When Referees Make Mistakes
By: Daniel Duque
Every sport has their own rules which are enforced through referees, who make sure that each team is following them. They have the responsibility to punish players whenever they do things wrong.
Soccer referees make sure that both teams respect each other and they can interrupt an action whenever necessary. However, referees can make mistakes that may affect the outcome of a game and affect teams either in a positive or negative way.
There are several notorious cases of referee mistakes that took place in important matches and this article will cover some of them.
Byron Moreno: Italy VS South Korea (2002 World Cup)
The 2002 edition of the FIFA World Cup which took place in South Korea and Japan is considered by many soccer fans as one of the most controversial tournaments because of the large amounts of referee mistakes in favor of the host countries.
The most popular case took place during a round of 16 match between Italy and South Korea. Byron Moreno from Ecuador was the referee during this game.
Moreno's performance was heavily criticized because of the decisions he took during that game which included a controversial penalty in favor of South Korea, a disallowed golden goal (goal that allows a team to win after a draw) in favor of Italy, a red card against Francesco Totti from Italy and other actions against the Italian national team.
Italy was eliminated from the competition after a 2-1 loss against South Korea and Byron Moreno was investigated and later suspended for 20 matches. After his suspension was completed in May of 2003, he got another suspension after another controversial match which made him retire the following month.
Tom Henning Ovrebo: Chelsea VS Barcelona (Champions League 2008/2009)
The Champions League semi-final match between Chelsea from England and Barcelona from Spain is considered by many fans as the most controversial Champions League match in history.
Ovrebo made many decisions that benefit the Spanish team during the match. He missed a faults against Barcelona as well as different penalties that were in favor of Chelsea.
He also ignored the use of red cards against aggressive Barcelona players. Chelsea was winning the game 1-0 and was close to qualifying to the final.
Obvrebo also missed two clear handball actions that meant penalties in favor of Chelsea. Barcelona tied the game close to the end making the result 1-1 and qualifying the Spanish team to the final under the away goal rule.
Obrevo would end his international career in 2010.
Carlos Velasco: Brazil VS Colombia (World Cup 2014)
FIFA World Cup 2014 which took place in Brazil had an interesting conclusion. However, refereeing mistakes took place in a lot of different matches being similar to the 2002 edition, where referees showed favoritism towards the host countries which affected different teams negatively.
The quarter-final match between the host Brazil and Colombia showed how favoritism from the referee can affect a team negatively. Carlos Velasco from Spain was the referee for this game.
Brazil scored their first goal very early in the game. As a result, Colombia began to attack more and Brazilian players were constantly tackling the opposing players but without any reactions from the referee, while punishing Colombia for doing the same including yellow cards and non-existent faults.
The most controversial action would came during the second half. Mario Yepes from Colombia scored the goal that tied the game, however, it was disallowed for a non-existent offside.
In the following action, the referee would give Brazil a free kick after a dive from a Brazilian player which led to their second goal.
The game would end 2-1 eliminating Colombia from the competition. No punishment was given to Velasco.
Mark Geiger: Mexico VS Panama (Gold Cup 2015)
CONCACAF's Gold Cup is not a very popular tournament, but a lot of refereeing mistakes have taken place in that competition. The 2015 edition of the tournament had a controversial match between Mexico and Panama during a semifinal match.
American referee, Mark Geiger issued a disputed red card to Panama's player, Luis Tejada during the 25th minute of the match. Panama was able to score despite being short of a player.
The controversial action came when Geiger called a handball penalty in favor of Mexico after Panama player, Roman Torres fell on top of the ball inside the box. Later in the game during extra time, another penalty was given to Mexico giving them the lead and eliminating Panama from the competition.
After this match, Mark Geiger was suspended for six months by FIFA.
Deniz Aytekin: Barcelona VS PSG (Champions League 2016/2017)
The round of 16 game between Barcelona and PSG from France is considered by many fans as "the big comeback" because the Spanish team managed to qualify after being down 0-4 in the aggregate result.
However, this match was filled with a lot of decisions from the referee that benefited Barcelona.
The referee from Germany missed clear penalties in favor of PSG. He ignored a clear handball inside the box which was a penalty for the French team as well as other faults that had to be marked.
Barcelona players Luis Suarez and Neymar dived inside the penalty box which let Barcelona score two goals. It was evident that Aytekin was in favor of the Spanish team and helped them qualify to the next round.
The match ended 6-1 eliminating PSG from the competition. Aytekin was not given a punishment although UEFA was considering one.
Fair play is encouraged in soccer, unfortunately, the refereeing mistakes mentioned above and many others, give the sport a negative image.