City soccer ref sympathetic
Vergara has felt the heat from fans over controversial calls
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $1.44 a week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks. After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/08/2012 (5043 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
HECTOR Vergara knows all too well about the stress that comes with refereeing — let alone refereeing a game as dramatic as the Canada-U.S. Olympic soccer semifinal on Monday.
“Every sport is going to have controversy and, unfortunately for this official, there was controversy in the game,” the executive director of the Manitoba Soccer Association and ex-FIFA assistant referee said Tuesday.
The 4-3 game cost the Canadian women’s team a shot at gold, in large part due to a controversial call by Norwegian referee Christiana Pedersen.
As a FIFA referee for 19 years, Vergara has had to make some tough calls of his own in many a difficult game. “At the end of the day it also becomes a game of angles. You could be 10 metres away from a call, but if you’ve got the wrong angle, you’re going to make the wrong call,” said Vergara.
Vergara didn’t want to comment specifically on Monday’s game, but said he understands the backlash and stress that comes from controversial calls.
In 2005, he was reffing the FIFA Club World Championship Final between Liverpool and Sao Paulo.
There were two offside goals that he disallowed and one goal he disallowed because the ball had left the field of play. Liverpool lost 1-0.
“I knew in my mind that I had made the right calls,” he said. “You still have to move on no matter what the outcome is after that.”
The backlash came on his blog. Many an angry Liverpool fan spouted comments about his reffing.
“It was all these nasty comments from English fans,” he said.
There were other comments, he adds, from fans apologizing for some of the choice words from Liverpudlians.
“It’s not an easy job, and having lived through it, I can understand what (Pedersen) is going through,” he said.
A call by Pedersen in Monday’s game led to the third American goal. American Abby Wambach scored on a penalty that came after the Americans were awarded a free kick outside the Canadian box by Pedersen when she penalized Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod for holding the ball for more than six seconds. Canadian Marie-Eve Nault was then charged with a handball in the penalty area on the ensuing kick.
Regardless of the upsetting outcome, Vergara said it hopefully has stirred passion among Canadians for soccer.
“It’s sport and sport brings passion and that’s what we want,” he said. “Who expected the Canadian team to give the Americans a run for their money? We have to think positively about that.”
— with files from the Canadian Press
jennifer.ford@freepress.mb.ca