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
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