Uzbekistan V Bahrain

[shedite]

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/050906/1/4k3p.html

FIFA confirmed today that the result of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ qualifying match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on 3 September 2005 has been declared invalid and must be replayed. In order to respect the drawn order of the matches, the first leg is to be replayed in Uzbekistan on 8 October 2005, with the second leg match to be rescheduled for 12 October 2005 in Bahrain.
The decision was taken by the Bureau of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ Organising Committee following a formal protest from the Uzbekistan Football Federation concerning a technical error by the referee of the match.

According to Art. 12.4 (b) and 14.1 of the Regulations for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, all protests, including those against technical errors committed by referees, are to be decided by the Organising Committee for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™. A bureau of the Organising Committee may pass a decision in lieu of the plenary committee in urgent matters.

The Bureau, composed of Chairman Lennart Johansson, Deputy Chairman Julio Grondona, Dr Chung Mong Joon and FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi, took the decision based on the following facts:
1) At the score of 1-0 in favour of Uzbekistan, in the 39th minute of the match, the referee decided to award a penalty kick to Uzbekistan;
2) The penalty kick was taken and led to goal in favour of Uzbekistan;
3) Before the penalty kick was carried out, an Uzbek player entered the penalty area;
4) Consequently, the referee awarded an indirect free kick to the Bahrain team;
5) However, in such a situation, the Laws of the Game require the referee to order the penalty kick to be retaken;
6) The captain of Uzbekistan team protested to the referee immediately after the mistake had taken place and before the game had restarted. This protest was confirmed after the match;
7) This technical error was confirmed by the match commissioner and the referee inspector in their respective reports;
8) Uzbekistan protested the decision of the referee in a written request, asking for the match to be "cancelled" and be evaluated with a 3-0 forfeit result;

The bureau, taking into consideration that the referee in the match in question had indeed committed a technical error, established that, as a consequence, the match needed to be replayed. As a result, the protest put forward by the Uzbekistan team for the match to be considered a forfeit with a 3–0 result is rejected. In accordance with Art. 12.6 of the Regulations 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™, this decision is final and binding.

[pineapple stu]

Very dangerous - and remarkable - precedent for FIFA to be setting.

ASIAN QUALIFYING PLAY-OFF DECLARED VOID (from Aertel)
FIFA have declared the result of Saturday's Asian World Cup qualifying playoff between Uzbekistan and Bahrain void and ordered a replay following a refereeing blunder.

Soccer's governing body ruled that Japanese referee Toshimitsu Yoshida made a 'technical error' in disallowing an Uzbekistan penalty and then awarding Bahrain a free kick instead of ordering it to be retaken.

Uzbekistan's 1-0 home victory has been wiped out and Wednesday's second leg in Bahrain has been postponed. The tie will instead be played on 8 and 12 October.

[Sheridan]

Not really that remarkable.

This is an exceptional case, and not at all comparable to mere instances of incompetent officiating. The law which Mr. Yoshida applied - that which specified that the game be restarted with an indirect free-kick in cases where a converted penalty-kick is accompanied by "excessive" encroachment (i.e., the blatant encroachment of two or more attacking players) is actually on the statute book awaiting implementation next year. It has, however, already been enforced in the J-League, and Mr. Yoshida's superiors neglected to advise him that this law does not yet apply to international fixtures (and may, in fact, have instructed him to the contrary.)

An equivalent scenario would involve the referee mistakenly terminating a game ten minutes early.

[thejollyrodger]

FIFA set precedent and anger Uzbeks
06/09/2005 - 16:39:38
http://breaking.tcm.ie/2005/09/06/story219477.html
FIFA officials have potentially set a precedent for overruling refereeing decisions after ordering Uzbekistan’s World Cup qualifier against Bahrain to be replayed.

Uzbekistan won the opening leg of the Asian zone play-off 1-0 at the weekend - with both teams looking to qualify for next summer’s finals in Germany.

But they were incensed after a bizarre incident where a penalty was disallowed for an attacking player encroaching.

Rather than retaking the penalty, a free-kick was awarded to Bahrain, who subsequently kept within sight of a two-legged play-off in November against the fourth team from the CONCACAF region.

Uzbekistan called for an investigation into the penalty incident, but they are angry the match is to be replayed in its entirety, accusing FIFA of “stealing” their slender lead.

The second leg was due to be played tomorrow, but both legs will now be played in October, and Uzbekistan will host the first leg again.

A statement from FIFA read: “FIFA confirmed today that the result of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany qualifying match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on September 3, 2005, has been declared invalid and must be replayed.”

Uzbekistan Football Federation officials made their complaint to FIFA after the error from Japanese referee Toshimitsu Yoshida, which could have been crucial if Bahrain won the second leg by two goals.

The decision to replay the game was made by a FIFA bureau including UEFA president Lennart Johansson.

“The bureau, taking into consideration that the referee in the match in question had indeed committed a technical error, established that, as a consequence, the match needed to be replayed,” the FIFA statement added.

“As a result, the protest put forward by the Uzbekistan team for the match to be considered a forfeit with a 3-0 result is rejected.”

Uzbekistan coach Bobby Houghton said after the win on Saturday: “We feel it could have been a bigger victory but I don’t know what the referee was doing with that decision.”

The hosts were also incensed because Mohammed Jumaa Abdulla was not sent off for his handball in the build-up to the penalty.

FIFA’s order for the match to be replayed was not welcomed by the Uzbekistan Football Federation.

“The referee stole our second goal and now FIFA is stealing our first goal,” said Alisher Nikimbaev, the UFF’s head of international relations.

“Now we must start the first match from 0-0 in the first minute. It’s not fair for our team.

“We don’t agree with the decision and we will try to change everything during the FIFA congress and the FIFA Exco meeting next week in Marrakech because if they want to replay this match we think we should not start from the first minute but from the 38th minute, from the penalty.

“We must start with the penalty and if we score, we score. If we don’t score, okay. We will start the game from the 38th minute but it’s not fair to start to play from the first minute.”

Someone does have to ask, is FIFA corupt ?

[pineapple stu]

Not really that remarkable.

This is an exceptional case, and not at all comparable to mere instances of incompetent officiating. The law which Mr. Yoshida applied...is actually on the statute book awaiting implementation next year.
An equivalent scenario would involve the referee mistakenly terminating a game ten minutes early.

Hmmm...interesting, though I still disagree with FIFA's decision.

That equivalent scenario is hardly equivalent - that'd only apply if there was a rule coming in to reduce games to 80 minutes long, otherwise it is incompetent refereeing.

Are we assuming that the only reason the offence was a technical offence is because the referee wasn't informed? Even so, the Uzbeks' case to replay the game from the moment of the technical abandonment (i.e. with them re-taking the penalty) has to be strong as well? Abandoned games are often replayed from the moment of abandonment, so why not technically abandoned games?

[Armando]

Not really that remarkable.

The law which Mr. Yoshida applied - that which specified that the game be restarted with an indirect free-kick in cases where a converted penalty-kick is accompanied by "excessive" encroachment (i.e., the blatant encroachment of two or more attacking players) is actually on the statute book awaiting implementation next year. It has, however, already been enforced in the J-League, and Mr. Yoshida's superiors neglected to advise him that this law does not yet apply to international fixtures (and may, in fact, have instructed him to the contrary.)

This is unbelieveable! You mean to tell me that the J-League are effectively playing to a different set of rules to the rest of the planet. How could FIFA let this happen - it beggars belief. If this is true I feel very sorry for the ref in question he was only going by the rules he uses week in week out.
By the way it is probably the most ludicrous rule change I have ever heard of. Is encroachment really a major problem in the game, especially if the peno is scored directly anyway.
Why do FIFA feel the need to introduce rule changes everytime a World Cup is on the immediate horizon. This new rule will probably be brought into place at the World Cup resulting in many ludicrous situations. Remember France 98 when they introduced the straight red for tackles from behind without even testing it beforehand. Poor old Morten Wieghorst of Denmark would remember it! You think they'd learn from their mistakes instead they seem intent on sabotaging the greatest show on earth.

[pineapple stu]

This is unbelieveable! You mean to tell me that the J-League are effectively playing to a different set of rules to the rest of the planet. How could FIFA let this happen - it beggars belief. If this is true I feel very sorry for the ref in question he was only going by the rules he uses week in week out.

In fairness, I remember a similar situation back in 1991 when Liverpool played Kuuysi Lahti in the UEFA Cup. The Finnish League was a summer league, but the English league was a winter league, and FIFA decided that their new rule - the back-pass rule - would come in at the start of the 1991/92 winter league or the 1992 summer league. I remember the commentators mentioning that this could cause some confusion for the Finnish goalkeeper. In the event, they lost 6-1 anyway!

That doesn't excuse it, but it does happen.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Sometimes new rules are tried out on a pilot basis in International under age tournaments by FIFA. Is it possible the J League is being used as Guinea pig for this rule in this instance?

[Bluebeard]

It has been done before, I remember that one of the offside rule changes was tested out in Hungary for a season before implementation in the early 1990s. The thing with testing rules in the tournaments, especially the underage ones, is that you don't have enough games to equalise the effect between the teams, and while players may get used to the rule, it is the abuse of the rule that needs inspection. To learn all the loopholes in rules, a player must see it over a number of competitive games before they become apparent and exploitable.

So I would imagine.

[Schumi]

Wonder how much the Bahrainis paid for this?

[gspain]

The Uzbeks were screwed twice here. The referee was bad enough - terrible but an honest mistake. FIFA are a disgrace. A 1-0 win is far far better than a replay. The victim gets screwed here.

[Dodge]

Didn't England use the "rugby" rule of advancing a free kck 10 yards for dissent? Not just confined to obscure leagues

[superfrank]

I don't see how they had to declare the result void. Uzbekistan won anyway.

I think it's stupid for them not to go ahead and play the second leg as a once off game, winner-takes-all you know?

It seems a bit excessive to cancel the result.

[gspain]

It's a 2 legged tie. Now a 1-0 win at home is a good result. OK the Uzbeks should have had a chance to score a penalty but they are now far worse off by having to play again. Either replay the match starting with the penalty or let the score stand.

One wonders if the roles were reversed would the rich Gulf state be screwed in favour of a former Soviet Republic?

[superfrank]

Threads merged. No point taking up loadsa space.

[Closed Account 2]

the replay ended up 1-1, the Uzbeck's have been robbed...

[superfrank]

There's still the second leg to play.

Either way it's a new country playing in the World Cup, however I would prefer to see Uzbekistan.

[sligoman]

Hopefully we'll get them in our group when we qualify for the World Cup on Wednesday

[deadman]

winners play Guatemala or Dwight's T&T

[superfrank]

winners play Guatemala or Dwight's T&T

Are you the real deadman or just someone slagging him, like evryone else??