Foul in USA/Chile International Friendly

Well, loyal readers, Mr. John Harkes is at it again. He is miseducating the American public by his own uneducated comments. This time it happened during the US v Chile International Friendly played at the Home Depot Center, Carson, CA, on 1/22/2011 with Adrian Healey and John Harkes as commentators. In the 74th minute of the match, US player #17, Juan Agudelo, was tripped in the Chilean penalty area. During the replay of the foul, Mr. Harkes said, "Did he get a touch of the ball there Adrian? Oh, referee. Hello! Wait a minute."

Mr. Harkes' appeal to the referee was very crass. He should be embarrassed. His comments about the call for the penalty kick reveals his belief in an old misconception by many soccer players who never really learn the rules. One would think that someone in Mr. Harkes’ position, being paid to comment on games covered by ESPN, would have learned the basics of fouls by now. But obviously not. And this is very sad because most listeners assume he does and believes what he says. This is the miseducation.

Many fouls (tripping, kicking, pushing, etc.) are judged to be fouls by the referee if they were committed in a careless or reckless manner or if committed with excessive force. There is no wording in the laws of the game that says, “unless the player touched the ball” nor “unless the player touched the ball before touching the opponent.” So trips, kicks, etc. that occur after touching the ball if done in a careless or reckless manner or with excessive force are still fouls even if the contact happened after touching the ball. So Mr. Harkes’ questioning of whether or not the opponent also touched the ball is completely irrelevant. Sadly listeners now think it is.