Is Ryuji Sato the best official in Asia?

[Ghermez Agha]

Seeing as how controversial the officiating had been in many AC matches so far (in particular Iran's opening match against Bahrain) I think we final found an official other than Irmatov who I would rate pretty highly for the following reasons:

- he didn't buy any of the diving the Emarati's were giving him. Makhbout was falling down left and right in the opening 25 minutes and Sato wasn't having any of it. I knew we were in for a nicely officiated match from that moment because most Asian officials fall for the stereotypical Arab diving.

- he gave cards when it was due, to both sides. I think nekounam's was a bit harsh but given that it was about a half a second to a second late, I guess I could somewhat understand that. But my point here is that he called the right fouls and gave the right discipline.

- although Reza's goal definitely was onside, I feel like most Asian refs would have called that as an offside. Now I don't think it is something to appreciate given that it's a right no-call that we should rightfully expect, but in Asia after dealing with all these shitty refs I gotta say he and Irmatov are the only solid officials I have seen.

[Farhad-7]

Good points and agreed!

Hope Iran-Iraq gets a decent fair referee as well. Definitely not arab as it would be controversial. Not a Korean either as Iran it will be TM's possible opponent in the semis. I guess Irmatov refing is unlikely as well!

I'm pretty surprised AFC hasn't put an Arab ref for Iran's group games as it would have been conflicting. Good job to them for once

Looking at this list, I don't think we will get the Japanese ref 2nd time in a row, it seems we may get Chris Beath (Australia), Peter O'Leary (New Zealand) or Ben Williams again (Oh please god no)

[Persian-Pride87]

He is a good official for not being tricked into thinking Gucci's goal was offside. His goal was clearly onside and the Japanese official made a correct call. A lot of other referees would have made the wrong call.

[HuSsAiN]

You guys do know that it's not the referee who decides if it was offside or not. It's the linesmen call! Why is Sato getting praised for it? loll

Haven't watched the full game , so can't give my verdict yet

[Martin-Reza]

I think he called too many fouls, whenever someone went down he blew the whistle. But he wasn't biased and overall was ok.

[Tehranto]

A little too card-happy for me, the game wasn't as physical as the amount of yellow cards would make you think.

He was good for Asian standards.

[Persian-Pride87]

The linesman looks indecisive to me. Sato could have called the offside. There was another time where UAE crossed the ball into our 18 yard box and the UAE player went down easily. A biased referee could have awarded a penalty to UAE.

You guys do know that it's not the referee who decides if it was offside or not. It's the linesmen call! Why is Sato getting praised for it? loll

Haven't watched the full game , so can't give my verdict yet

[babak_iran]

some of his decisions regarding our players fouls on emaratis were horrible.

[dariush-44]

To me, he got the most important call of the night correct - which was the Iranian goal.

That situation would have fooled many of these sub-par Asian refs and they would have incorrectly flagged it.

Great no-call. Puts him and his officiating crew above the others I've seen so far in my book.

Though, he was very whistle happy in some unnecessary situations

[Ghermez Agha]

some of his decisions regarding our players fouls on emaratis were horrible.

Can you please elaborate, I'd love to know what I missed.

[Camran khan]

Did anyone notice in our Qatar game, not sure who the ref was, but he pushed Ando out of the field in the end when he was subbed next to the goal instead of letting him walk all the way to our bench through the field and waste time.

[babak_iran]

^ there was one or 2 scenes where he called a foul for no reason, it really pissed me off and CQ.

[GoIran]

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/uae-coac...19-12to47.html

lol what a loser.

[Ghermez Agha]

^ there was one or 2 scenes where he called a foul for no reason, it really pissed me off and CQ.

An official blows the whistle about 30-35 times throughout a match, 2 bad calls can be eaten if the other 33/32 are called correctly. You can't expect perfection, especially from an Asian official.

[babak_iran]

An official blows the whistle about 30-35 times throughout a match, 2 bad calls can be eaten if the other 33/32 are called correctly. You can't expect perfection, especially from an Asian official.

it was more or so iran was playing really bad at the time, and it was frustrating to watch, at the moment those 2 calls just made me really mad. Thank God our goal wasn't called offside though.