Wild Times in Stuttgart as Poll Cautions Simunic Thrice

It was one of the tournament’s most highly-touted officials in charge of the match which would likely decide second-place in Group F. England’s Graham Poll was the man in the middle for a cross-cultural rivalry of sorts for the encounter between Australia and Croatia – the Australians with six players of Croation descent (including Mark Viduka) and three Croatian players who were born in Australia.

Harry Kewell was in the lineup for Australia despite verbally assaulting German referee Markus Merk at the conclusion of his country’s 2 – nil loss to Brazil over the weekend. Merk had told him at the time that “your World Cup is over”, but apparently FIFA decided to let Kewell off the hook after concluding that Merk’s performance had been filled with “inconsistencies”.

In only the game’s second minute Poll called a foul against Australia when he could’ve played the advantage, but I agreed with Poll and not Tommy Smyth (as usual) that Croatia didn’t gain much advantage on the play as the player with the ball had his back to the goal near the top corner of the penalty area.

The ensuing free kick from 27 yards by Srna curled over the top of the wall and into net beyond the reach of back-up Australian goalkeeper Kalac – who hardly gets any playing time at all behind Brazilian Dida at AC Milan. Even after the goal went in Tommy Smyth continued to argue that he believed that advantage should have been played. At this point, he would’ve been wise just to let the viewing audience forget about that earlier opinion.

In the 6th and 7th minute of the match, Viduka seemed to get shafted on a couple of decisions, but the second was a travesty whereas the first might’ve been correct. For Viduka got manhandled as he backed into a defender, but it was he who initiated the contact and was called for the foul. However, a minute later, and with that decision still fresh in Poll’s mind, Viduka was once again assaulted, but this time it was in the penalty box near the end line, but on the side closest to the Assistant Referee.

The defender had an arm around Viduka’s waist, which prevented him from reaching the ball as it went out of play. Poll – who smiled as if to say he thought Viduka was embellishing – waved to the Middlesborough striker to get up and play on. Now, perhaps Poll didn’t have a good view of things from his angle, but the Assistant surely did and he should have raised his flag and wiggled it a bit to call the foul before making his way to the corner flag to indicate that the proper restart would be with a penalty kick.

But that’s not what happened and the Aussies would be denied the opportunity to even things up at a goal apiece. Two minutes later, however, Viduka benefited from a far less significant call as he appeared to be just slightly offside…but the flag never went up for that either.

In the 14th and 19th minutes the Referee’ Assistants called Australia for fouls at opposite corners of the pitch as Australia was now doing most of the attacking but getting very few good scoring opportunities. In the 30th, however, Cahill pounded a header right at the keeper and then Harry Kewell forced a save with a thumper from twenty-five.

The game’s first caution was issued in the 32nd minute when Simic threw the ball away from Kewell after he’d been called for a foul. Again Tommy Smyth showed his ignorance when he couldn’t understand why the Croat had been booked. Gamesmanship like that simply isn’t tolerated any more in today’s modern game as it rightfully shouldn’t be.

Two minutes later we would learn that Japan had taken a shocking opening lead against Brazil in Dortmund with Frenchman Eric Poulat in the middle. It looked like the Japanese result might have an impact on the group if the result would stand, which seemed very unlikely.

In the 36th, Viduka was inside the goal area, but he couldn’t latch onto the ball and thus, was never able to pull the trigger. But two minutes later Australia was rightfully awarded a penalty kick as Tomas threw a hand up into the air to hit the ball as he (or was it someone else?) held Cahill down to prevent him from reaching the cross with his head. Igor Tudor was cautioned for dissent prior to the kick, which was converted by veteran defender Craig Moore to even things up at one goal apiece.

Two minutes later it seemed as though Australia were about to gift a goal back to Croatia as Kalac mishandled a corner kick – almost knocking it back into his own net. But it wouldn’t have counted anyway as the ball swung out of bounds on the initial kick from the corner. Both Tommy Smyth and Adrian Healey were confused by this, thinking that Kalac had been fouled, but it was obvious by the reaction of the defenders that they had spotted the AR’s flag which was out of the frame of action. This is yet another example of why the broadcasts could benefit from having a referee in the booth – to explain the unusual nuances of the game to the gentlemen who’ve only played, coached, or talked about the sport for their entire lives.

A couple minutes before halftime Dado Prso had an opportunity from a tough angle at only about ten yards from goal, but it missed the target altogether. And then as the intermission drew near, we would learn that chubby Ronaldo had brought things back to level terms in Dortmund.

In the 51st, Tim Cahill was fouled late, but the offender was not booked. It seemed that Poll was content to have a hands-off approach and let the players play while also doing what he needed to do in order to manage the contest.

For example, after an Australian foul in the 53rd, Croatia tried to restart things quickly, but Poll made them retake it and put the ball at the spot of the foul. AGAIN Tommy Smyth misunderstood the referee’s intent as he thought the kick had to be retaken because the ball was still moving. Sometimes I wonder if the match at hand is the first time he’s ever seen the game, but I know I’ve suffered through his broadcasts dozens of times before, so I know that cannot be the case.

Unlike the domineering and grumpy-looking Merk, Poll smiles a lot and also allows the players to do a great deal more grabbing in the box off corners. As I noted that on my pad, Brazil would take the lead for good against Japan by scoring their second in the 54th minute.

A minute later, I felt like Srna was awarded a foul he might not have deserved and then gestured to Poll to issue a card. He should’ve just been grateful that he even got the call and kept his mouth shut. But that’s just the players’ way of trying to get inside the ref’s head.

In the 57th minute Australian keeper Kalac would, in fact, allow Croatia to retake the lead when a long-range effort by Kovac that he should have easily saved bounced off his arms/chest and over his now prone body before rolling gently into the goal. Absolutely pathetic as the Socceroos would now be forced to chase the game and hope for a draw in order to make it into the Round of 16.

Soon thereafter Brazil would score their third…and then Simunic would receive his first (of THREE) bookings for holding Kewell about twenty-five yards from goal. The wall was only about seven or eight yards back, but maybe the Aussies didn’t ask for distance, not that I can understand why that would be the case so close to goal.

In the 64th the AR called a foul on Babic that I thought he was fortunate not to be cautioned for. And two minutes later Viduka was wrongly called for offside when it was actually his teammate(s) not involved with the play that seemed to be in an offside position when the ball was played forward.

In the 70th, Croatian goalie Pletikosa was cautioned for time-wasting – technically known as “delaying the restart of play”. Two minutes later he did a fine job preventing the ball from crossing his goal line during a scrum as he lied on the ground with his head on the line. It was a correct decision by the Assistant Referee not to allow a goal.

In the 75th, Tomas stupidly threw another hand up at the ball on a cross, but Poll somehow missed it and waved play on. Smyth ridiculously and rhetorically asked the question, “was it ball to hand or hand to ball.” Hey Tommy, when your hand is above your head like that it’s always hand to ball. Your hand has no business being there…plus, it’s not like Tomas didn’t have like two or three seconds to move his hand out of the way. You gotta stop saying such assinine things on the air. Your blithering nonsense makes my job harder when American players think you know what you’re talking about.

In the 77th the AR called a foul on recent entrant Aloisi and two minutes later Australia would tie things up with a goal they probably didn’t deserve. No, not that they weren’t trying hard enough, but on this occasion, Tommy Smyth was – yes, believe it or not – correct in pointing at the Harry Kewell was probably in an offside position when the ball skimmed off of Josh Kennedy’s head. Kewell would smash it into the back of the net from near the top of the goal box as he had all the time in the world (because his defender was on the wrong side of him, probably because Kewell had been offside).

I watched the play over and over again just to be sure, and while the camera angle wasn’t the best, the grass lines on the field are quite helpful in determining things, and it really did appear that Kewell was offside. However, because the ball almost imperceptibly grazed off the top of Kennedy’s head, it would’ve been nearly impossible for the AR – about fifty yards away at the time and with half-a-dozen or more players between him and the ball – from detecting this. To him, it probably looked like Kewell had received the ball directly from the initial cross – a pass from which Kewell had been onside when IT was made.

In any event, it’s just one more example of why that rule should be expunged from the rulebook.

Ok, so now we’re down to the final ten minutes of the match – it’s 2 – 2 – and here’s where things get really interesting and pretty crazy. In the 81st, Emerton gets booked for foolishly not giving the ball back to Croatia after he’s called for a foul. And as a result of this – which he should’ve known before committing such a needless act – he would have to sit out the match against Italy should the scoreline hold.

Brazil would go on to score their fourth with a strike from Ronaldo, thus putting him in a tie for the all-time lead for scoring goals at the World Cup.

Now’s where things get a little confusing – for me as well as for Poll. I’m not exactly sure what lead up to this, but in the 85th, Dario Srna grabbed Poll and the ref seemed livid as he probably told the Croat that he must be crazy for doing such a stupid thing. However, he ended up not getting booked – or so it seemed – and instead it was Simic who was shown yellow and then red for his second caution of the match.

After he departed, it was Brett Emerton’s turn to hit the showers early as well after the Socceroo unwisely used his hand to stop a Croatian attack – receiving his second caution in only six minutes. Oh, and just before that it seemed like a Croatian attacker had been bumped as he took a shot inside the penalty area, but Poll apparently thought otherwise.

In the 90th an Australian player took a quick free kick, knocking it into the back of a Croatian player and losing possession in the process. At a time when they should be wasting time, they pulled a bone-headed move like that.

And talk about bone-headed moves, Simuvic would receive his second booking for something I didn’t really see near midfield, but incredibly, he was allowed to stay on the pitch. You would’ve thought that one of the FIVE match officials might have said a little something to Graham Poll through that fancy headset they all wear in order to alert him of this unfathomable blunder.

But play would continue at a feverish pitch. In the 92nd Bresciano would commit a foul (or so it seemed) but the call would go HIS way. And with Australia doing all of the attacking now it was pure insanity as Poll called a foul against Croatia inside the penalty box just moments before the Aussies put it into the net.

And who knows what Simunic said to Poll at that point, perhaps something like, “you’ve really fucked this one up you fucking idiot”, but perhaps maybe a little less colorful and with an Eastern European acccent I suppose. Or maybe somebody finally told Poll that Simunic had already been booked twice…so Poll showed him his third yellow card, then red, then blew the final whistle before the meaningless penalty kick, probably because he couldn’t wait to get the hell off the pitch and out of the stadium.

One thing for sure is that it was a hell of an entertaining match, but one that Poll would rather forget, although I doubt he ever will. And quite possibly, this will likely be the last we see of the EPL’s top referee until the league fixtures begin in August. But y’never really can predict the behind-the-scenes machinations of that enigmatic organization FIFA.

Until next time…

peace,
ac