Yesterday’s frantic finale at Coopers Stadium was one the craziest finishes in A-League history, and it’s likely to have repercussions far beyond the destination of the three points.
Did Brisbane Roar goalkeeper Michael Theo strike Adelaide United defender Dylan McGowan with an elbow in injury time during the Roar’s controversial 2-1 defeat?
Watching in real time, it looked like McGowan wrapped his arm around Theo and in trying to shake off the defender, Theo subsequently struck him with an elbow to the face.
But if you watch the replay, Theo’s first instinct is to look instantly to his right – or in other words, behind him on his goal side – as though he has no idea where McGowan is standing.
And that would make sense given that it was McGowan who initiated the contact, having charged up to Theo from behind and grabbed the goalkeeper with his left arm.
If anything, the foul should have gone the other way, and had referee Stephen Lucas blown his whistle immediately for obstruction – a rule that is essentially no longer enforced – the visitors could have taken their free-kick and flown home from Adelaide with a valuable point.
Instead, the Roar are left to rue a costly defeat, and there could be some major headaches to contend with given the serious allegations made against assistant coach Ross Aloisi following an incident in the tunnel at the end of the game.
It’s hard to escape the feeling that none of this would have happened if the A-League already made use of video assistant referees, which are now only a matter of weeks away from being introduced.
Say what you will about the increasing encroachment of technology, but had the VAR system been in use, it surely would have highlighted the fact that it was McGowan who committed the first foul against Theo.
As it stands, the penalty awarded against the Roar was as cruel as it gets – not least because they had already made all three substitutions.
So it was that midfielder Thomas Kristensen stood up to Sergio Cirio from eleven metres, and it was the Spaniard who prevailed with a coolly taken penalty.
While the defeat is unlikely to cost the Roar a spot in the finals, the fallout from the spiteful encounter will no doubt rumble on for some time yet, and it will be interesting to see what punishment Theo ultimately receives.
Meanwhile, Western Sydney Wanderers had no such trouble in dispatching Wellington Phoenix 3-1 in Sunday night’s other fixture, with the Phoenix effectively kissing their top six aspirations goodbye with barely a whimper.
In a season in which the Phoenix should have been expected to prove their worth to the A-League, the Kiwi outfit have been a major disappointment.
Mind you, it was Western Sydney’s first win at Spotless Stadium this season, and that poor form was invariably reflected in the stands, with only a small crowd in attendance.
Wanderers fans will no doubt point to the relatively late Sunday evening kick-off as the reason for the low turn-out, however that’s the price A-League clubs simply have to pay if Football Federation Australia is to allow clubs playing in the AFC Champions League additional time to recover.
The Wanderers have at least rediscovered their scoring touch, on a weekend in which rivals Melbourne City underlined their pedigree by hammering a lacklustre Newcastle Jets 4-0.
City were as impressive as the Novocastrians were poor, and one of the major disappointments from a grinding regular season campaign has been the inability of the bottom four to apply sustained pressure to the top six.
But the major talking point from the second week of the split round was undoubtedly the stoppage-time drama in Adelaide.
The Reds may still prop up the standings, but they’ve just delivered the Roar’s late-season hopes a hammer blow.
Paul
Guest
Alam Milliner. The only obvious error was missing the first offence bt McGowan. Indirect or Direct Free Kick to Brisbane. Red Card stands for violent conduct. Penalty imo should not have been awarded.
Cool and Cold
Guest
I want to dig deep into this matter. It was Sat 19 Nov 2016, round 7, Brisbane Roar vs Sydney FC. This is the match that Theo had a yellow card booking at 44'. However, I cannot find out who was the referee. Anyone can help?
Cool and Cold
Guest
How can a referee turn a blind eye on a player embracing the goal keeper from behind??? Rubbish. This sets a precedent for future A-league matches. So, whenever a goal keeper wants to initiate quick counter attack, the counterpart players can hold him back legally. Sick.
Cool and Cold
Guest
In this blog, the conclusion is that the referee is wrong in awarding a penalty. As such, a VAR can have a chance to correct the main referee. However, we wonder there are many good referees in A-league. However, VAR should go ahead. We cannot stop going with technology because of the lack of good referees. The referees and VAR can evolve in time to do better.
Cool and Cold
Guest
There is no excuse for Stephen Lucas, the referee. He blew the whistle. Then he had plenty of time to decide. It is not some say that it is in a slip of a second.
Kaks
Roar Guru
Sorry, forgot that Theo swung his elbow a minute after McGowan held him back....
Pablo
Guest
Indeed. And while I disagree with slagging people off on social media, if my dad was a convicted murderer I would probably steer clear of twitter and the amount of idiots that use it.
Pablo
Guest
But the fouls didn't occur at the same time.
j binnie
Guest
Paul - did you consider that this supposed anomaly you mention also occurs elsewhere Sydney FC ,Melbourne Victory,Melbourne City and of course as you say WSW ,all are affected by this supposed imbalance in attendances, so what is that supposed to prove or disprove?. Come on Paul ,surely you can do better than that, you weren't attempting to compare " like" matches you were analysing total aggregate attendances. Let me give you some more info you'd maybe like to analyse. Champion club from last year, Adelaide, have had an abysmal season their average gate for the season so far falling from last year's 11,300 to this years 9,900 while Perth have risen from 8,258 to 10,580. Brisbane Roar have gone from 12,850 to 14,680. Newcastle Jets have gone from last year's 9,500 to this year's 8,860. Get my point? it takes more than a wild "stab in the dark" to come up with accurate "trend"results. Cheers jb.
Nemesis
Guest
Paul is right. ALeague is dead. I'm hearing strong reports that all the clubs are meeting to fold the league before this week-end.
Paul
Guest
Why go back two years? I would have thought that was obvious - the fixtures repeat every two years. This year Wanderers played ESFC at home twice, last season only once, two seasons ago twice. Apples for apples. So a like-for-like fixture comparison occurs only every two years so as I wrote attendances are down. It's time football fans woke up to this BS.
Chris
Guest
Ok that just means every decision goes to the VR and then maybe he/she passes it back down to the ref. League is a mess with the VR and the US has started to wind back on this in NFL.
Nemesis
Guest
Yes. Forget about the data. Just go with Stevo's gut-feelings.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Average stats are only part of the story. Averages can be the same but the standard deviation can be different - a measure of spread. Just for the hell of it, here are the std deviations based on yellows: Aust 0.946 Italy 0.867 England 0.493 Spain 0.745 Germany 0.746 The HAL has the greatest variation across refs while EPL the lowest. That is it - over and done.
Paul
Guest
To answer the question, the VAR may have changed one decision only. That was the decision to award the penalty. According to Law 12, an indirect free kick is awarded when a goalkeeper is interfered with in the act of releasing the ball, therefore an indirect free kick should have been awarded an indirect free kick. A penalty to Adelaide should not have awarded. This is an obvious error that the VAR would bring to the attention of the referee and reverse the awarding of the penalty The elbow by Theo is violent conduct and is a red card. The VAR would see no obvious error, so no reversal of the red card. Stephen Lucas will be set for NPL for a few weeks.
punter
Guest
Kevin, Suarez got a soft penalty in the Champions league against PSG, but the defender lifted his arm & this now means it's down to Ref's interpretation on the contact.
Swanny
Guest
Punter. Good point mate The jets suck again
punter
Guest
JB, They are 2 separate issues, first McGowan's, this is the error, but maybe the ref was playing advantage, but then should have given free kick. The 2nd issue was a clear elbow in the head by Theo, now given 2 weeks suspension.
punter
Guest
Clearly watching too much Newcastle & not enough SFC Swanny.
punter
Guest
This was the big error the ref made, the dealing of McGowan, free kick, yellow card.