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Anonymous
>>91017here.
Wiese's actions constitute either "kicking" or "striking' an opponent, depending on how you look at it. Since it was 1) committed against an opponent, 2) committed on the field of play, and 3) committed while the ball was in play, it can be defined as a foul, and thus Serious Foul Play. Nothing in the Laws says that a foul has to be intentional, with the exception of handling which must be "deliberate."
You COULD call it Violent Conduct, but that's usually reserved for an unequivocal act of intentional violence, and that may or not have been the case here.
I suspect he likely did not intend, per se, to stick a boot in the opponent's sinuses, but the fact that his action was excessively reckless to the point that it unnecessarily endangered the safety of the opponent makes it Serious Foul Play.
For most fouls punishable by direct free kick, there's four levels of seriousness.
0 - Trivial Doesn't need to even be acknowledged unless absolutely necessary for match control purposes. These are the fouls that really don't affect the fouled player in the slightest.
1 - Careless These are your normal run of the mill fouls. There's typically no need to show a card for one of these unless there's a pattern of Persistent Infringement (cautionable offense).
2 - Reckless More serious fouls that highlight a real lack of discretion by the fouling player. Fouls where the opponent is likely vulnerable fall into this category a lot, such as foul slide tackles from behind, hard fouls on the touchline, etc. Fouls in this category should be sanctioned by a caution and yellow card.
3 - Excessive These fouls go above and beyond reckless in that they either embody so much force or target such an area that they endanger the safety of the opponent. That's the key. They aren't potentially dangerous. They ARE dangerous. ANYTHING in this zone must be sanctioned with a red card and ejection.
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