soccer

Japan fumes over ref's decision in 2-1 loss to UAE in World Cup qualifier

33 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2016 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

33 Comments
Login to comment

Tough loss for Japan, I watched the match for most of the 2nd half and agree the ref's made a bad call. Seems to me that soccer needs a replay ref for calls like this, the ball did cross the line.

Kudos to UAE for playing a tough match in front of the Japanese crowd. Seemed to me that the Japanese team kept the ball on their end for most of the time I was watching, and their opportunistic defense did an outstanding job of stopping the Japanese team.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

So they don't use goal technology in these qualifications? What was the linesman doing? It is so easy to screw up professional games, they should use whatever modern assistance they can to avoid bad calls.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Goal-line technology ( usually Hawk-Eye ) is installed in many top-league stadiums in Europe and is used in the Premier League, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga. It was used in the last men's and women's World Cups and the Europa League and Champions League finals. The technology exists. However, its use is not mandatory. One reason for this is expense - stadiums must be fitted with the system which doesn't come cheap, unfortunately. Saitama Stadium, the venue for the game, doesn't have the system installed so it couldn't be used.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

A Qatari ref for a fellow Middle Eastern team is a bit suspect in my book.

Well, that's besides the point. Better than won. End!

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

The ref was pretty suspect, made a few wrong calls that turned out to be very important.

Goal line technology has already proven to be successful, it should now be mandatory for major qualification games like this.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Japan should be beating UAE comfortably anyway at home, not moaning over a possible draw. Possession counts for nothing if you can't score from open play.

14 ( +18 / -4 )

The farce that is international football continues

6 ( +9 / -3 )

The fact that Saitama Stadium - one of the premier purpose built soccer stadiums in Asia, often the go to first stadium for International events - hasn't installed goal line video is deplorable. Money doesn't even enter the equation as the football industry is awash with capital, and here in hi-tech Japan with a myriad of tech industries, installing the necessary equipment is a no-brainer. It's not rocket science.

The Japan team were cheated of a clear goal, so to prevent any further mishaps the powers to be better get right on with embracing the technology. No excuses.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

That's nothing. If you want to talk about robbed, go look up Frank Lampard's goal-that-never-was against Germany in the 2010 World Cup - the ball was at least a metre over the line and it wasn't given.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

hear hear @ dharmadan

If that had happened to the "blue samurai" we'd still be seeing re-runs of it on the 7 o'clock news. Like Asakura Cowboy says, if you can't beat the UAE at home, stick to the sport played by fat men in pjyamas.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Hear hear @ dharmadan. If that had happened to the "blue samurais", we'd still be watching re-runs of it on the 7 o'clock news.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

So the Japanese coach and players don't 'own' the loss, and start blaming others.

Halilhodzic had about 5 minutes between the final whistle and when he shuffled on to do the TV interview. In that time he decided to question the referee rather than look to his own tactics and team.

His team and tactics might have been alright (although UAE looked comfortable and playing within themselves to me), but football's like that. Him immediately putting the blame on the ref with some quite strong criticism can only mean he is not up to the job temperamentally.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Halil-Japan probably did deserve the draw - but they will have to cop this on the chin. Poor result at home. Another bad result though - remember they were shown up by Singapore not long ago - could spell the end for Halilhozic. The group is not an easy one, either, with tricky away trips to Australia and the Middle East...

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The ref cannot give a goal unless he his 100% sure that all of the ball crossed the line. The ref does not have a clear view - there are 2 UAE players in the way. He has to rely on his assistant on the far side. The incident happened in a split second. Don't accuse the ref of bias just because he is from the Gulf.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

Japan always has a simple way to qualify.Maybe they just got cocky.The would last a match in the european qualifiers

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It's always frustrating to be on the end of a decision like that but if I were Japan's manager, the first thing I'd be doing is having a long look at my keeper. A keeper shouldn't be getting caught out with a free-kick like that. It was a good strike but the keeper was badly positioned. Also, Asano should have buried that chance. It was a poor connection and gave the keeper a chance. The keeper shouldn't have been near it.

Not a good performance.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

@browny1, Lloyd weems

The installation of goal line technology isn't done on a stadium-by-stadium basis with it only being used if the stadium happens to have it. It's a decision made on a competition-by-competition basis; and for this particular competition (WC qualifying), goal line technology hasn't been adopted. Meaning that even if Saitama stadium had the technology, it wouldn't have been used for this game.

I'm personally of the opinion that all WC games, including qualifiers, should use goal line tech. For those countries for whom it is financially difficult to install (think Solomon Islands vs Fiji, etc), FIFA should pay for it...you know, actually use their money to improve the game instead of improving their personal ban accounts in the Cayman Islands.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

FIFA needs to take some lessons from the NFL where officiating games is concerned.

Watching the World Cup football/soccer matches leaves a lot of us wondering who is paying these corrupt refs to make the bogus calls they do and where they're from. Many of them appear to be from the Thrid World.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Fatboysosa is spot on here. You can argue that the technology available should've been used but it wasn't here. It's impossible for the ref to see it from that angle and if his assistant doesn't see it, no goal. I've refereed kids' matches and that's hard enough, never mind games played at professional level speed. It's easy to throw the ideas of bribes around but the ref acted correctly here. A bigger scandal would have been to have given the goal.

@Stormcrow One of the reasons why football is the most popular sport it that it isn't stop-start. I don't want the game stopped to check every borderline tackle, possible push, pull of the shirt, handball, offside, corner, pen or whatever. The nightmare would be a beer commercial thrown in while the ref checks which way a throw-in should go on the halfway line.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

@jimizo

I don't want the game stopped to check every borderline tackle, possible push, pull of the shirt, handball, offside, corner

Agreed. But I do want to see it stopped for penalty decisions and goal line decisions. Such incidents are absolutely crucial to the result, and they usually only happen once or twice in a game, if that. I feel it's better to stop the game for a couple of minutes than it is to have the wrong result at the final whistle due to a refereeing blunder. And in fact, in the case of goal line technology they don't even need to stop the game to get the decision - it gives an immediate decision... compare that to situations where it's unclear and the ref comes under pressure from two screaming sets of players before guessing on his decision... how much time is lost then? Goal line technology would actually improve both the accuracy of the reffing and the flow of the game.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

japan played like garbage. itll be interesting if they dont qualify this year

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

@Yoshitune

I like the goal line technology that's used now. It's quick, leaves no room for doubt and isn't used in most games. The problem I see is if you allow it for pens ( there are cases when a replay still leaves room for doubt ), why not offsides? If anything, offsides leave less room for doubt and a goal given/disallowed changes a game. Also, red cards change a game. Why not look at all heavy tackles anywhere on the pitch to see what kind of contact is made? There's been a lot of talk this season about shirt pulls in the box, particularly from corners or free-kicks. If someone scores from a corner, should we look at this as well? All of these things can be crucial to the result.

I'd leave it at goal line technology because I'm convinced people will start asking for the things I mentioned when their team has lost a game.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Sour grapes, from what I have seen played by the J-media, the ball hadn't crossed the line 100% Was it against UAE or Qatar in the finals of the Asian Cup and Japan losing in the penalty kicks and the Japanese captain interrupted the spot kicks and requested the referee to change from the goal the kicks were taking place to the other side of the field because behind the goal was occupied mostly by supporters of the opposing team and the referee accepted and Japan went on to win the spot kicks and the cup. Then I didn't hear anyone say Japan was favored as the interruption and change killed the rhythm of the Qatari players.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

@jimizo

I'd be in favour of giving the referee the option of asking for a video ref decision in the event that he is unsure what happened from what he saw. It's clear that sometimes they really don't know, because they couldn't see. We can't expect a referee to make a good call on something they couldn't see; so they should be offered this assistance. But I would say only for decisions in the penalty box.

As for red cards, you're right, they also change a game and happen anywhere on the field... so why not then have videos for every tackle. It's a good point, and yes that would lead to too much of a stop-start game. But I personally think that the red / yellow card system itself is no longer adequate and could use an overhaul / replacement (rather than videos)

0 ( +1 / -1 )

yoshitsune - thanks for that. I didn't know the wc qualifiers (in Asia???) have opted to not use the technology.

The sooner it becomes standard across all venues for int'l comps the better. And I mean only for objective decisions like goals, off side....!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

drlucifer

"Sour grapes, from what I have seen played by the J-media, the ball hadn't crossed the line 100% "

You're absolutely right; the ball crossed the line 1000%, not 100%.

There is something called YouTube; you can go there and re-check the game once more!

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

It was over the line, and they should definitely be allowing replays in disputes in the sport. There's no excuse for it. That said, Japan deserved to lose. They, once again, blew many chances, but even worse blew the chances to create more. They should have EASILY beat the UAE anywhere, let alone at home. So, irregardless of the bad call, this game was lost for Japan anyway.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

seriously what is it with Soccer and their refusal to use video replays, it works well with many other sports.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

All international matches should implement the goal line tech. That said that was a horrible display by JNT. It UAE have improved dramatically in past years but this shouldn't be close. The loss might be the wakeup call JNT needs.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Bad decision, made worse in a high stakes game by the lack of technology to overturn it.

It's an argument we really shouldn't be having anymore.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

A Qatari ref for a fellow Middle Eastern team is a bit suspect in my book.

No worse than a Korean ref would be in Japan. Fact is that if the JFA had installed the technology that was available they still would not have won the game. Samurai typically didn't moan and cry after a loss. These boys need to change their nickname to the blue nakimushi.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Oh well, never mind, there's another World Cup in 2022! :)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites