Dani Alves and Alexandre Pato scored goals to lift Brazil to a 2-0 win vs. the Ukraine in a friendly in Derby, England on Monday.
Playing with a young squad similar to the one that beat the United States in August, Brazil improved to 3-0 under coach Mano Menezes.
Alves opened the scoring with a beautiful volley, while Pato added the insurance goal with a nice turn and shot from close range to hand the Ukraine its first loss in almost a year of friendlies.
Here are the match highlights, along with some other news items from Monday:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c25gKTzmSEc&w=442&h=347]
FA WON'T PUNISH DE JONG FOR BEN ARFA TACKLE
Manchester City midfielder Nigel De Jong won't receive any further punishment for his leg-breaking tackle on Newcastle United midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, the Football Association ruled on Monday.
De Jong, the same player who broke Stuart Holden's leg with a challenge in a friendly last March, escaped further punishment because the laws of the game clearly state that
"The basic premise of the laws of the game is that a referee makes a decision and there is no retrospective action permitted," a spokesman told The UK Telegraph. "The referee saw the incident, dealt with it at the time and we can not take retrospective action."
INTER PAIR TO MISS TOTTENHAM UCL CLASH
Tottenham's chances of pulling a UEFA Champions League upset next week against Inter Milan went up with word that Inter stars Diego Milito and Esteban Cambiasso will be out up to three weeks with thigh injuries suffered on international duty.
Milito and Cambiasso were injured in Argentina's 1-0 loss to Japan on Friday.
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Impressed with Brazil's most recent performance? Can't believe De Jong has gotten away with breaking another leg?
Share your thoughts below.
I don’t get this concept that FA can’t do anything because the ref makes the decision on the field and and the FA can’t take “retrospective action.” Maybe I’m missing something, but I didn’t think refs have the power to fine and suspend players… If they don’t, then by the FA’s logic neither the FA nor refs can never fine or supsend for action on the field under the ref’s jurisdiction. What if De Jong pulled a switch blade out of his sock and cut Arfa’s face.. If the ref lets it go are the FA’s hands tied?
I don’t know much about the FA, but all the major US leauges issue severe suspensions/fines etc., all the time for foul play on the field that refs make rulings on..
can’t agree with you. If you go into a tackle and miss, IT IS A FOUL. Just because it wasn’t deemed such by a referee doesn’t mean it wasn’t a foul
fair enough… so, if during the next City-Newcastle game, a Newcastle player (away from the play) puts his cleats into De Jong’s knee, he will not be punished in any way, unless the ref saw it? Is that right?
Even though everyone will know that it would be retaliatory?
Are you guys blind? The Ref DID NOT see the tackle all the way. The ball was already heading the other way and the ref was already looking away before Dejong finished his LATE tackle! Whatever. Somewhere down the line he will get what he deserves.
If he in fact did not do any wrong – explain to me why he is off the Nats for the moment? And yes, FIFA has penalized players in the past – hell, they always review previous matches regardless. This is all BS IMO.
The mindset is clearly stated in the ruling: “The referee saw the incident and dealt with it.”
If a referee admits after the fact that he did not see the incident AND that if he had seen it he would have punished the player, then the FA would hand down the appropriate suspension.
I’m in favor of the current FA approach. It sucks in cases like this, but if they reviewed this particular decision it would open the floodgates to look back at every challenge in every game. The game doesn’t need that kind of distraction.
One of the major issues is that de Jong didn’t even get carded.
I’m surprised by this as well, perhaps it’s because teams are wary to mark him tight enough or commit to him enough due to the other midfield threats City have. I mean Id love to see someone really get stuck in on that guy but I also see the risk. Your CDM gets a red tackling him, your down a man against Tevez, Silva, Ade, Johnson, etc. Not exactly an even trade, especially if de Jong isn’t hurt by the challenge.
The English FA is crap. Why can a team appeal against suspension but not appeal for suspension?
De Jong deserves a kick to the nuts.
@Nick – Exactly. This situation would have required the FA to overrule the refs decision. When you see the FA take retroactive action it’s to bolster or lessen the punishment already handed down by the ref during the game, but not to outright overrule him.
(Ex- Player gets red, and the auto ruling is a one match ban. FA reviews incident, sees further transgressions that ref did not see, like a purposeful violent act, actions toward the refs or crowd or the filing of a meaningless appeal. FA adds more games on to ban.)
Now that’s funny.
De Jong is a dirty player and has made his career on it. He lacks skill except for when fouling someone. How many more careers is he going to ruin before someone stands up to him.
Wait for the return match against New Castle. I’m betting that one or more of the New Castle players will inforce their own punishment on De Jong. That is unless some other team doesn’t do it first or if the coach is dumb enough to play him in the game. Either way look for headlines in the future featuring De Jong.
Well it’s the fact that while yes it was a poor tackle, it wasn’t a thug tackle any different than you see daily. To have punished him severely for it would of meant that players would now be concerned that if they go into a hard tackle, if they miss they are not in deep trouble. So that would limit tackles.
It needs to be controlled but you’d do that more through the media and constant ridicule than by a fine.
I am surprised that some player hasn’t earned a red card taking him out. If De Jong is that dirty of a player, then you would think that other players would take care of him in their own way. I won’t be surprised to see De Jong suffer a career ending injury at the hands of some other player who is tired of his crap. On the other hand maybe players feel that he isn’t a dirty player, so they let it go. If ther referees and the FA won’t step in, then its left to the players to deal with.
My God this guy breaks legs. The FA can do anything they want to. They did. They let a criminal walk back on to the pitch with his little ****eating grin. Nigel de Jong should never be allowed to enter a soccer stadium under any capacity. Weak and tragic.
They go back and punish players all the time after the game is played. The soccer federations don’t follow their own rules.
*Bommel
“Nigel is a really sweet guy. You should see the way he kills butterflies or strangles cats, he does it in the most tender and loving way.” – Mark Van Bommmel
I think they are allowed to be fine and suspend players because its not changing a refereeing decision, it is simply adding on punishment. In this case “retrospective action” would acknowledge the call was wrong and change it, albeit after the fact.
I’m with AKDN on this one. “The referee saw the incident, dealt with it at the time and we can not take retrospective action.” Sounds like a bunch of bullsh!t to me. Isn’t this what fines and additional suspensions are? FA is weak.
And that does not apply here where none of us have any understanding of the agenda or mindset of anyone that makes decisions.
Someone is just scared @#$%less of De Jong.
Or you just don’t understand their ruling. Occam’s razor “the simplest explanation is usually the correct one”.
They take retrospective action all the time!
Someone paid them off, that is the only possible explanation for that comment.
no real surprise about De Jong. This is part of the problem with installing replay. If we’ve acknowledged that referees are imperfect and don’t see everything, there will be more legitimate calls from coaches and clubs to punish behavior like this. Personally, I’m in favor of it. Just because it wasn’t deemed a penalty doesn’t mean he should not be punished, but FIFA and the like won’t budge on the issue.