'Referee Ma Ning is not objective'

Evaluating the refereeing in the first leg of the AFF Cup 2014 semi-final, Head of the National Sports Committee Nguyen Van Mui said that the refereeing team in charge of the match between Malaysia and Vietnam did not complete their task well.

Regarding main referee Ma Ning, according to Mr. Mui, the Chinese referee made many wrong judgments, and his ability to coordinate with his assistants was also very weak.

The Head of the National Sports Committee analyzed and linked the referee's judgments that took place on the field during the 90 minutes of play. The first was the 11m penalty for the Malaysian team in the first half. According to Mr. Mui, it was an unclear situation, but the main referee sided with the home team.

He said: “Looking back at the slow-motion video, player Huy Hung bent down, his hands closed, it was unclear whether the ball touched his hand or not,… perhaps the referee was standing in a position with a good view so he made a very quick decision. The top principle for calling a penalty is that the situation must be clear, but Ma Ning made a decision that I think caused a lot of controversy.”

Continuing to analyze the Chinese referee's expertise, Mr. Mui pointed out other errors in judgment such as the situation where Cong Vinh legally stole the ball from the opponent's feet outside the 16m50 box, Huy Toan was fouled in front of the match supervisor, or the climax was the cold-blooded hit by Safiq Rahim, the captain of Malaysia.

'Referee Ma Ning is not objective'

Mr. Mui commented: “Many times our players took the ball legally but the referee blew the whistle, typically the situation where Cong Vinh stole the ball from the opponent's defender's feet right outside the penalty area, which could have created a dangerous attack situation in the 17th or 18th minute, I don't understand why the whistle blew? I saw Cong Vinh bewildered, I don't understand why, as a viewer I also had the same feeling."

When a Malaysian player committed a foul but was overlooked by the referee, Mr. Mui pointed out specific situations: “The situation where Huy Toan was played dirty by Safee Sali of the opposing team with a very dangerous tackle right in front of the match supervisor made Coach Miura angry, the referees need to coordinate with each other to handle that situation more strictly. And in my opinion, with such an intentional foul, the number 10 player of the opposing team deserved a yellow card.

Another very noteworthy detail, the situation in the extra time, when Nguyen Manh jumped up to punch the ball, an opposing player put illegal pressure causing Manh to fall, the referee still awarded the home team Malaysia a corner kick. If that situation led to the equalizer 2-2, it would be a pity, the referee cannot be blamed.

The situation where Safiq hit defender Dinh Tien Thanh was very clear, hitting him twice in the back of the neck, not once, with this type of “unsportsmanlike” foul, the referee must immediately show a red card. However, it must also be said that our player number 4 should learn from his experience, because he also had very dangerous tackles that could have led to a red card. Maybe because he had been lenient with Malaysia’s number 8 before, Mr. Ma Ning only showed Tien Thanh a yellow card for a two-footed tackle at the end of the match, playing away from home, so be careful with those situations.”

From the above analysis, the head of the National Referee Committee Nguyen Van Mui concluded: “The young Chinese referee could not overcome the terrible pressure from the stands to be able to officiate more objectively. I think that Mr. Ma Ning is young and inexperienced, and officiating a big match with so much pressure made him reveal his mistakes and weaknesses.

Overall, in my opinion, the referee team in charge of the first leg of the semi-final between Malaysia and Vietnam did not complete their task well.

In addition, Mr. Mui also shared: “The Chinese referee team did not complete the task well, but everyone should know that at the AFF Cup 2014, AFC only used referees from outside the region such as: China, Japan, Korea, Oman... all assignments were specified before the tournament, so the referee Ma Ning officiated this first leg of the semi-final was just a coincidence.

As for the ugly image of Malaysian fans in the stands, the referee supervisor is responsible for reporting the entire incident so that the AFC can impose appropriate penalties."

According to TTVH