23 ARGENG Collina
Collina opened the cards at 13' for a late tackle - he excellently and quickly got the input of his AR Héctor Vergara who flagged the foul, and cautioned the offender. The rest of the first half was quite tricky for him with a lot of potential cautions, but the referee from Italy held his nerve in not issuing cards that looked to have tactical value, and his choices payed off as he passed through the game without any bigger problems (though England no.21 ought to have been carded for persistent infringement). Caution for delaying the restart at 50' was a clever tactical signal. The rest of the game was very quiet.
Decisive penalty was the right call; attacker was clearly tripped.
His fitness and movement was excellent; his interactions with the players were effective.
His fitness and movement was excellent; his interactions with the players were effective.
Vergara flagged three offsides, none of which were replayed. Mohamed Saeed correctly signalled an offside at +91' which was well-seen, but he was importantly mistaken six minutes earlier. A word for Brian Hall who was very attentive as fourth official; the best execution of that role I've seen so far at the tournament.
| Pierluigi Collina - 8,4 Héctor Vergara - 8,4 Mohamed Saeed - 8,2 Brian Hall (ITA, CAN, MDV) | |
 Batistuta (13.) - Tackle | Cole (29.) - Tackle Heskey (50.) - Delaying the Restart |
Group Stage
I'd be lying if I would say I enjoyed this performance - way too much leniency. Yes, it worked, the decisive penalty was clearly correct and we could speculate how it would all work if you had shown more cards, but still. Quite a high number of borderline or clear reckless incidents (18' [x2], 26', 28', 32', 39', 45'). The incident in 28' was a VC for me, ball has been played and the player stamps in trying only to catch his opponent. Luckily he only bowled him over and did not hit his foot. Also, Batistuta should have been sent off with a SYC for reckless use of arms in 14'.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there is lots to like about Collina, but I do not like this sort of refereeing. Too much a reminder of more recent days. At least for Collina it worked.