How on Earth did the referee miss the Sebastian Giovinco punch incident?
There are few things more soul-destroying than marking a player who has an obvious skill advantage over you.
If you’re having rings run around you or are constantly being beaten for pace, frustration is bound to set in. Often it’s the case that it doesn’t matter how much heart and perseverance you have, if you’re playing against someone who’s levels ahead of you in the skill department, they’re probably going to make a fool out of you consistently.
In these situations, it can be very easy to lose the head. That appears to be what happened during the CONCACAF Champions League final between Chivas and Toronto FC.
At one point, former Italy international Sebastian Giovinco was trying to shake free from his marker Michael Perez. For some unknown reason, Perez decided to take a swing. He ran in from the side, grabbed hold of Giovinco and threw a punch with his free arm. The shot appeared to land or, at the very least, partially land on the Italian’s chest. Understandably, he fell to the ground.
Play resumed as normal after the incident with no yellow card being shown. That’s truly remarkable considering no one had a better view of the incident than the man in the middle. The referee was looking directly at both players when it all went down but opted not to discipline either man.
Michael Perez is off for Chivas, but through apparent injury, not because of discipline for this punch to Sebastian Giovinco 😳 #SCCL2018 pic.twitter.com/VZEQGRC2Ym
— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) April 26, 2018
For those of you who care, which we assume is nobody, Chivas won 4-2 on penalties.
