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Kewell helps Lions sign off on high note
It is also worth noting that referee Kuddusi Müftüoğlu had wrongly disallowed Galatasaray captain-playmaker Arda Turan’s goal in the 26th, ruling it a handball.
Though the term “handball” is commonly used, it is strange that it is not defined in the official FIFA rules. So everything is left to the discretion of the maligned referees -- people the players, coaches, fans and soccer administration love to hate.
Television replays showed that Arda took a shot toward the goal, but the ball hit his hand and deflected into the back of the net. The referee disallowed the goal and awarded a free kick against Galatasaray. If Mr. Müftüoğlu thought Arda had used his hand to his advantage, then this player should have been booked. But he wasn’t. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.
We have been very careful not to criticize referees, but our observation in the season’s first half showed that they performed well below par. Very few matches ended without refereeing controversies, and there were far too many controversial calls, too many non-calls and too many wrong calls.
Hopefully the winter break will give the referees an opportunity to review their mistakes and return to the season’s second half with a better understanding of soccer rules.
All in all, despite claims to the contrary, it was not a lost first half of the season for the Galatasaray Lions. They finished as leaders in the group stages in the UEFA Europa League and are also among the leading pack in the domestic league -- in spite of the fact that their attacking force was badly weakened due to the serious foot injury to their Czech striker Milan Baros.
“This was an easy match and it was not supposed to be,” Galatasarasay Dutch coach Frank Rijkaard said after the game against Gençlerbirliği. “In the final analysis it was not a bad first half of the season. What is important is finishing first at the end of the season’s second half, not the first,” he added.
Supporting cast
Slumping Sivasspor appears to have stumbled onto a winning formula by beating Ankaragücü 3-2 in the capital, its second victory in as many weeks. Other results: Gaziantepspor 2, Denizlispor 1; Kasımpaşa 3, Manisaspor 1; and Eskişehirspor 0, Diyarbakırspor 0.
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