It gives soccer kind of a bad name ya know?

And every time I see one of my favorite players dive and stuff I lose some respect for them because that isn’t how football(soccer) should be played

But yes, I agree 100% on the post match review. If that were implemented, it would cut down on the worst abuses significantly.

So, in summary, you can continue your love affair with Henry.

Also, I think that there should be some process for reviewing dives after games and giving a yellow card to players who obviously fake getting fouled.

In Montero case, the assistant referee should not get involved, he was way too far away and had no angle on the foul.

I think the best way is for the linemen to be more involved – maybe even have an extra two linemen whose sole responsibility is to assist the ref in calling fouls. That or use instant replay (GASP) to fix incorrect calls like in many other sports. I think just the threat that a dive or over-embellishment will be caught on camera and you can be awarded a card for it afterwards would help cut down on that sort of thing.

Short of that, I’m okay with embellishment as long as you don’t fake injury. THAT really bugs me. Swing your arms when you trip or whatever, okay, but don’t act like you’ve been shot when you’re hit with an elbow.

Looks like at least on this call, the refs got it right, sorry to disappoint you Sounders fans

As a referee I have no problem with Embellishment, I actually oftentimes like it when it happens. Players are often tugged by the shirt as they run by someone, a lot of times in the box. If they don’t go down and it looks like they just gave up, it’s hard to “Sell” a call like that as a penalty even if it’s deserved. However if there’s a tug on the jersey which obviously effects play and they player acts like his legs stop working, it’s considered usually by players and coaches as acceptable embellishment. I can remember only once ever giving a yellow card to someone for diving, when they acted like they got hit in the face and there was no contact. I just don’t do it often because players and teams figure out immediately that I’m not interested, and they usually don’t try it again. Just a calm gesture for the player to get back up and keep playing is usually all that’s needed, it’s also appreciated, as opposed to giving out cards.

That being said I’d really have to see video of this Montero thing. From the picture though, there’s only a very very slim chance that isn’t a foul.

So no, it’s not okay to go down holding your face if you get a shoulder bump that hits nowhere near your face. However, it is okay to go down holding your face if opposition player does hit you in the face, even if it’s not much more than a graze. In the first case, the player is trying to convince the ref to call a foul that didn’t happen, and in the second they’re trying to make sure the ref calls a foul that did.

If refs always called perfectly called fouls, then I’d be against the second case also. But since they don’t, I think it’s fair to “make your case”, as it were.

(Not judging or disagreeing, at all. Just curious what others think.)