Hugh Dallas’s return, and how the referee became a U.S. World Cup nemesis

Former Scottish referee Hugh Dallas was appointed to a senior role overseeing officiating in England this week.

The 67-year-old will be managing the Professional Game Match Officials Limited’s (PGMOL) Select Group of referees and liaising closely with the Premier League.

He began refereeing in 1982 and since retiring from officiating in 2005 has worked in various advisory roles, including with UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, and recently PGMOL before taking on this new position formally. He was removed from his role with the Scottish FA in 2010 over an email controversy.

The international highlights of his career include involvement at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and two FIFA World Cups, including a role with the officiating group at the 2002 World Cup final.

And it is on the biggest stage of international soccer that his relationship with U.S. soccer fans gets, shall we say, complicated…

Hugh Dallas and his place in U.S. Soccer infamy

U.S. men’s soccer history is full of dirty words — names and places that evoke trauma.

There’s Couva, the city in Trinidad and Tobago where the U.S. was eliminated from qualification for the 2018 World Cup, their first such failure in three decades. There’s Coulibaly, the last name of the referee who inexplicably cost the USMNT a victory over Slovenia at the 2010 World Cup. There’s Torrance, Calif. — site of another famed flameout — where a loss to Costa Rica in 1985 cost the U.S. its best chance at World Cup qualification in 36 years.

And then there’s Hugh Dallas. To a certain generation of fans, Dallas’s name may cause more heartburn than any other.

In the 2002 World Cup, Dallas was the referee for the USMNT’s quarterfinal matchup against Germany, the eventual tournament runner-up.

The U.S, picked by absolutely nobody to do anything to speak of in Korea/Japan, had — alongside Turkey and co-hosts South Korea — become one of the surprise teams, besting Portugal in the group stage and beating continental rival Mexico in the round of 16. Not since the inaugural World Cup in 1930, when the tournament was an entirely different animal, had the U.S. advanced so far.

And the Americans looked good against Germany, too, outplaying the favorites for long stretches and nearly grabbing an early goal on a pair of attempts by Landon Donovan, who was among the competition’s breakout stars. Even after allowing Michael Ballack’s goal late in the first half, the U.S. remained competitive, forcing legendary German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn’s hand on several occasions.

The best chance to pull level came early in the second half. It was also the moment when Dallas became persona non grata with the U.S. faithful.

U.S. midfielder Claudio Reyna lofted a corner kick, which was flicked on toward defender — and future U.S. manager — Gregg Berhalter at the far post. Berhalter’s acrobatic, close-range volley struck the arm of German midfielder Torsten Frings, who was positioned on the goal line.

It was a handball, clear as day. Even without the use of VAR (which was years from existing back in ’02), it was a shockingly bad call. Immediately, Donovan and others sprinted toward Dallas, pleading their case. It fell on deaf ears, and some 20 years later, Berhalter had not forgotten the incident. Far from it.

“I had the feeling that, and this is just conjecture. I have no proof on this, I had the feeling that the referee didn’t want us to go to the next round,” Berhalter said in a U.S. Soccer oral history of the ’02 World Cup.

“He was a Scottish referee, and I just had the feeling that he knows the place of football in the world, and he couldn’t bear to see Germany getting knocked out by the United States. He was really aggressive the whole game against us. This call, it’s hard to understand how he doesn’t see it, especially with having an AR, a fourth official. It’s unfortunate. We deserved more.”

At the time, Dallas defended his decision, saying that he hadn’t called a foul because Frings didn’t intentionally move his arm toward the ball. History, though, has taken a dim view on his assertion. Even Dallas’s current boss disagrees with him.

At PGMOL, Dallas will work closely with Howard Webb, the organization’s chief officer. Webb, who formerly headed up the Professional Referee Organization in the United States — PGMOL’s American equivalent — agrees with Berhalter and the American assertion that a penalty should’ve been awarded. Maybe even a red card, too.

“This is a famous incident, but I don’t think I ever discussed it with him,” Webb told Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl back in 2017. “The correct outcome should have been a penalty kick awarded for the use of the hand, and a red card for the denial of a goal — not the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, but the denial of a goal, because clearly the ball would have gone in had Frings not blocked it.”

The U.S. left with nothing to be ashamed of after their run in 2002, bad feelings toward Dallas aside. The team’s breakout stars, like Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley, would go on to be stalwarts of the program. Yet as the years passed, and the U.S. continued to struggle to advance beyond the round of 16, Dallas’s decision became more and more painful.

Nowadays, it’s the stuff of legend.

(Top image: Tony Marshall/EMPICS via Getty Images)