47 PORKOR Sánchez
HIGHLIGHTS
A draw would have been enough to see both Portugal and hosts Korea progress to the next round; instead, Portugal imploded, had two men sent off correctly sent off by the excellent and brilliantly courageous referee from Argentina, Ángel Sánchez, and still passed up late opportunities to save themselves playing with nine players. Conversely to what everything points to, this was not an especially complicated game for referee Sánchez, who handled a game that was played mostly at a slow pace.
As aforementioned, both Red Cards were correct - and very courageous (+ 0,1). João Pinto's foul was simply idiotic, flying and very dangerous, and it is to Sánchez's credit that he ejected him for it. Perhaps he could have avoided some of the trouble with the Portugal players by making the decision less surprising with his whistle language, mimics and gestures - advice more than criticism. Sure, he could have chucked cards around for the very aggressive Portugal dissent, but not doing so was maybe a wise choice. Second caution to Beto was correct, he stopped a promising attack.
The rest was pretty unremarkable, very good officiating by the referee from Argentina. Perhaps Jorge Costa should have been ejected at 83', but it's not difficult to understand why Sánchez only cautioned him. Sometimes he got caught slightly too close to play, but especially after the straight Red Card he surely wanted to be on hand and be close to all the tackles, which was a good tactic.
Save for the last minutes of Ali Al-Traifi's game, very quiet nights for the AR from Saudi Arabia and the man running the other line, Ferenc Székely. Good.
Portugal 0-1 Korea Republic
Group Stage
A draw would have been enough to see both Portugal and hosts Korea progress to the next round; instead, Portugal imploded, had two men sent off correctly sent off by the excellent and brilliantly courageous referee from Argentina, Ángel Sánchez, and still passed up late opportunities to save themselves playing with nine players. Conversely to what everything points to, this was not an especially complicated game for referee Sánchez, who handled a game that was played mostly at a slow pace.
As aforementioned, both Red Cards were correct - and very courageous (+ 0,1). João Pinto's foul was simply idiotic, flying and very dangerous, and it is to Sánchez's credit that he ejected him for it. Perhaps he could have avoided some of the trouble with the Portugal players by making the decision less surprising with his whistle language, mimics and gestures - advice more than criticism. Sure, he could have chucked cards around for the very aggressive Portugal dissent, but not doing so was maybe a wise choice. Second caution to Beto was correct, he stopped a promising attack.
The rest was pretty unremarkable, very good officiating by the referee from Argentina. Perhaps Jorge Costa should have been ejected at 83', but it's not difficult to understand why Sánchez only cautioned him. Sometimes he got caught slightly too close to play, but especially after the straight Red Card he surely wanted to be on hand and be close to all the tackles, which was a good tactic.
Save for the last minutes of Ali Al-Traifi's game, very quiet nights for the AR from Saudi Arabia and the man running the other line, Ferenc Székely. Good.
| Ángel Sánchez - 8,6 Ali Al-Traifi - 8,4 Ferenc Székely - 8,4 Kýros Vassáras (ARG, KSA, HUN) | |
 Beto (22.) - Persistent Infringement J. Costa (83.) - Tackle | Kim Tae-young (24.) - SPA (Tripping) Seol Ki-hyeon (57.) - Tackle Kim Nam-il (75.) - Persistent Infringement |
 Beto (65.) - SPA (Tripping) | |
 João Pinto (27.) - Serious Foul Play (Tackle) |
Group Stage
To add: Sánchez certainly deserved a further game but after everything that happened, it was neigh on impossible for him. Very good tournament for the referee from Argentina.
ReplyDeleteI am not completely convinced by the 2nd YC. At the sideline and with the attacker/defender ratio in the middle, it's not really a promising attack IMO, just a normal late tackle. Especially with the circumstances (2nd YC, an earlier sending-off), no caution would be wiser for me. Surely not a clear mistake though.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the best performance so far. Excellent RC decision, the force used was excessive and the sending off fully correct. He really tried not to escalate things further by showing cards for furious dissent - even though he CAN'T have Couto touching him like that. SYC given was a cynical SPA trip, well done as well. Goal for KOR cancelled in 30' for a foul on the goalkeeper was also the correct choice.
ReplyDeleteAlso: This is how you deal with PI: Warning in the first case (10'), booking and clear signal in the second one (22'). KOR #5 got the same treatment, although a very (too much?) aggressive warning in 7' and another foul led to a correct PI booking in 74'. Disciplinary was faultless and it seems his authority wasn't challenged by Portugal for the rest of the match.
Ángel Sánchez deserved so much more than end his tournament with ridiculous and polemic accusations leveled at him for eliminating Portugal and "helping" the hosts. Portugal only had themselves to blame for their elimination, Sánchez did what no referee nowadays can do like that at a FIFA level: Punish infringements.
I salute you, Sir!
Relative to Joao Pinto's red card for SFP, it's worth noting that he assaulted Sanchez by punching him in the abdomen immediately after the red card. That's why Sanchez was so focused at Pinto and angry at him in particular (and less concerned about the other dissent and remonstrations). If you watch the replay and look for the moment it happens, you'll notice Sanchez's reaction.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/football/2002/jun/19/worldcupfootball2002.sport13
https://www.fifa.com/news/portuguese-player-joao-pinto-suspended-for-six-months-82705#:~:text=Portuguese%20player%20Jo%C3%A3o%20Pinto%20suspended%20for%20six%20months,-(FIFA.com)&text=A%20six%20months%20suspension%20from,and%20Korea%20on%2014%20June.
Thanks for your comments, it's nice to have some interaction on the blog!
ReplyDeleteFor me, the SYC was correct - the attacker has a free-run on that side to a position where he could centre the ball. In the paradigm (of nowadays?) when you want sth 'more' for a player to be cautioned for the second time, maybe 56' doesn't fulfil being "totally unavoidable".
Cognisant of that violent attack on him (and ridiculously soft punishment by FIFA), Sánchez's performance was absolutely formidable, his technical accuracy remained very (very) high, he was pretty much faultless. His calmness facing the protests was simply immense - chapeau.
A real shame he didn't go further at WC 2002.