Atlante beat Santos 3-1 on Wednesday and joined Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF Champions League final.
The match was fairly exciting and intense but seemed to unravel at the end. The match was decided by Rafael Marquez Lugo, who converted a penalty in stoppage time to give Atlante the series-clinching goal. Three red cards ensued as a brawl broke out deep in stoppage time.
Now, I don't know if the call was a penalty or not. The referee called a penalty on Alejandro Figueroa for knocking down Gabriel Pereyra inside the box, and Marquez Lugo converted the spot kick.
I suppose one way around the officiating issue would be to allow for domestic officials in these country-versus-country matches. A Mexican referee would be used to the contact, fouls and dives that exist in the league, and at the very least there would be a lot more familiarity with the teams and the style of play because of that. It;s one thing for a, say Canadian ref to officiate a match between a Mexican and Costa Rican club, but when it's Mexico-vs-Mexico, just seems natural that a Mexican ref would best know how to call the game.
Anyway, here are the highlights.
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Hey Luis,
I disagree with the ref idea. I think it is possibly a good point for the Mexican league, but I don't think it is a good point for other leagues.
As we know, the refereeing quality in MLS is quite poor. MLS matches would benefit quite significantly from having referees who are harsher on the high levels of fouling. In the CCL, the refs from other nations might be a benefit, call a match differently than normally happens in a league, and therefore correct some of the faults of the league's officiating. Of course the opposite could happen, where the referee does horribly (as perhaps we saw in this game though it seemed reasonable to me).Nonetheless, I think such a move as you're suggesting would benefit the Mexican league the most because they have higher quality officials.
It is also possible that by having many refereeing styles the domestic refereeing grows in other countries. Leagues will react to the refereeing they see because it is different for better or for worse, or because it is the same, and say here is the right way to do it. By limiting the possibilities for other referees, one could also limit the possibility for growth.
That said, I absolutely see your point, especially in the face of abuse that a ref might take (an American ref in Mexico or a Mexican ref in America could easily suffer from xenophobic remarks).
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