Finals and Closing Ceremonies

While the ultimate goal for any tournament for both teams and referees is to reach the finals, just because you do not make it does not make the tournament a disappointment or anything less than what it would be otherwise. I have had the chance to meet numerous teams during the week in addition to all the referees, and the vast majority were not on the field during the finals, but almost all were in the stands cheering voraciously. The presentations on Friday night by Bobby Madley and Peter Frodjfelt was a great way to end the week, but the closing ceremonies and final matches were a great way to end the tournament. The 80 odd referees who did not get assigned to any finals took full advantage of the free morning and all decided to go out that night. It turned into 30 some referees at 5:00am wandering the streets of Estoril, but we had a good time and it was great to spend a last bit of time with the referees who I have come to know so well. 

Finals day itself was a scorching 41 degrees, and while the finals were scheduled to end at 1:30, a kerfuffle with the busses had them finishing at 5, right in the heat of the day. The opening match of the day was the Under 17 girls final. It presented Athletico Madrid against a Portuguese squad, refereed by the Swedish girls with Linda Lindskog in the middle. Athletico Madrid set out to prove their dominance and demonstrate what a strong team they were. They ended up winning 5-1, and Pongyi (Hungarian Referee) and I celebrated the win with them, taking pictures with the trophy and getting his Athletico Madrid flag signed. We also did the same with the American Under 17 girls from Wisconsin, but it did not go nearly as well when they realized that Pongyi was in fact the referee that had ejected their coach from a match earlier in the tournament. While the girls didn't care, the coach didn't seem to like Pongyi blowing kisses to him while chatting to his team.

The next match was the Under 15 match between two Spanish sides. To get to the finals, these teams had beaten giants such as Athletico Madrid, Sporting Lisbon, Southampton, Zenit, and multiple other professional teams. The referee team was a Canadian group, which was great to see our local referees do so well. It was headed by Maxime Belileu from Quebec, lined by Nova Scotian brothers Travis and Chad Levebre, and also features Lucas Pamatat from Ontario. The match was very good, but had the most puzzling sequence of events I have ever seen. The orange team possessed the ball at about midfield and unbeknownst to them, a blue player was hurt around midfield. A couple passes later, they had put the ball in the back of the net, and the blue coach was outraged. Etiquette would say that when there's an injury you put the ball out, but there is nothing wrong with not doing so, and the lawbook says play on. After the restart, the Orange team must have been feeling a bit sheepish as they allowed the blue striker to walk uncontested to the goal and put it in, effectively erasing the deficit. I have never before seen something like this, and all of the referees were puzzled. The best part about this sporting behavior, is that the team allowing the own goal, then lost the match by one goal. 

Under 13s featured powerhouses Sporting Lisbon against Athletico Madrid, and what a good fixture it was. The match was done by referee Jeremy Lensink from Holland, nicknamed 007 for the fact that the last thing he did before leaving the dressing room was comb his hair and put hair gel in it. He commanded an excellent game with the help of his Dutch team, and the final was 2-2, leading to penalties which Athletic Madrid won in the 6th round of shots. 

Finally, the showcase match, the Under 16 final pitched professional team Chivas Guadalajara from Mexico against Amunike FC from Nigeria. The game was fast paced and was refereed by some of the best in the tournament , headed my Matt Mcdermid from Scotland. The game was in front of around 2500 people and was broadcast on national TV. After the game, I had a chance to do some referee badge, pin, and coin swapping with the other foreign referees. The last day was a great time, with cheerleaders, awards, and music, the atmosphere was phenomenal. Finally it was time to say good bye and swap contact information with the people that I have become so close with over the last few weeks. 

I have now checked into my hotel where I will spend a couple last days in Lisbon before returning home. It was so refreshing to have a hot bath after only cold showers for 2 weeks, and to sleep in a room without a symphony of alarms in the morning, and rest my head on a pillow, not a pile of clothes. I slept 13 hours the first night after averaging about 5 hours a night during the week. It was without a doubt worth it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat (I will). I will at some point while I am here write up a post examining the difference between football here and soccer back home. I will also write a post reviewing my experience with tournaments abroad, and assisting my readers in creating experiences like this, while providing feedback for the organization. 

What an experience

Kevin

Day 5, an evening with Peter Frodjfelt and Bobby Madley

It pains me to think that the tournament is coming to a close, but this week has sure been a ride! Today was the final day of matches, save for 5 final fixtures tomorrow, and the quality of the soccer has begun to peak. My assigned matches for the day were two Assistant Referee spots, first for the U15 playoff B (consolation) quarter finals, and next for the U17 Girls Playoff A quarter finals. Both games were good, and I had a great time. The first match was between the Chicago team I refereed yesterday and a team from Wisconsin. The match was 2-1 for Wisconsin, and it felt as if I was back home: English vs. English, North American style of play, spectators who know nothing about the beautiful game, and kids who just want to play. Easy game for the Finnish referee, no cards, no crucial decisions, once again a nice match.

The next match was U17 girls, Wisconsin (USA) against Real Betis, a professional club from Spain. Betis spoke no English, so once again I was translating on the touch line. Great match, and while USA was outmatched, they took the lead early on a bad blunder by the Betis keeper. It had a wonderful atmosphere, and the 37 degree heat wasn't slowing anybody down. There were a few bad injuries in the second half, which allowed us to grab some water which was much needed. Linda was the Swedish referee, David was on the line with me, and Bruno (one of my mates from Madrid) was the fourth. Bruno had a grand time joking to the American girls that they were only allowed to sub after a kiss. It didn't work once, much to his chagrin. Real Betis pushed hard in the second half and ended up scoring three straight to earn a spot in the Semi finals. 

One of the matches I highlighted in my schedule was the U16 semifinal fixtures, and could not have asked for a better game. The match I went to watch was a repeat of last years finals between Zambia's Nike sponsored Lukasa FC against the professional squad Chivas Guadalajara in Mexico. Many of both teams players have already played with there club's first team. The match was killer! Zambia was pushing hard but could not hit the back of the net. The game looked bound to end 0-0 when 10 minutes from the final whistle, Zambia got caught in the offside trap which sprung a Chivas player who drove deep only to get it across to the other striker who simply tapped it in for the lead. In stoppage time, while Zambia pushed everyone high, Chivas put home a second on the counter-attack, thus cementing their spot in the most important game of the week against a Nigerian squad in the final.

Our week was highlighted by a meeting and presentation with Peter Frodjfelt, FIFA referee who refereed the European championships in 2008, including being fourth official in the final. His presentation was great, and after meeting him initially at lunch, I began to appreciate what a stellar person he is, and gaining great appreciation for the road to the top. He was honest humorous and approachable, and he gave a great talk for the eager audience. We also got to hear from Bobby Madley, who was just appointed to the Premiership and is part of their select (professional) group. He first spoke about using advantage and taught a class on when and where to consider advantage, but where his speech really excelled was when he moved on to motivating and inspiring the referees in the room. He has reached the Premiership at just 29 years old, whereas Peter began refereeing at 27, proving that as a 17 year old referee, the opportunities are endless. One of the things that they both stressed is the importance of setting up a road map of your goals and breaking it into smaller goals. 

We concluded the presentations with the awarding of finals and the referee awards. Unfortunately, I came away empty handed in both aspects, but I have learned and developed so much this week that  I am not bothered the least. When there are 140 refs going after 30 final spots, the majority will not get any, and the quality of refereeing here is so elite, its a real toss up as to who gets it. My assessments have been great for the games I have been given, but with the number of referees, I needed to have more difficult games, allowing me to score higher on the gradient. That is simply the luck of the draw, and at high profile tournaments, everyone dreams of reffing a final, but very few do. This is something I can set my sights on down the road, and strive to better myself to the point where I will get one. I must not forget too that I was appointed to two finals in Madrid when many refs received none, so I have had my fair share of finals these two weeks. 

I will give match recaps of the finals, and also conclude the tournament in the coming days when I have some more time, but in the meantime, I will say that there was a string of very interesting events in some finals. 

Kev

Quarterfinals, match day 4

The first three days of play no longer mean anything, and it all comes down to the next three fixtures to determine success or failure on the part of the teams at the Iber Cup. My day began once again at 6:00am, in order to catch the early bus to the fields. I have been getting such little sleep that I have been sleeping whenever I get the chance, yesterday, I even took an hour nap in the referee changing room during my game off. I was off for the first game, but after a snooze on the bus, I woke feeling refreshed, so I watched the first game with the assessor, discussing some focal points of the match in front of us. The fixture we were watching was Russian professional squad FC zenit against a Spanish side. While FC zenit seemed to be the better team, they fell 1-0 in the first half due to a penalty. The game became very physical and the Dutch referee did a great job at keeping control. Zenit levelled the score in the second last minute, and the match went to penalties. As if that was not close enough, after 5 penalties, both teams had scored 4, so it went to sudden death. After 7 kicks from the mark, The Russian giant was slayed, and had been eliminated from the tournament. 

Photo from the week prior, seeing Madrid with Paul Noble, Sarah Grundy, and Tom Beeton, all British referees. 

Before my match, I had to referee kicks from the penalty mark between two teams who were equal in all other tie-breakers. They had the same points, head to head, and goal difference, so penalty kicks were the only way to solve it. The loser would then play the American team in my game following. Even though two of their misses were redone as my assistant flagged for the keeper coming off his line, ultimately, Kenkre FC of India lost to a Portuguese squad. This then set up my match between Kenkre FC of India and Sokkers FC of Chicago, USA. 

In the knockout match, both teams wanted it badly, but it was clear from the get-go that it was a one-sided fixture. USA stormed to a 3-0 lead early, and the first half was relatively quiet, other than a third minute caution for a reckless Indian challenge. The second half, USA held possession for around 80% of the game, and were content to just move the ball around nicely. The game ended 4-0, and this was by far my easiest match of both tournaments. I was assessed on it, and I got the top mark possible for this game of an 8.3. As a refresher, the best mark is an 8.5, but the game must be considered very difficult. an 8.4 can be awarded to a difficult game (this is what the referee before me got), and an 8.3 is the top mark for a normal difficulty game. I would like to think that games are kept at a normal level by proactive refereeing and good man management, so I am always happy to have games fall in that category. While I love a war, now and then it is nice to have an easy fixture. My average for the tournament for marks is 8.3, and I received one 8.1 the week prior, so hopefully this is a high enough average to get me some Semi-finals and consolation finals tomorrow, and maybe even a final on Saturday (fingers crossed).

Does it get any more international then USA vs. India, refereed by a Canadian, a Dutchman, and 2 Gibraltarans?

Kevin

Match day 2 and match day 3

Four games assigned for Tuesday July 2 aka match day 2. Began very nicely with a nice fourth official at 9:00am, which meant a 6:10 am wake up call, and since the Germans were saying they don't get country music, I decided that Cruise would be my alarm song. Needless to day I may have pissed a few off, but its worth it right?

 The first match was as fourth official for Portugal vs. England U13, and it kept me busy as we had a fair number of incidents and control was not maintained by the man in the middle. A few cards could have been issued earlier, but all in all, we made it through ok. The real issue arose when the Portuguese team refused to shake hands with the English team, and then the english player claimed that the Portuguese player called him a N****r, so the English lad took a run at him. I was right in the thick of it, and also had to deal with the two coaches going at each other. Amazing what happens if the game is allowed to deteriorate, and the importance of man management. Portuguese squad won 2-1. 

Next, I was in the middle for NK Hypo-limac of Croatia vs. GD Fabril of Portugal, (U13) and it was a great match, and easy match, and I was pleased with my assessment. I received an 8.3 on a scale from 7.5-8.5 with an 8.0 average grade. You can only receive an 8.4 if the match is considered difficult, or an 8.5 if it is considered very difficult, so for a normal game, I received the top possible mark. The match ended 2-1 for Portugal, and was a great tie all-round. 

I ended the day with 2 ARs, first for professional team Real Deportivo (esp) against a portuguese squad, with Deportivo winning 2-0. It was a nice team of referees as we had two Quebecers, me, and a Frenchman, so we called the game entirely in French. Next we had Pro squad Athletico Madrid vs. a Portuguese team. Athletico were phenomenal, best team of that age (U15) I have ever seen, and they won 6-0, they also gave us official pins, which was a cool memento of the pro squad. In the afternoon, we had our first fitness session with Joao Capella's referee coach, who taught us the mechanics of warmups and cool downs. We were scheduled to have a training session with him today, but this was cancelled. The organizational aspect of both these two tournaments has been a struggle, but ulitmately, the soccer is fantastic and the trip is provided which is what really matters. I will give feedback on Tournaments Abroad and review the experience provided by their tournaments after they are done, as this could be an opportunity for other referees in Canada and the USA and wherever else in the world. 

Last night we heard about one of our fellow refs from Holland who had a mass confronation at the conclusion of his match, and was actually struck by a player. What I have been told is all word of mouth, so it may not be entirely accurate. So in the under 17 girls match (yes, it was a girls game), a Swedish squad was playing against a Portuguese group and ended tied 2-2. Apparently the girls said something to the technical area of the other team, then the Portuguese parents, coaches and players attacked the Swedish girls. The ref told me that he even saw a male parent lift a girl player in a stranglehold, craziness. The ref was hit by a player with the back of her hand when he tried to step in and prevent further altercations. The worst part is that the team was not expelled from the tournament, mearly asked for a written apology, I don't know about the parents and any assault charges, although I heard that the cops refuse to get involved. Tournaments Abroad will no longer provide refs for games involving those two teams, so we'll see what happens on that front. 

According to Joao Capela, Fifa referee based out of Portugal, the economical situation has hit Portugal particulairly hard, and they are using soccer as a release. The people will sooner lose their car or house than they would their seasons tickets, so when Joao had a controversial cup final between Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, he received death threats and had to change his phone number and get security. Here, Soccer is taken more seriously than any sport in North America, it truly is a religion. Day 3 had several parent confrontations and spectator and player brawls, and the combination of the 35 degree heat and the final group stage matches led to a very tense day's games. 

I had a light day due to my 4 game day yesterday, so I just had two ARs, first I was on the line for a Scottish lad in a 3-0 defeat of a USA team to a Portuguese team, and then this was followed by another easy AR to Lucas, the Canadian from Ontario's 6-0 landslide win of a Portuguese side over a German one. Right now, I have done 8 games at this tournament comprised of 1 middle, 2 fourth officials, and 5 ARs, which is a low number of middles, but I hope that this will change in the coming playoff games. I had a grilled octopus for lunch today which was quite unique and surprisingly tasty, and had a nice nap on the beach in the afternoon. Tomorrow I have another early start, first orchestrating penalties to decide the winner of two teams level on points, goal difference, and head to head. I will then be the middle referee for the loser of the penalty kicks against a team from Chicago in a knockout fixture. So far, the American team has struggled as the American style matches up difficultly against the European one, but I expect it will be a hotly contested match as both teams will seek to take something out of the tournament.

I will update on how it goes, for now, I cannot sleep due to the French team of 11 year olds running wild in the room over, and the Eastern European referees singing their soccer chants full volume below us. 

Kev

Lisbon and Iber Cup match day 1 and opening cermonies

With over 8000 participants and 36 countries, the Iber Cup is truly something special. Lisbon is a fantastic backdrop for the tournament, with fields all the way up the coast comprised of lush grass fields and classy turf pitches. The opening ceremonies yesterday were top notch, and the opening matches have been very good. I arrived in Lisbon along with our English and German counterparts Saturday night, and since Sunday was to be our only day without matches, we were intent on making full use of it... to recover from the night before. We took the train into Lisbon and went around the Bario Alto, Lisbon's historical district, before making our way to the top night club in Portugal. Lux was quite a good time, and was very classy, it was three floors ending with a rooftop terrace, and quite nice. I managed to get us very lost on our way back, but we did ultimately manage to make it back before sunrise (barely). 

Sunday was a lot of sleeping, but we did manage to make it down to the beach, which is a short 30 minute walk from the school we are sleeping at. It was an incredibly nice beech, and at least half of Lisbon seemed to agree with me, as it was packed! I finished reading Graham Poll's Seeing Red while sitting up at the terrace bar in the heat looking over the Ocean, really nice and relaxing after a hectic week of reffing. Come monday, it was time to start to do some work, and we received our first day assignments. I was lucky to get two afternoon games, and very easy ones at that, so I made my way into Benem, a suburb of Portugal filled with monuments and museums. I had a great time walking the streets and seeing some of the sites before heading off to referee my first ties. Sunday night we also got to watch the Confederations Cup final between Brazil and Spain at an outdoor viewing patio with a bunch of rowdy Spanish fans. Very cool to see it there, but I was less than thrilled with the result. 

My first match was a fourth official between Southampton Fc and AD Barroselas from Portugal. I was officiating with Lucas, a fellow Canadian from Toronto, and two Dutch lads. The match was alright, the pace much lower than I expected and was used to from last week, and in the end Portugal had the share of bounces as they won 2-0. I was then on the line for Kenkre Fc all the way from India in their fixture with another Portuguese squad. The Indians were dominated and lost in a route of 4 or 5 to nothing. These were both routine games, and I reckon the assessments should be positive of our performances. 

That night was the opening ceremonies, which was truly quite an impressive affair. Each team represented their country with a few players walking the parade in front of 5000 packed stands. the 13 Canadian referees determined we would have one from each province represented, so I went for Alberta, Maxime went for Quebec, Chad went for Nova Scotia, and Lucas from Ontario. It was quite something to enter carrying the Canadian flag to cheering in front of 5000 people on Canada day. Not a bad way to celebrate our great country all the way on the other side of the world. It was great to see the diversity and different cultures and attitudes, and to compare the team from Mississauga to the Nike sponsored Zambian team. Everyone was there to have a good time, and we took lots of pictures with various squads and just had some fun. It truly is a lovely atmosphere, and while everyone is highly competitive on the pitch, they all want the best off the pitch. 

The school we are staying in is like a school trip, there are 15 of us on air matresses on the floor of a classroom, but it is fun because we are all there to have a good time. In my room, I am between the Germans and the French, and the English are off to the side. The Germans keep getting upset because they say the French snore, and I worry that in an invasion I would get caught in the middle and Britain would get dragged in. In all seriousness, its great to see everybody from everywhere get on so great, and as you can see, we are all very patriotic. 

The environment at the tournament is phenomenal, much more positive than Madrid, and you feel like everyone is there to compete, but to have a good time. The school that we are staying at is cramped and uncomfortable, but ultimately, it is about the experience. With so many different nationalities at the school we have taken to decorating our rooms, and I have been sure to put a little Canada in our room. As for the Elite Group, unfortunately Mr. Joao Capella, the fifa referee in charge of it got a Fifa assignment in IReland on Thursday, however he is still trying to run a classroom session or two. We will also have fitness sessions and will create personalized warm-ups and cooldowns. The mood here is great, and I cannot adequately convey how neat it is to work with Slovakian and Dutch referees during a game between Croatia and Norway. 

Bem-vindo ao Portugal, 

Kevin