The way the referee holds the whistle 'Made in Japan'

(Baonghean.vn) - 'If it were a domestic referee in charge of today's match, Hanoi FC would not have been sure to have awarded a penalty in the extra minutes' - Coach Chu Dinh Nghiem of Hanoi FC expressed his opinion after the match with FLC Thanh Hoa.

First of all, it must be acknowledged that the V-League 2017 Organizing Committee was very cautious when deciding to invite FIFA referee Jumpei IIDa (Japan) to officiate the key match between FLC Thanh Hoa and Hanoi FC. The referee team, including main referee Jumpei IIDa, along with assistants: Pham Manh Long, Nguyen Trung Hau and 4th referee: Vo Minh Tri, managed the match very convincingly.

More than just a card

Present at Thanh Hoa Stadium, the spectators all acknowledged that this was a match in which both sides' players played with all their might, with many collisions between both sides' players, especially foreign players. But surprisingly, the Japanese referee only issued 5 yellow cards, 3 for the away team for Duy Manh, Thai Quy and Quang Hai, and 2 home players who received cards were Mai Tien Thanh and Dinh Dong. Although not using too many cards, referee Jumpei IIDa still knew how to calm down the players' hot heads, bringing the match to a safe "finish line".

FIFA referee Jumpei IIDa (Japan) officiated the match very accurately. Photo: Hieu Luong

FIFA referee Jumpei IIDa moved flexibly and stuck to the ball, so he made very accurate judgments. A typical example was the collision between Omar and Alvaro Silva in the 5th minute. If he did not have a good angle, the home team's striker would have received a red card. Mr. Chu Dinh Nghiem, coach of Hanoi, also affirmed after the match that referee Jumpei made a reasonable decision because the match had just taken place and the situation was unclear. The tricks of foreign players with many years of experience could not fool the foreign referee.

For collisions between players of both teams, Jumpei IIDa blew the whistle, invited the player to explain clearly, and had a strict enough attitude to deter. In the 86th minute, when the score was 3-2 in favor of the home team, referee Jumpei IIDa did not recognize Oseni's goal because the assistant referee had raised the flag. Most of the audience thought that when Van Quyet used his head to pass the ball, Oseni was still standing above the left back of FLC Thanh Hoa. But with decisive and fair decisions from the beginning of the match, the Hanoi players did not react at all.

In particular, in the 90 + 2 minute, when Dinh Dong let the ball touch his hand in the penalty area, referee Jumpei quickly blew the whistle and pointed to the penalty spot. A courageous decision by a FIFA-class referee that is worth learning from for Vietnamese referees.

Referee Jumpei IIDa has promoted the level of refereeing and Japanese football very well. It is very likely that Vinh Stadium audience will see him in the equally "hot" match at the end of the season: SLNA vs FLC Thanh Hoa.

Must know how to accept

Everyone agreed that this was a key match, full of surprises and an acceptable ending. Having equalized in the last minute, coach Ljupko Petrovic expressed: "I am not satisfied that in the last minutes of the match, we had to receive a penalty situation". But clearly, he imposed his subjectivity when he said: "Hanoi FC received a penalty today because they are a big team, I think so".

Omar signaled that the ball touched Dinh Dong's hand in the penalty situation at the end of the second half. Photo: Hieu Luong.

He asked reporters at the post-match press conference: “Let me ask you, have we gone through 21 rounds and received a penalty? In my coaching career, I have never witnessed that. For me, previous teams received a penalty every 5 rounds. FLC Thanh Hoa has not received a penalty since the beginning of the season.”

Dear Sir, this is the first time we have seen a coach give a penalty formula that is not in FIFA's Football Laws./.

AT