First things first. The Wellington Phoenix was outplayed by Sydney FC on Saturday night, and Sydney deservedly won the right to meet Melbourne in the Grand Final. There; we've said it.
But Sydney FC's second goal was an outrage, and should NEVER have been awarded; watch the video below from about the 4:20 mark:
The replays are telling. Watch from about the 4:45 mark, and especially the end-on close up at 5:00. This was NOT an unintentional hand-ball. Chris Payne swung his arm at the ball, and connected. The video camera does not lie.
The reactions of the players are telling too. The four Phoenix players closest to the action immediately and spontaneously appealed to referee Peter Green and his assistant. Payne's handball was obvious to them; not so to the officials though.
Full marks too to the Aussie commentators who said that "Sydney have a lead they do not deserve". And our estimation of former Australian and Manchester United goalkeeper Mark Bosnich rose markedly; he pulled no punches in his half-time summation, and used the word "cheat".
And there will be no surprises as to whom we will be supporting in the A-League Grand Final this weekend!
4 comments:
Agree with your summation. Nix were outplayed in most aspects of the game.
However, I actually think the handball was not deliberate. It is hard to header like that without your head coming up to balance your body.
Also a difficult goal to disallow for the ref who would have been position behind the player. Linesman should have picked it up though.
I feel a post about cheats in sport coming on as I dont see many NZ's complaining about Ponting's or Voges dismisal last game.
Don't forget Ozy; Ponting benefitted from an awful LBW decision in the second match at Auckland; what goes around comes around.
As for the Payne goal; yes, the referee was behind the player, but he had an unobstructed view. The lino should certainly have seen it. But it was the swing of the arm that convinced me. At about the 5m mark on the vid (in the replays), Payne looks like a bowler in his follow-through, such was the swing of the arm.
The Payne goal would have been easier for an official to spot than Henry’s. And a lot of people thought that ref should’ve been banned for life.
Yes, the Ponting decision was a shocker, but was it worse than Taylor’s in the opening T20?
Thanks for the reminder LB - seven games in two weeks had dimmed the memory of that shocker that Tayloy got.
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