Lay Off the Refs

Let's call it men in black II. As is the way of sequels, the script is a rehash of the original: in an international football tournament, the losing team claims to have been done in by incompetent referees. Matters take a particularly ugly turn when a group of irate players, smarting from defeat, surround and rough up the official in front of TV cameras. Aghast, football's governing body promises to deal severely with the athletes to ensure that this kind of behavior doesn't happen again.

Those were the events surrounding the Portuguese team after their Euro 2000 semifinal defeat at the hands of France. They gave us a graphic replay during their 0-1 loss to Korea at Inchon last week. After Argentine ref Angel Sanchez sent off forward Joao Pinto in the first half, he was set upon by Portuguese players, including their captain Fernando Couto. Sanchez says he was punched in the stomach by Pinto. The TV cameras missed it in the melee, but FIFA has its own more conclusive video of the incident.

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Last week, FIFA provisionally suspended Pinto from football pending a final decision by its disciplinary committee. No action was taken against Couto. After the fracas of Euro 2000, defender Abel Xavier was banned for nine months, but the sentence was reduced on appeal. Xavier himself was on the substitutes' bench at Inchon. The actions of his mates on the field suggest his punishment didn't have the deterrent effect FIFA had intended.

That's why it's imperative that Pinto, if he threw a punch, be disciplined more severely. A two-year ban plus a hefty six-figure fine sounds about right. As hosts of Euro 2004, the Portuguese have a responsibility to live up to the best traditions of the game. If they won't do it voluntarily, perhaps they can be persuaded by the fear of sanction.

It makes no difference whether Sanchez missed the call. The men in black are not always right. These finals have been loaded with dubious, match-changing decisions, including Ronaldinho being sent off in the Brazil-England game and disallowed goals that helped Korea defeat both Italy and Spain. But officials cannot officiate if they labor under the threat of intimidation and assault by players and coaches. FIFA last week issued a statement defending the World Cup referees and congratulating them on a noticeable improvement in officiating standards. The game's authorities should do more to protect the most vulnerable man on the pitch.

There should, for instance, be a system of fines and other penalties for losing coaches who accuse referees of incompetence, or worse. The most egregious example of this sort of scapegoating came last week, when Italy's Giovanni Trapattoni blamed Ecuadorean ref Byron Moreno for the Azzuri's inglorious defeat by South Korea. In addition to questioning Moreno's professional abilities, Trapattoni suggested obliquely that the official was ordered by FIFA to ensure a Korean victory so that one of the two host nations would remain in the tournament.

Trap, as he is known, should shut it. His team didn't have the host nation's burning hunger to win. And, in his post-game harangue, the coach conveniently forgot to criticize his captain, Francesco Totti, for getting sent off for faking a foul in the Korean penalty area, and to fault his striker, Christian Vieri, for missing a couple of sitters in front of the goal.

If a single individual is to be blamed for Italy's second-round exit, it is Trap himself: in the second half he substituted two attacking players with defensive midfielders, signaling the Italians would sit back and allow the Koreans to attack. The hosts were happy to oblige. For the final third of regulation time, only one side showed genuine appetite for goals. That side won. Justice was done. It's up to you whether you want to eat your sour grapes, Giovanni, but don't pelt them at the referee.

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