In Defense of Assistant Referees

Another game, another "controversy." This time it was Ian Darke insisting that Robin van Persie was offside on Wesley Sneijder's go-ahead goal for the Dutch. To be fair, it was very close, and we've seen situations that close go against the attacking player many times already in this World Cup.

But I think the fact that the flag didn't go up helps make a point that I've been coming around to throughout this tournament. It's really twofold. First, the assistant referee doesn't necessarily see the play at the exact moment that the freeze frame does on the instant replay. More like a millisecond later. If the linesman was to make the call at the exact moment it happened, the only real way to do that would be to anticipate the play. And anticipating the play is exactly where referees get into trouble, as our friend from Mali can attest.

Second, there's something to be said for momentum. When defenders are pulling up while attackers are pushing forward, something about the movement, coupled with that tiny delay, tends to make the benefit go to the defender despite however many directives FIFA gives the other way. If the defender times his move right, the attacker looks offside even if replays show him to be level. One of the reasons Van Persie didn't get called -- besides arguably being uninvolved in the play, or rendered moot by the deflection -- is that his pace and that of the defender weren't quite as fast as we've seen on other plays, so you don't get that illusion of separation as the AR makes his decision.

To his credit, ESPN studio commentator Steve McManaman was having none of it, stating flatly that van Persie was level. And while we're talking about ESPN, I once again have to point out that John Harkes is a horrible, godawful commentator. He adds nothing. He can't speak in complete sentences. He feels it necessary to overcontextualize by recapping things that happened in other games that really don't have anything to do with what's going on. And he thinks he's funny, when he's really, really not. Someone once told him he looked like Jim Carrey, it went straight to his head, and now we all have to suffer through the consequences.