24 RSASVN Sánchez
HIGHLIGHTS
Quite challenging game for Ángel Sánchez, who had no problem handling what was in front of him. With his old-school policeman-style - he really couldn't care less if his decisions were tactically valuable or not - Sánchez took no bull****. Slovenia coach Katanec overstepped the mark - he was ejected; dissent to the referee's back with the play building into a promising attack - whistle, caution.
If Slovenia tried to pick on Sánchez they certainly chose the wrong man; referee from Argentina won the battle. The way he handled the football match in front of him was actually very relaxed; his, a style of contrasts. His performance would have been better though if he'd been as brilliantly ruthless as he was against threats to his authority as for spotting dangerous tackles, one of which should have resulted in a penalty.
I can't really understand his rationale in the scene at 12' - South Africa no.19 was correct admonished for a bad tackle (I would have preferred Red to Yellow), which Sánchez seemed to initially miss. Fine, well spotted. But then he restarted the game with a throw-in to South Africa, there was certainly no advantage used by Slovenia. The throw-in was taken quickly by the way, and nothing was stopping South Africa not giving the ball back; fortunately, they did.
This irked Slovenia who, playing a poor match and facing elimination, preceded to test him in each way possible: simulations, demanding cards, coach Katanec doing his best to put the officials under pressure (one didn't envy fourth official Jan Wegeref in the first half, certainly) and giving him every oppotunity to take a balancing decision. Sánchez didn't budge. This resulted in two conflict points where Slovenia exploded:
48' - Sánchez almost certainly missed a freekick when Slovenia no.8 was stamped on, but there is no replay. Referee has a decent view of the duel, but hardly an insight angle. Slovenia no.8, angry, commits a heavy (careless) revenge charging foul some twenty-five seconds later. Here, Sánchez's game-reading was excellent - you can see him sprint towards the two players before anything even happens. Hence, the referee was right by the benches (where the foul was) and Katenec couldn't resist a shout in his direction, for which he was sent off. It was hardly his first offence. But spotting the foul first, the whole scene could have been avoided.
61' - Slovenia no.8 is again probably the victim of a heavy foul, on the frame-by-frame it really doesn't look pretty, but this time Sánchez unluckily has no real view of what happened. He gives a flippant play on / advantage gesture. This incenses the Slovenia player, who furiously dissents in the direction of the referee from Argentina. Sánchez clocks this. He stops play, awards an indirect freekick to South Africa (Slovenia were on quite a promising attack), and then engages in a battle of wills with three Slovenia players as he cautions no.8 player. He won, credit to him, though his dealing with no.11 was not really convincing; he ought to have cautioned him too.
He should be praised for his excellent firmness in both scenes (Slovenia gave up challenging his authority after 61', the best compliment to his solutions); I hope that replays would show also that he was right to play on in the first place both times, though the live sequence would suggest the contrary.
He also faced two really interesting penalty appeals for South Africa in the second half. 49', if he read it correctly or indeed even assessed what was an innocuous situation for the players, was a brilliant play on. This was the same as 78', where no players wanted a penalty - this time, a penalty had to be given, in addition actually to a Red Card (Serious Foul Play) for a very dangerous tackle in the penalty area. A crucial mistake for 2002 to be put more in the de jure rather than de facto category.
As I mentioned, his style generally was very relaxed in terms of refereeing the football match! He didn't overreact to harder careless fouls - if anything, his very short toots on the whistle perhaps even counted to something of an under-reaction at times. He was unobtrusive and issued cards for the offences that merited them.
ARs were both very good; Jorge Rattalino confirmed the impression that he is the best assistant at the competition, and Ali Al-Traifi was correct in calls at both 74' and 75' to raise the flag. Well done.
Quite challenging game for Ángel Sánchez, who had no problem handling what was in front of him. With his old-school policeman-style - he really couldn't care less if his decisions were tactically valuable or not - Sánchez took no bull****. Slovenia coach Katanec overstepped the mark - he was ejected; dissent to the referee's back with the play building into a promising attack - whistle, caution.
If Slovenia tried to pick on Sánchez they certainly chose the wrong man; referee from Argentina won the battle. The way he handled the football match in front of him was actually very relaxed; his, a style of contrasts. His performance would have been better though if he'd been as brilliantly ruthless as he was against threats to his authority as for spotting dangerous tackles, one of which should have resulted in a penalty.
I can't really understand his rationale in the scene at 12' - South Africa no.19 was correct admonished for a bad tackle (I would have preferred Red to Yellow), which Sánchez seemed to initially miss. Fine, well spotted. But then he restarted the game with a throw-in to South Africa, there was certainly no advantage used by Slovenia. The throw-in was taken quickly by the way, and nothing was stopping South Africa not giving the ball back; fortunately, they did.
This irked Slovenia who, playing a poor match and facing elimination, preceded to test him in each way possible: simulations, demanding cards, coach Katanec doing his best to put the officials under pressure (one didn't envy fourth official Jan Wegeref in the first half, certainly) and giving him every oppotunity to take a balancing decision. Sánchez didn't budge. This resulted in two conflict points where Slovenia exploded:
48' - Sánchez almost certainly missed a freekick when Slovenia no.8 was stamped on, but there is no replay. Referee has a decent view of the duel, but hardly an insight angle. Slovenia no.8, angry, commits a heavy (careless) revenge charging foul some twenty-five seconds later. Here, Sánchez's game-reading was excellent - you can see him sprint towards the two players before anything even happens. Hence, the referee was right by the benches (where the foul was) and Katenec couldn't resist a shout in his direction, for which he was sent off. It was hardly his first offence. But spotting the foul first, the whole scene could have been avoided.
61' - Slovenia no.8 is again probably the victim of a heavy foul, on the frame-by-frame it really doesn't look pretty, but this time Sánchez unluckily has no real view of what happened. He gives a flippant play on / advantage gesture. This incenses the Slovenia player, who furiously dissents in the direction of the referee from Argentina. Sánchez clocks this. He stops play, awards an indirect freekick to South Africa (Slovenia were on quite a promising attack), and then engages in a battle of wills with three Slovenia players as he cautions no.8 player. He won, credit to him, though his dealing with no.11 was not really convincing; he ought to have cautioned him too.
He should be praised for his excellent firmness in both scenes (Slovenia gave up challenging his authority after 61', the best compliment to his solutions); I hope that replays would show also that he was right to play on in the first place both times, though the live sequence would suggest the contrary.
He also faced two really interesting penalty appeals for South Africa in the second half. 49', if he read it correctly or indeed even assessed what was an innocuous situation for the players, was a brilliant play on. This was the same as 78', where no players wanted a penalty - this time, a penalty had to be given, in addition actually to a Red Card (Serious Foul Play) for a very dangerous tackle in the penalty area. A crucial mistake for 2002 to be put more in the de jure rather than de facto category.
As I mentioned, his style generally was very relaxed in terms of refereeing the football match! He didn't overreact to harder careless fouls - if anything, his very short toots on the whistle perhaps even counted to something of an under-reaction at times. He was unobtrusive and issued cards for the offences that merited them.
ARs were both very good; Jorge Rattalino confirmed the impression that he is the best assistant at the competition, and Ali Al-Traifi was correct in calls at both 74' and 75' to raise the flag. Well done.
| Ángel Sánchez - 7,9(4) Jorge Rattalino - 8,5 Ali Al-Traifi - 8,5 Jan Wegereef (ARG, ARG, KSA) | South Africa 1-0 Slovenia Group Stage |
 Radebe (12.) - Tackle T. Mokoena (59.) - Tackle | Vugdalič (35.) - SPA (Holding) Milinović (52.) - Tackle A. Čeh (62.) - Dissent Pavlin (75.) - Striking |
Nice to see this sort of strict, aggressive referee, they are gone these days. Problem is with this style, you make yourself open for attakcs if your accuracy isn't up to it. Generally speaking, I saw a well-refereed match, but there are several points to talk about.
ReplyDeleteDisciplinary was good, all cautions given were correct. I only had very small considerations for further cards (37' LoR, 64' Reckless use of arms, 90' Reckless but weak case). His warnings and communcation with players were aggressive, but not without reason: He was firm and even angry when they threatened his control (20', 62'). He gave two good cautions for reckless after advantages, but management in both was subpar due to a lack of advantage signals (12', 52'). He did give such advantages (45') and he missed a warning for me (27'), but overall: good.
The three big scenes: 48' looked like a clear foul and while his match-reading was excellent, the very aggressive, angry shout towards the Slovenian might have escalated things further. When he apparently missed a stamp in 61', that came back. I really support the decision to stop play and show a booking for dissent, but the handling was not optimal. Slovenia #11 should have been cautioned, but it would have made it all harder. Still, the angry shove Sánchez gives him... not really the best way.
But: It worked for him and since we give Collina and Bujsaim credit for making it work despite letting some clear cautions slide, so should Sánchez with a style that is less player friendly and more firm. I would not blame him to much for 78'. Extensive video studies heavily suggest there is a clear contact and therefore pk + SYC should be given, but in real-time, really hard to correctly assess.
One can like or dislike his particular style, but for me, he won this battle, did not make too many mistakes and remained in charge throughout. That makes it a good performance - with some deductions of course.