Sunday, October 21, 2012

Away Draw To 2nd Place Racing Keeps Newell's In 1st

What can I say about yesterday's 0-0 draw between Racing Club and Newell's Old Boys that has not already been said? Yes, the point earned keeps Newell's on top, and unbeaten. No, it was not the prettiest of games. One of the prime reasons for that was poor officiating. Patricio Loustau should be forced to watch the full footage of this match and be ashamed.

Since we are some twenty hours after the fact, I don't remember everything that happened, but in the 83rd minute Racing's Mauro Camoranesi  fouled Newell's Gabriel Heinze warrented a red card. Camoranesi  went studs first into Heinze's shin, and while I understand that studs first isn't anywhere in the referee's handbook, this certainly was a dangerous tackle, and came no where near to touching the ball. Apparently the referee forgot to bring his red card, and the Racing midfielder walked away with only a yellow.


If you watch the highlight video above you will see Newell's coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino turn to Racing Clubs bench in disbelief. Even with out hearing what he is saying one can tell that he was sharing a moment with Luis Zubeldia, his counter part on Racing's bench. I imagine it went something like this:

Tata: "Unbelievable... that isn't a red card?"
Zubeldia: "What? You blaming me for this?"
Tata: "No... no, no, no. We are both suffering under Loustau."

What that footage doesn't include was the fouls that didn't even get called. Not claiming favoritism, either, as the referee was missing calls both ways. In total he called 14 fouls, 8 against Newell's, and gave out 7 yellow cards. In my estimation the total could have been as high as 20 fouls. Of course, if Loustau had started out making all the calls he should have been making from the start the totals probably would have been the same.

Still, I would not put him in the same category as some of the other referees I have had issues with over the years. But that does not mean I will be looking forward to the next time he officiates a match that Newell's are involved with either.

Up next Newell's are back home to face Arsenal de SarandĂ­, game time is scheduled for Saturday, October 27th at 6:15 PM local time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hope is in place...this team has more personality than 2009´s , no difficult in forecoming games..just to keep this way.

Juan