China Premier League (CPL)
The 19th round of fixtures came to an end, with Shandong Taishan defeating a Hebei team dominated by young players as expected, locking up this season's Chinese Super League title with a three-round advantage ahead of schedule. Shanghai Harbor beat Shenzhen 3-1, Changchun beat Guangzhou City 2-1, while Guangzhou and Beijing Guoan shook hands. In these four matches, let's take a deeper look at a few controversial penalties.
In the 65th minute of the second half, Paulinho was tripped by Zhang Yuan while carrying the ball in the box, but the referee did not call a foul. VAR then intervened and advised the referee to review the footage, and the referee eventually ruled it a penalty after the replay.
Zhang Yuan did not touch the ball in this action, but instead knocked Paulinho down directly, which was clearly a reckless foul.VAR's intervention was correct in this case. However, it also reminds us that referees need to improve the accuracy of recognizing fouls and not rely too much on VAR to avoid missed calls.
Next, let's talk about Yu Hai's yellow card. Let's not discuss whether the collision between the Shenzhen and Harbour players constituted a foul, but focus on Yu Hai's behavior. According to the rules of this season's Chinese Super League (CSL), a yellow card will be issued for dissatisfaction with the referee's decision. Yu Hai ran towards the referee and did not make physical contact with the referee, therefore, a yellow card was inevitable.
As we said before, the enforcement is more difficult in the championship group compared to the relegation group. In this round of matches, except for the key match between Harbor and Shenzhen, there is not much suspense in the other matches. Guoan is not pursuing the AFC Champions League, and the ranking after the fourth place in the Chinese Super League does not mean much to them. Shandong Taishan's battle for the title was a non-controversial match, with the only doubt being whether Xu Xin's second goal was offside:
First of all, Fellaini's header action did not constitute offside as he was inserted from the back. Then, after Fellaini's shot was parried by the opposing keeper, was Xu Xin's follow-up shot offside? Some argue that he was further forward than the opposing defender and should have been penalized for offside. However, we need to focus on Xu Xin's position and the position of the ball. Observed from that angle, the ball and Xu Xin's position were indeed less than ideal.
However, whenever a goal is scored, VAR will review it. If it is offside, VAR is bound to intervene. In this case, should we continue to trust and support VAR and the referee's decisions?
It's worth noting that some commentators have misled many fans by reading the rules inaccurately. The Referee Magnifier team has expressed opinions based on their shallow knowledge of the rules, and recently some referees have stated that we were instructed to write by the professional league referees, to which we would just like to say that people who make such statements are really out of their depth.
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