penalty kick to Houston Dynamo even though the foul was committed outside of the penalty area. The fast developing action that led to Mr. Toledo’s error began with DC United’s center back Brandon McDonald losing his footing and Houston’s Ricardo Clark pouncing after the loose ball. As Clark was sprinting towards the goal, another DC United defender, Chris Korb, tried desperately to catch up to speedy Clark. Just as Clark was about to enter the penalty area and unleash his shot, Korb extended his leg and clipped Clark’s shooting leg, knocking him off balance and down to the ground. Mr. Toledo pointed to the spot.
We have written about handling offenses a lot on this blog and for good reason. These decisions almost always seem controversial. One reason that these decisions invite so much controversy and discussion stems from the fact that the Laws of the Game state that a handling offense occurs when a player “handles the ball 
In the 91st minute of the game between West Brom and Aston Villa, Aston Villa’s Lowton and West Brom’s Lukaku were locked in a fierce battle for a ball near Aston Villa’s penalty area. Panicking Lowton, who appeared to be on the losing end of the battle for the ball, in his last ditch effort to prevent Lukaku from taking control over the ball, kicked the ball toward his goalkeeper Brad Guzan. Guzan calmly collected the ball and the dangerous attack petered out. Despite some protestation from West Brom players, Referee Lee Probert did not spot any infringement and let the game continue (see the video below). We believe Mr. Probert decision to let the play continue was wrong.
Ricardo Salazar 
Luis Suárez was at it again, this time by scoring a winning goal with his arm to ensure Liverpool’s victory at Field Mill against fifth division Mansfield Town and securing his team’s place in the FA Cup fourth round.
In the last week’s English Premier League game between West Ham and Everton, the referee Anthony Taylor sent off West Ham’s Carlton Cole and Everton’s Darron Gibson for what he apparently perceived to be dangerous high-foot challenges that put the safety of their opponents at risk. The first red card was awarded in the 67th minute of the game to Carlton Cole after he challenged for the ball with his leg fully extended and studs up while Everton’s Leighton Baines was challenging for the ball with his head. Mr. Taylor almost immediately pulled the red card from his pocket and dismissed Cole. However, even though the replays showed that Cole’s foot was dangerously high and close to Baines’ head, he was going for the ball and there appear to be no intent on his part to injure or intimidate the Everton player. What’s more, Baines was barely grazed by Carlton’s foot and, to his credit, he did not embellish any injury from the contact. The second red card was awarded in the 90th minute of the game to Darron Gibson for a similar high-footed challenge on West Ham’s Mark Noble. Like the Cole’s challenge, Gibson’s tackle did not appear malicious or retaliatory in nature and he did not appear to intentionally target his opponent. (See the video below.)
On December 2, 2012, Richard Nieuwenhuizen, Dutch soccer referee, has died after a group of youth players from SV Nieuw Sloten, whose ages ranged from 15 to 16, allegedly attacked and beaten him to death. The Associated Press reported that Mr. Nieuwenhuizen was “working as a linesman during his son's youth soccer match.” While the precise cause of Richard’s death was not yet officially disclosed, it was reported on Dutch television that his death had been caused by brain damage sustained during the attack. The AP also reported that the “the players were still in custody and investigations were ongoing” and that the “police would not rule out arresting more suspects. The USA Today later reported that “prosecutors [were] charging three players, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old, with manslaughter, assault and public violence for alleged involvement in a vicious attack on Nieuwenhuizen.” The AP reported that the club, Nieuw Sloten, said in a statement on its website that “it has banned the players involved and pulled their team out of the league” and further stated that such “incidents ‘do not belong on a football field.’" We immediately wrote on our 
In front of a record setting sell-out crowd at the Home Depot Center, LA Galaxy came back from a 0:1 deficit to beat Houston Dynamo 3:1 and claim MLS Cup 2012. While the game was sloppy at times, it was also hugely entertaining and not entirely free from controversial refereeing decisions. The game was refereed by Silviu Petrescu, who also was voted the MLS Referee of the Year, and the assisstant referees were Daniel Belleau and Darren Clark. For the first time in MLS league history, the MLS Cup final was refereed entirely by a Canadian crew of referees. Mr. Petrescu, as expected, had his work cut out for him and, for the most part, we believe that he managed and refereed the game well. For example, Mr. Petrescu’s two penalty calls were spot-on. There is no doubt in our minds that the handball (first penalty kick) and foul on Robbie Keane (second penalty kick) were correctly called. However, a couple of his decisions – one involving the second penalty -- merit additional scrutiny.
Sometimes, one referee decision can influence and overshadow the entire match and stir a lot of controversy. The
The New York Red Bulls clinched their playoff spot after tying Sporting Kansas City 0:0. The Red Bulls came out energetic and eager to avenge their loss to Kansas City from a couple of weeks before the encounter. The 0:2 loss to Kansas City was also the Red Bulls’ first season loss at home so perhaps, with their high energy and enthusiasm, the Red Bulls wanted to send a message to their potential play-off rivals that “you don’t tread on us at home.” Indeed, the Red Bulls were a better team in just about every category that matters: they outshot their opponents 10:6, their possession was 63.7% to Kansas City’s 36.3% and they had 9 corner kicks to their opponents only 3. Thus, being clearly a much better team in this game, the 0:0 draw had to feel disappointing to the Red Bulls.
Even though this was only his sixth game in the Major League Soccer, Referee Ismail Elfath has already handed out four red cards and pointed to the spot on three separate occasions. It seems that Mr. Elfath is not afraid to call a foul when he sees it or dish out severe punishment when he thinks it is merited. It was no different in this game as Mr. Elfath pointed to the spot two more times. That is five penalties in only six games! The first penalty call came in the 75th minute of the game after Houston’s Macoumba Kandji’s low cross into the five yard box was pounced on by his teammate Will Bruin. Even though it looked like Bruin would never get to Kandji’s low-cross in time, RSL’s defender Chris Schuler wanted to make sure that he didn’t and pushed him in the back (see video below). Without any hesitation, Mr. Elfath correctly pointed to the spot. Houston’s Brad Davis, however, was not able to convert the penalty as Nick Rimando made a great diving save. 
