57 ENGBRA Ramos Rizo
HIGHLIGHTS
The most sonorous game of the whole competition, the Quarterfinal between England and Brazil was taken charge of by Felipe Ramos Rizo. For the referee from Mexico, it was certainly the easiest of his three assignments - having handled the rather tempestuous group stage matches France - Uruguay (very poor performance) and Slovenia - Paraguay (very good performance).
It must have been a relief for him that players in this game were trying to kick the ball and not their opponents; especially, as having presented the reactive refereeing of his first game, he still managed to navigate these stars to a pleasant conclusion - he also, quite brilliantly, ejected Ronaldinho for a dangerous tackle not too long after that goal.
Perhaps it sums up Ramos Rizo's tournament here that the first sanction issued in this game was a Red Card for Serious Foul Play - the decision was brilliantly quick too, as well as being very courageous. Cafu presented him with the perfect opportunity to open the cards in additional time at the end of the first half, but he only warned the Brazil player verbally. His approach to dealing with attempts to delay the restart of freekicks was very riskily passive. but fortunately no real conflicts came of it.
Reactiveness is not always a bad thing - the caution to Scholes, no replay shown but the tackle looks no more reckless than any that had come before, was very well-placed to keep the game calm. He took the hint from FIFA and didn't punish a clear simulation; was Beckham fouled in the penalty area during the second half?
Mohamed Saeed was good, Héctor Vergara was very good patrolling their respective lines. Vergara especially can feel aggrieved that his next match was the final for third, rather than first place.
A five-star match that passed without an officiating controversy - FIFA would certainly, justifiably, be satisfied with their men on the pitch here.
The most sonorous game of the whole competition, the Quarterfinal between England and Brazil was taken charge of by Felipe Ramos Rizo. For the referee from Mexico, it was certainly the easiest of his three assignments - having handled the rather tempestuous group stage matches France - Uruguay (very poor performance) and Slovenia - Paraguay (very good performance).
It must have been a relief for him that players in this game were trying to kick the ball and not their opponents; especially, as having presented the reactive refereeing of his first game, he still managed to navigate these stars to a pleasant conclusion - he also, quite brilliantly, ejected Ronaldinho for a dangerous tackle not too long after that goal.
Perhaps it sums up Ramos Rizo's tournament here that the first sanction issued in this game was a Red Card for Serious Foul Play - the decision was brilliantly quick too, as well as being very courageous. Cafu presented him with the perfect opportunity to open the cards in additional time at the end of the first half, but he only warned the Brazil player verbally. His approach to dealing with attempts to delay the restart of freekicks was very riskily passive. but fortunately no real conflicts came of it.
Reactiveness is not always a bad thing - the caution to Scholes, no replay shown but the tackle looks no more reckless than any that had come before, was very well-placed to keep the game calm. He took the hint from FIFA and didn't punish a clear simulation; was Beckham fouled in the penalty area during the second half?
Mohamed Saeed was good, Héctor Vergara was very good patrolling their respective lines. Vergara especially can feel aggrieved that his next match was the final for third, rather than first place.
A five-star match that passed without an officiating controversy - FIFA would certainly, justifiably, be satisfied with their men on the pitch here.
| Felipe Ramos Rizo - 8,3 Héctor Vergara - 8,5 Mohamed Saeed - 8,4 Ali Bujsaim (MEX, CAN, MDV) | England 1-2 Brazil Quarterfinal |
 Scholes (75.) - Tackle Ferdinand (86.) - Dissent | |
 Ronaldinho (57.) - Serious Foul Play (Tackle) |
If Ramos performance was considered so good, why was he not considered further, being neutral from Concacaf?
ReplyDeleteThis was Ramos' third match, so I don't think he was planned for anything more.
DeleteI liked him as a referee, but each game left me with some doubts (FRAURU was simply very poor), so I think he was treated fairly by FIFA at the tournament with the matches he got.
The man remains a mystery to me. He has the qualities of a great referee, doesn't hesitate to punish SFPs, yet his disciplinary control is sometimes very unpredictable: Rivaldo's tackle, Cafu's SPA tackle, Scholes and Butt with challenges from behind, Beckham's dive - all ample oppurtunities to open the cards. He didn't.
ReplyDeleteSurely one could argue most of these were grey areas (though I would argue in Cafu's case), but still, this and the lack of DtR (Encroachment!) prevention was lackadaisical. The two major decisions (RC for SFP, no penalty for Beckham) were both correctly taken. Otherwise, no bigger challenges.