Backheel Breakfast: Let’s stop to appreciate professional referees

Every weekend, professional referees get a lot of criticism from fans. The best referees only make a huge, seriously game-altering mistake once a season or so, but when they do, fans remember. That referee can be burned into their brains as a horrible one. And then, every time they see him miss a minor call, something trips in their brains and they shout ‘OF COURSE [referee] MISSED THAT”.

And yes, the standard of professional refereeing can be improved, but let’s take a second to stop and appreciate what we have, because we’ve never seen anything like this in a Premier League or La Liga game.

The England Under-19 Women’s team will replay the final seconds of their European Championship qualifier against Norway on Thursday night after Uefa admitted the referee made a mistake in the original encounter.

A penalty scored by England was disallowed because of encroachment by Norway, but instead of giving a retake of the penalty, the referee gave an indirect free kick in the box. England couldn’t convert and Norway won the game. This is such an egregious error that UEFA’s ordered the game to be restarted from the penalty.

On Thursday night, England and Norway will play their last group games, then come back out onto the pitch to restart their game, which will essentially be a penalty kick to determine if England draw or lose. If England and Norway both win their games, as expected, that penalty will determine who qualifies for the UEFA Under-19 women’s championship.

So, uh, at least Mark Clattenburg’s never done that.

Real Madrid will appeal the yellow card Cristiano Ronaldo got for diving on Wednesday. It was very clearly a bad call. (AS)

No one believed that Mario Balotelli was out for the FA Cup game against Blackburn because he was sick, so he Instagrammed a thermometer reading. (ESPN FC)

A porn star is offering Alexander Kokorin sex if he scores five more goals this season. (Mirror)

Jose Mourinho talked a lot about young players expecting money and the state of English football. (Telegraph)

Hugo Lloris isn’t expected to play for Tottenham this weekend. (Guardian)

Erick “Cubo” Torres has been called up to the Mexico squad to face the United States. (MLS)

Russia will win their abandoned Euro 2016 qualifying tie against Montenegro by 3-0 forfeit. (BBC)

NWSL commissioner Jeff Plush talked about not just surviving, but expanding. (SI)

Rafa Honigstein on Thiago’s return for Bayern Munich. (ESPN FC)

Manuel Veth on Torpedo Moscow’s emergence as the face of racism in Russian football. (Futbolgrad)

All Blue Daze on football’s influence over politics. (In Bed With Maradona)

The section in which nothing should be taken seriously.

Juventus would like to sign defender Hector Moreno. (Football Italia)

Chelsea are going to become this season’s Liverpool and poach Southampton’s best players. (Guardian)

Meanwhile, Man City want all of Liverpool’s good players. (Star)

Barcelona coasted past Almeria.

Real Madrid had to work a little harder for a win at Rayo.

We were denied a goalie goal as Liverpool beat Blackburn in the FA Cup.

Bayern Munich needed penalties to advance in the DFB-Pokal. (Bavarian Football Works)

Napoli lost again, this time to go out of Coppa Italia. (The Siren’s Song)

Columbus and Vancouver drew a really fun game. (Massive Report)

Club America came into last night’s CCL game needing a 3-0 win. They won 6-0. (MLS)

Athletic vs. Valencia (2 p.m.) - A non-big two La Liga match that’s definitely worth your time.

Villarreal vs. Espanyol (4 p.m.) - The Yellow Submarine should win this one.

Copa Libertadores (from 6:30 p.m.) - Four games, including Boca Juniors and Estudiantes.