Sunday’s referees reviewed

June 13th, 2010 | by: Andy |

cahill

Three games, three red cards. Punishment where punishment was due or harsh referees trying to make themselves noticed? We review a trio of matches with plenty of talking points on day 3 of the World Cup.

Algeria 0-1 Slovenia

Referee: Carlos Batres (Guatemala)
Yellow cards: 4 – Yebda, Ghezzal (Algeria) Radosavljevic, Komac (Slovenia)
Red cards: 1 – Ghezzal (Algeria, Second yellow)

Algeria were not known for their discipline in crunch games and this was proved as they ended the first game of the day with ten men. Abdelkader Ghezzal received the second red card of this years’ finals after being booked for a shirt-pull on Slovenia’s Marco Suler moments after coming on as a second-half subsitute.

It was a deserved booking and there were no real complaints but less than a quarter of an hour later, Ghezzal was off for an embarassing second yellow. Desperately trying to control the fizzing Jabulani in the box, he brought it down with his hand and that was that. Even though some will argue Algeria looked more threatening with a man down, they still conceded the game-winning goal after Ghezzal’s dismissal and with it perhaps their chances for progression in the tournament.

Batres had no choice with the red card and ended his game with another clear booking when Slovenia’s Andrej Komac lunged on Nadir Belhadj.

Ref rating: 8/10

Serbia 0-1 Ghana

Referee: Hector Baldassi (Argentina)
Yellow cards: 5 – Lukovic, Kuzmanovic, Zigic (Serbia) Vorsah, Tagoe (Ghana)
Red cards: 1 – Lukovic (Serbia, second yellow)

Similarly to the first game, a needless handball in the box became a major talking point. With Serbia already reduced to ten players when Aleksandar Lukovic was shown his second yellow for pulling back Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan, their day went from bad to worse as Baldassi awarded a penalty against them.

Zdravko Kuzmanovic blatantly stuck his arm out to deflect the ball from danger in the 12-yard-box and the Argentinian official pointed straight at the spot. Gyan converted and Serbia was finished.

Earlier bookings for Nikola Zigic and Isaac Vorsah were both fully deserved as Baldassi made sure the letter of the law was applied.

Ref rating: 8/10

Germany 4-0 Australia

Referee: Marco Rodriguez (Mexico)
Yellow cards: 5 – Ozil, Caucau (Germany) Neil, Moore, Valeri (Australia)
Red cards: 1 – Tim Cahil (Australia, straight red)

In probably the most controversial refereeing display at this years final, Marco Rodriguez will be the subject of Australian tabloids tomorrow for sending off Aussie midfield dynamo Tim Cahill for a reckless challenge.

Fans of the Socceroos will argue that Cahill’s dismissal, in a game they were already struggling in, dashed their chances of a comeback or even a respectable scoreline. Ten minutes in the second-half, with the score remaining at 2-0 from the break, Cahill’s mistimed sliding tackle on Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger earned him an early bath.

Had Cahill read any of the reports coming out of newspapers before the tournament kicked-off, he would have known FIFA had sent a directive to officials about dealing strongly with “serious foul play, tackles which are dangerous – those using excessive force”. Cahill’s foot clearly connects with Schweinsteiger’s ankle and on another day, that could’ve caused significant injury to the German midfielder.

If you want to question FIFA’s focus on this, please do so. But Rodriguez was fully obeying their request. Cahill got nowhere near the ball and his challenge, probably borne out of frustration, was very risky.

It was also pleasing to see Rodriguez punish Germany’s Mesut Ozil and Caucau for diving. Not only did it show sharp vision but it meant they had to think twice about further simulation later in the game.

Ref rating: 10/10

So, do you think Rodriguez was an inept card-freak or a bold and estudious judge? Obviously Cahill’s absence will affect Australia’s chances but referees cannot card people depending on wider contexts, only on what they do on the field.

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Comments

By Andy | June 13th, 2010 at 5:00 pm

Unintentional handling is NOT an offence. While the ball did strike the arm of the German defender, his hands are moving away from the ball, being tightly brought inwards, clearly an attempt to avoid contact with the arm or hands.

Secondly, a tackle from behind is always a booking or red card, so there is no “was at best” about it. Even before FIFA’s directive (and you have to judge refereeing performances on the rules they are given, Rodriguez cannot say “I chose not to send him off because I don’t agree with the rule”) a tackle from behind’s punishment is determined on the severity of contact. Yes, there were no studs showing but pause the video at 0:02 and you will see Schweinsteiger’s ankle is buckled under him. If his weight is balanced the wrong way or his doesn’t land correctly, that could be a bad injury right there. Therefore, a red card is not just an option, it is THE option. Patrick Vieria described Rodriguez’s performance as “perfect”, and it is not often footballers describe officials in that way.

The referee should not really make calls either on whether they will add or remove the gloss from a team’s performance.

Finally, Mexico are not the only country with two officials in South Africa. Uruguay and New Zealand have two and you would hardly say either of those has much political power within or outside of football.

By Riley | June 13th, 2010 at 5:32 pm

You’re rating of Baldassi and Rodriguez are both ludicrous! Baldassi got every game critical decision in his match correct, handled the players with class, while applying the laws of the game appropriately. He did the best job of any referee thus far in what has been one of the better officiated world cups to date. Baldassi in my book receives a perfect 10!

Rodriguez got a little too caught up in FIFA’s directive, which as a referee myself I can say is easy to do, but when watching the Cahill send off on replay it can see his studs were not shown and he even PULLS OFF THE TACKLE! Besides that very solid match worthy of an 8/10.

By Luis | June 13th, 2010 at 5:57 pm

I totally agree with Andy’s point. It was indeed a dangerous tackle from behind. Most people are blaming Mr. Rodriguez as if he was the cause for the Australians losing. Give me a break! Germany simply outplayed the Australia. There was no bias or “favoritism” as some people with too much time on their hands like to claim. He called the match evenly and fairly, did anyone notice the two yellows he gave the German team for diving? This issue is a no issue. Good call on the red, Australia was frustrated and letting a tackle like that go through without punishment is only calling for potential violent retribution(tackle) from the Germans or letting the game get out of hand. Safety comes first my friends, even the players’. And yes the way a referee calls a game affects that. Good job Mr. Rodriguez for an evenly called match. Best officiating of the cup thus far.

Posted from United States

By Alan | June 13th, 2010 at 7:03 pm

“It’s one of the saddest moments in my football career to be in this position,” Cahill said, just as Schweinsteiger approached him after the game.

“It was not a red card,” Schweinsteiger told the Australian.

(news.smh.com.au)

Posted from Australia

By Rick | June 13th, 2010 at 8:59 pm

Alan,

As valid of a source as that may be, as a player, you have no option but to make an effort to make amends with the opposing side at the end of a match. I’m not attempting to completely devalue your post, as the notion of the apologetic shame on Cahill’s behalf is more than likely genuine, however, Schweinsteiger’s response was more than likely sheerly an impulsive one. Upon watching the replay and seeing the possibility of the injury, I am sure he will agree with the official’s decision. In addition to that, had his ankle buckled that little bit more to where it had broken, I am positive he would have a different opinion.

By Petro | June 14th, 2010 at 2:33 am

Having watch every game of the world cup so far, I can’t believe Mr. Rodriguez would rate so high. He and the line judges were horrible. I am a German fan and while I was happy with the win, there were way too many inconsistent calls including off-sides (or lack thereof) and that call on Cahill. Twice Mr. Rodriquez called a foul on a player from one team when the player from the other team literally came up over the top of that player. Rewatch the entire game and every foul that was called or not called and then rate the referee. For the most part, I have felt the other games were officiated extremely well – understanding that not all calls will be perfect, but this guy, he should be at the world cup.

Posted from United States

By Nigel | June 14th, 2010 at 2:50 am

The red card was ludicrous. Cahill realised he was committed to the challenge but was late. He pulled out, but still fouled Schweinsteiger. In real time, I called out “thats a yellow” and couldn’t believe the red. Seeing the replay, I would hope the referee would think the same. Now Cahill mises the next match and he’s their top striker.
As a referee, it would be great to be able to watch a replay after the match before you write your match report, but Sepp Blatter is such a dinosaur, replay is not in the cards. As a referee, I would be happy to be able to watch a video after the game to make sure I was right(or wrong). If video showed otherwise I would be happy to say that in my match report. These guys getting weak reds now have to sit out the next game at the expense of a referees opinion. The players work their ass off for four years to get to the World Cup and the dream is taken away from them. It happens every World Cup. The referees are so intent on keeping their assessor happy they get it wrong. They all get to be FIFA referees because their sensible, then they get to a big tournament and have to go by the letter of the law to get a good assessment so they get another appontment. You can talk all you want about the letter of the law, but where I was taught, Law 18 was common sense. It seems that when some of these guys get to the World Cup, their more interested in impressing the assessors. All these guys are good referees, but it’s how you deal with the major incidents(flash points)in a game. The Aussies weren’t going to win today, but the unwarranted red card certainly put a dent in their chances of getting to the knockout round (goal difference?).

By BT | June 14th, 2010 at 4:32 am

All very interesting comments. As an Australian there is no doubt that Australia was out of their league playing against the formidable Germans.
I also must confess that I know very little about football. I thought the red card was a yellow and I thought that if the ball hits the hand of another player it is a handball. These rules are obviously far more technical and in depth than I am able to appreciate because I do not play the game.
One thing is for sure, the comments posted here do not clarify the situation at hand. I guess as a casual supporter I wish the game had more control factors to be able to make the right calls. After all it is a game that can be decided by one good or bad decision by a ref. In my opinion, that is a dangerous way to allow football to be played when such high stakes are on the line.
PS. Good job by the refs. Someone has to do it and there is no way in the world you would get me to be a football ref

By mik | June 14th, 2010 at 5:48 am

All that Peter Grimmet has stated in such an articulate, appropriate and experienced manner I support as the whole truth and reality of the game Aust v Germany!

RODRIGUEZ !!!!!!!!!!! OMG you piece of dirt how dare you not only make crucial whistle blowing errors time after time after time on the most prestigeous sporting stage on the planet but you repeated these errors with no professional consciousness to your job at hand!!!!!!!!!- where was your commitment to referee a sporting match in a fair and integral manner to ensure competing parties have equal enviroments to perform at their best??? (oh remember you are getting paid very well to perform !!)

Dont get me wrong Germany has brought the most offensively impressive, naturally fast flowing and creative game to South Africa in 2010 and I do beleive they will win the World Cup – impressive and fantastic to watch.

…BUT! RODRIGUEZ if you ever can possibly sleep peacefully at night assessing your job performance as satisfactory in this match then you need to take yourself to hosptal because I know if most people make that many serious mistakes in any job then they’d usually be given a hand shake and told to move on. I have played and umpired top level professional sports all my life and your emotionally charged, power prancing, chips on your shoulder like decision making hopefully will be the demise of your career so you can no longer enjoy the world game as you think you deserve.

Australians(like most other countries) are a fair, fighting, proud, and passionate nation of people who enjoy having no prejudice in life and do not deserve to have elimated the fair opportunies to continue to nudge towards dreams that are driven sincerely by guts, determination, sportsmanship, loyalty, integrity, intelligence, devotion and genuine drive to make better place for themselves – YOUR RED CARD TO TIM CAHILL WAS THE MOST COWARDLY AND EMOTIONALLY DRIVEN REACTION – one that a true professional with a collected mind would not have had.

Like true Aussies we will forgive but not forget but embrace this unexceptable performance by RODRIGUEZ and harness energy to drive a postive power and make the most of the opportunites left. No matter the outcomes we will have left everything on the field and a mid term legacy of some sort to return and make greater!

By Thomas | June 14th, 2010 at 7:58 am

If Mr.Rodriguez level of refererring are the level,then it would been better with a german or australian ref in that match,as Rodriguez seems to have left his eyes at home in Mexico.

The two yellow should been Australia and the red should been a yellow. A total disgrace to World Cup. If Fifa want ppl to follow the events anymore they should send Rodgiguez home so no other team will be subject to his lottery calls.

And the lottery calls went both ways

By Maurice | June 14th, 2010 at 11:15 am

Let us not forget that by the time the red card came out Australia was down two goals and completely overpowered by the Germans. They were frustrated, late to the ball and strangely aggressive. Four yellow cards had been handled to them for very violent fouls within minutes and the game was rapidly turning to a rugby match. With 2 World Cups under his belt and hundreds of international games refereed, I suppose Mr. Rodriguez clearly “felt” the need to apply the rigor of the Fifa directive on tackles from behind on the controversial play. Lets not blame him on what is solely the responsibility of the Australian players, their behavior on the pitch. And please let us not assume that was the reason in any way for the result. On the off-sides, you can clearly see that it is not Mr. Rodriguez but the sideline referee who made those calls for good or bad, he even signaled to his collaborator when complains where raised on the issue. Side-line referees are there for a reason, the referee cannot be at all places and he has to rely on them to make those calls and stick to what they call on their position. The fact that the germans played so cleanly and strongly, only been penalized for pretending and not for injury provoking fouls only made the behavior of the australians more visible, who were so frustrated that they were even fighting among themselves. They were so off balance that even one of the yellow cards was given to a player for shouting at the top of his lugs to the side-line ref to go and f&%^% his mother. What “professional” player looses it like that only for being completely over-played? It was a sad day for the australians and they had it lost much earlier than the red card, athletically and emotionally. It saddens me that there are people out there who would use the red card incident to justify their extremely poor sportsmanship and play.

By Maurice | June 14th, 2010 at 12:05 pm

Sorry to recap but I just read some other comments and I have to say that not only was Mr. Rodriguez call not cowardly, it was one of the most ballsy moves ever. Thank god there are refs out there that have the balls to stop injury provoking behavior before it ends a players career. Most refs would be to scared to do what it is right just to protect themselves from being questioned for their calls and to escape controversy. Mr. Rodriguez is not afraid to stake his own career for the safety of the player. He knows that the players physical integrity is ALWAYS first. Before spectacle, before results or even before controversy, he HAS to protect the player.
We love to hate fairness that hurts us, but we cannot call unfair every call that is against us and fair every one in our favor. What if the tackle had been on Cahill? We would be thanking Mr. Rodriguez for protecting our players and downright stopping that aggressiveness on the field, because let us not forget that after that red card, the surging violence from the australian team stopped, so it did succeed on preventing further injury.
The australians ought to be thankful that the germans put Gomez on, from that time the german team went from a perfectly oiled german goal-scoring Mercedes Benz, to a retroengineered inefficient oil-leaking east german Trabant.

By Riley | June 14th, 2010 at 2:26 pm

Maurice, the one problem with your argument is that Cahill didn’t endanger anyone! He pulled up barely grazing the back of the German’s leg. THE RULES ARE NOT BLACK AND WHITE, and this is where officials muct use judgment. I believe in this case Mr. Rodriguez’s judgment was incorrect because of Cahill’s intention.

By Thomas | June 14th, 2010 at 4:49 pm

The mexican ref in Italy-Paraguay did as a ref should,not as the blind yesterday who ran the match as a lottery.

Lack of consistancy are my main questioning against Rodriguez. Not that it affected the end result of Germany winning or outplaying Australia. Just that the level of ref-work he done was un-trustable for both teams.

Then of course Germany handled it better but still,are we to have lottery ref’s at the World Cup,then just say so FIFA. But on the other hand,what can one expect from FIFA who lets the ones who gave the spot in the World Cup to France using the hands still get picked out for possiable ref-work at the World Cup.

By sscouser | June 14th, 2010 at 4:53 pm

“Patrick Vieria described Rodriguez’s performance as “perfect”, and it is not often footballers describe officials in that way.” Andy June 13th, 2010 at 5:00 pm

“The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.” -Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815 – 1902), 1890

Players too have teams that they root for.

Posted from United States

By melissa | June 14th, 2010 at 7:48 pm

RODRIGUEZ ….is the worst referee in the world!!! Fair enough Australian deserves to loose to the all class German team but come on stupid RODRIGUEZ for his inconsistentcy. Tim Cahill deserves a yellow card not a red!… are you happy now RODRIGUEZ for dashing some one dreams. 2 matches he is out for? are u really happy with that? I bet u are?… yeah the socceroos team is down and out but RODRIGUEZ dont need to make headlines to make sure that he is recorded for the worst scoring game in history for the socceroo. Look at the way he comb his hair back, ready for the big stage…well man, my rating of ur referee is 0/10 and hope that u can never ever referee again. U are bias and have no conscience. Hope that no luck come ur way to be a star cause u look awfulllllllllll.

By Qan | June 15th, 2010 at 3:56 am

First i got to admit that i am german and support the german team, so maybe i am not 100% neutral.

However, strongly disagree with your rating of Rodriguez

- it was a clear yellow card for Cahill and nothing more
- the yellow card against Oezil was a very hard decision, because there was a (minor) contact. Oezil tried to get a free by falling down, true (which would have been ridiculous to give, but there was a contact with the arm. Probably no other referee would have given a yellow card there – especially since it was not in the box. However, diving should not be supported and therefore the decision was harsd, but ok.
- The yellow card against Cacau was ridiculous – its weird that no review mentions it, as it was clearly the worst of Rodriguez decisions. If Cacau does not jump in this situation, he has a high risk of getting injured and the Australian aiming only for his legs in gets send off. Even the intention of a brutal foul should have been yellow for the australian. Cacau just jumps away to save his legs – and why should he dive in this situation anyway?

So Rodriguez 4/10.

Batres, on the other hand, did not see a penalty for Slovenia when Novakovic was hit before the ball was hit in the area. This was very difficult to see, but the ref had a bad position as well. With all other decision correct, I would say Batres 7/10.

By Luke | June 15th, 2010 at 4:47 am

Andy.

10/10? You have embarrassed yourself with that rating.

A perfect game. If your Mexican ref is the template for refereeing then the World game is in a world of trouble.

I imagine you rate this blog as 10/10 too. Not like you let being compromised affect your ratings.

Red card for you Andy. Take an early bath.

By moggoid | June 17th, 2010 at 1:52 am

10/10 Bullshit.
Missed offsides, and the Cahill tackle was a clear yellow. He pulled out of the tackle…And if you wish to be consistent then there would be 10 players with red cards by now…look again at a few games replays. Still what we really need are video referees. This game is looking more and more stupid with all the offside calls going

Posted from Australia

By World Game Subject | June 20th, 2010 at 2:53 pm

This really is a ridiculous blog created by someone with very little knowledge of Football…

If Cahill’s challenge was really that bad he would have been rubbed out for 2 games and not just 1 for a straight red. Fifa conceded it was a yellow at best.

That was a yellow card in any other game.

I’m a little embarrassed to have read this blog by a somewhat ignorant writer…

Posted from United States

By Jake Morris | June 20th, 2010 at 2:55 pm

Definitely disagree with the rating of Marco Rodriguez!

Is he paying you?

Posted from United States

By Sanmar | June 20th, 2010 at 4:58 pm

How many of you are referees? Before you guys cast any stone, remember that you all have the benefit of two – three – four views with the extra benefit of sssloooowwww motion. Sometimes even with that, the anauncer cannot make their mind. Put yourself in the referees place. they do not have the advantage that you have to make the call. Yes, there are some errors that are obvious but none of you are talking about them. So you can see I can tell them too, I disagree with the Cacau’s yellow card: what else can he do? That was bad refereeing maybe enhanced by the fact that players get to them.

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