Opinion – Juca Kfouri: Don’t even keep an eye on the whistle

We have advanced in Brazilian arbitration, it must be recognized. The honesty of those involved is no longer in doubt, only their competence. Only the music of Carlinhos Vergueiro survives.

After so many scandals, such as the “Ivens Mendes Case”, at the end of the last century, and the “Whistle Mafia”, at the beginning of this one, what was corrupt manipulation, in exchange for some change, is, of course, pure incompetence. With VAR and without VAR.

Wilson Seneme enters, Leonardo Gaciba leaves, the errors continue, live, in color, in poorly drawn lines and, now, with audio.

That allow you to hear, as in the game between Flamengo and Athletico, the voice of VAR, a demoralized tool in the country, saying that a tug on the shirt, inside the area, “had no impact”. Or that punishing only with a yellow card a tackle from behind with the foot on the opponent’s hamstring was a “good decision” by the whistle blower on the lawn.

Or, still, it allows you to hear the deafening silence over Gabigol’s kick on Fernandinho.

Brazilian refereeing is so shallow, so outrageously bad, that it made Fernandinho, a lord in the Premier League, a scoundrel in national tournaments.

We are all guilty.

Starting with the cartography, and continuing with the coaches, capable of complaining when their teams are harmed, mute when they benefit.

A well-known ex-referee once confessed to the reporter: “Look, let those who are harmed complain about me, it’s part of football, no problem, life goes on. But if any beneficiary points out my mistake, his team will go wrong, because in doubt I will always whistle against”.

The press is also to blame, because it is always their fault, by giving too much importance to refereeing errors and often discussing them more than the games.

That’s how it has been for decades, without VAR, with VAR, ball in hand or hand on ball, intentionally or not, as if anyone could judge it, and so on.

The best thing would be to look at the poor blowers, and at the electronic specialists, as one looks at the striker who misses the goal, the frangueiro goalkeeper, the defender’s puncture, the bad pass given by the midfielder.

Because it is obvious that it is useless to expect improvement in the face of the poor training of those involved, whether referees or athletes, something precisely pointed out by the Portuguese Abel Ferreira, but seen, as a result of xenophobia, as a colonizing attitude.

The rare reader and the rare reader know the anonymity dedicated in this space to the referees.

They are called whistle blowers because they don’t even deserve to have their names mentioned – anyway, it can be seen that way, a generous gesture not to expose them further.

The ideal would be to forget them, even if it is a retroz diadem: can criticism remain silent about so many mistakes?

See the case of the decision of the spot for the semifinal of the Copa do Brasil between the red-blacks from Rio de Janeiro and Paraná.

Had the first game at Maracanã been correctly refereed, Flamengo would probably play with the minimum advantage if they converted the penalty not marked for the “lack of impact”. But he would play at Arena da Baixada without Gabigol and without Dom Arrascaeta, two of his main players.

He will only go without David Luiz, sent off for having said a bad word, in the heat of extra time, and, there, the blower, blind to the penalty and to the aggressions, jealous of his authority, showed him the red card.

There’s no way.