In Focus: Kateryna Monzul's performance in Women's EURO 2022 Final, England vs. Germany

No small task for the referee - the final of the record-breaking EURO for women's football between hosts England and perennial champions Germany in front of 87,000 spectators at Wembley stadium was in the hands of the experienced Ukrainian official Kateryna Monzul. 

 

A report on her officiating of the big game in this post.

Monzul's performance actually managed to garner significant negative attention amongst both competing nations - and also on our blog. Not only did Ukraine's referee face a game of utmost importance in London, but also one of rather high difficulty: analysing which is a quite complex and detailed task.

Accordingly, find a blow-by-blow look at every single key and relevant incident in the match, followed by a review of not only the refereeing of the final, but then this Women's EURO as a whole. Naturally, one can only start in one place: in minute twenty-five, Germany prepare to take a far-sided attacking corner kick. 

Big Decision 

Germany should have been awarded a penalty: Williamson controls the ball with her arm. To be honest, the handling offence is actually (at least didactically) rather clear and incontrovertible. So how - with VAR in operation, namely an Italian-Dutch triad led by Paolo Valeri - was there no intervention?

As far as I'm concerned, two major factors stick out:

1) No German player(?) appeals for a penalty. I am sure that if protesting players instantly mobbed Kateryna Monzul, then that would have tipped the balance, and Valeri would have intervened. I believe a Sweden player during World Cup 2018 stated that he only started mobbing the referees exactly because of video refereeing - now there was a chance for the referees to actually change their decision. The situation went unnoticed by the players, Valeri decided to stay quiet. We know that in Serie A, ball coming from a teammate is considered as a factor, but I'm certain that this was a preface, rather than an intellectual reason, for this non-intervention.

2) Because the consequent punishment would have probably been a red card. With point one in mind, I'm certain that if hypothetically the maximum punishment for Williamson's offence was a booking, that Monzul would have been instructed to make the square in the air and a penalty would have been given. The ball was travelling towards goal and the clear expectation of everyone - I'm sure - would have been that a red card would follow. Actually, having watched the situation many times, I came to the conclusion that actually a penalty + yellow card would be the optimal decision.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT, from whom I ripped this clip (Jonas Eriksson features!), showed a very interesting angle behind the goal which was never shown on the main broadcast - it displays how slowly the ball was in the net's direction. Williamson's prior touch really takes much pace off the ball, and as a purely instinctive movement, she then brings the ball under control with her bicep/wrist. After the touch off her torso, the ball was travelling at such a slow speed that it is almost impossible to imagine this resulting in a goal. Hence, no DOGSO.

Of course, such an analysis is partly irrelevant given the wide expectation being for a red card. If after an OFR and penalty plus yellow card were given, the controversy about Monzul bottling it, favouring the hosts, would be much more than in the case of a non-intervention as is. But it would have been the optimal call (IMO). Instead, Germany got nothing at all, check complete (though - once one has relieved the 'need' for a RC here, the impact of the mistake on the match lessens relatively significantly).

Finally: while Monzul was rightly not-really blamed for missing the handball, some 'responsibility' should fall towards her shoulders. Her positioning from the corner is actually quite poor. She too rigidly sticks to being on the edge of the penalty area, when it would be much more appropriate to take a deeper (and this case more rightwards) position, given the gaggle of players in the goal area. Better positioned, perhaps the Ukrainian referee could have detected the handling. This reactive corner positioning point is that I always note in women's football! Referee educators in this sphere should take note. 

Match

Many, many incidents for the Ukrainian ref to assess on this afternoon! From the start too - and in the very early stages, Monzul didn't really convince. Oberdorf's charging through Kirby (01:10) would have been a perfect opportunity to calm the players down, besides being a mandatory freekick(!), and instead the ref gave a chaotic play on. Like the players, I guess the ref struggled to settle at this early stage. Further to that point, after a correct no foul call, there was a really blatant case of stealing metres at a throw-in (01:36), some more hectic throw-in management (03:28), and another missed foul by Oberdorf (04:16). The referee could have won many points here by calm and decisive action, but instead one had a rather unhinged feeling from the early stages.

After the warning to White for her deliberate charging on the goalkeeper though (05:33) - these warnings an area of strength for Monzul in this match - the game settled a bit more. But not for long. A deliberate SPA-ish blocking by Oberdorf could quite easily have yielded a yellow card in minute fifteen (14:41). While I can definitely accept no card, Monzul's lack of awareness for this scene was noteworthy - it seems only on the shout of her second assistant referee, Paulina Baranowska from Poland, was the offence detected. Especially as we are on something like 0.6/0.7 of a caution here, not so good. Contrarily, the potential SPA two minutes later (16:34) is one much better solved by strong gestures. But again the problem was that Monzul only gave the foul after some delay. This time, you can understand it, the clipping contact is only visible from close replays, but still. Not necessarily the best impression here.

The first two cards of the game - to Stanway and White in quick succession - caused somewhere between extreme consternation and pure fury here in England! Especially the first (no, the latter was not for dissent, but reckless stamp) - but it was actually more than justified. If one pauses the match video at 21:43, you can see that of England's back four, the left-back is forward in control of the ball, and the right-back seconds later makes a run forward. So when Stanway fouls Däbritz, the German was bearing down on only two defenders - and if Stanway didn't foul her, she was clear of her too. This is a cast iron case of a promising attack being stopped!

I think this scene highlights that determining SPA is a much more semantic thing than only assessing positions of players and so on (see Turpin and Kudryashov). And the problem was that Monzul gave the yellow because she knew she had to, rather than because she wanted to - and that is seen quite clearly in the showing procedure I think. Not even fairly, but it appeared to point at a referee who was flustered (so many here not experienced in watching her referee to me pointed this demeanour of hers' out to me), and reliant only on her cards to keep control. So while the call was 100% correct here, the resonance from it for the Ukrainian ref is not really optimal.

This put the (England) players on edge, and in the next passage of play, White's treading foul occurs. I believe you can see the exact moment when Monzul changes her idea and decides to caution her (22:51). The decision is quite supportable too, for all those who understand the focus on reckless stamps in UEFA. I guess that Monzul had the idea that the stamp was borderline, and having assessed the 'game management' situation, then decided to take White's name, also to underline her authority in the game. For me it was a good call.

Having gotten the incorrect signal by Valeri and crew to restart the game at 26:19, immediately followed a freekick for careless charging correctly given by Monzul - the 'mobbing' for a balancing caution came really only from the spectators (in Serie C, I'm sure it would be different ;)), but still, ref rightly resisted carding there. Also a resisted card in 28' - wrongly(!) - Bronze's foul was a pretty cut-and-dry case of SPA (27:38). Her firm and calm gestures won the scene, though. England themselves appealed for a handball penalty prior to Bronze's transgression, but rightly not given (clip). A harsh freekick (29:59), good warning (33:16), and actually wrong freekick (34:40) all preceded the given balancing caution - Rauch did the ref a favour with such a reckless intervention, justly sanctioned by a yellow card (39:45).

From the centred freekick, England appealed for a penalty, but no call was exactly right here: just an untidy, never illicit, collision after shot taken (clip). Three noteworthy incidents brought the first half to an end:

42:30 - Charging foul by Oberdorf. Not reckless, but heavier than 'just' careless. After 15', an excellent opportunity to warn / card for persistent, but as discussed, the former incident really picked up on.

43:08 - Remarkable throw-in mistake for EURO final level...
 

43:35 - (clip). I would quite stand-by assessing this as no card in all cases. Stanway is only a touch late, and the collision is really not more than careless, minimal real force. Monzul was right, but again (and I promise this is the last time of making this point in the match analysis, this more a comment on the general expectations of wider football for such fouls, than the ref in question): perhaps players in Serie C would be a bit more insistent that this was a second yellow card offence...

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Halftime came at a good time for the referee, and with fourth official Stéphanie Frappart choosing to turn a blind eye to the kick-off offence in front of her, the second half was underway. Monzul delivered a good verbal warning after an aggressive behaviour-ish incident where her first assistant, namely Maryna Striletska, stepped in well (51:22). Striletska would, a short time later, face a very blatant dissent by Huth (52:20), furious at a (admittedly probably wrong) throw-in call by her - Monzul's lack of reaction here was not really acceptable. Such blatant dissenting behaviour must be correspondingly punished! Following incidents in the game also happened in AR1's visual control: a probable revenge-ish follow-through by Daly (52:45), a rather missed freekick for kicking followed by a compensating/managing invented one by the ref (54:35).

Toone's entering gesture of dissent (55:35) was further to the point that the tension was rising at this point, and cautioning Oberdorf for her trip (56:07) was a quite mandatory call. Very good firmness again by Monzul in terms of manner! Still the game was not really calmed down, and what followed was - in my opinion - an excellent caution to Schüller (56:40). Is clear that the Germany player wanted to 'leave something on' the goalkeeper, so booking for it simultaneously: a) punished a clear reckless action, and, b) calmed the game down at a hot moment. An example of textbook officiating! In my opinion at least.

Monzul then carried on in such a vein: very good warning at 58' (57:43), followed by perfect reaction at 64', freekick given, quickly in, no yellow card, slow the game down (63:17). Though not optimal what she used in order to slow it down: warning problem player Huth for dissent was not the best choice, as it was obvious she was going to just carry on (see 64:45), there was no way to bring this player 'onside'. Also: England scored in this period, and very interested in thoughts on the 59' tackle incident: fair 'block' on the ball or very reckless late intervention for meeting opposing player before the ground (clip)?

What caught my eye in remaining bits of second half: only real case of England DtR whilst being one-nil up (70:24), accidental collision (74:39), two balls on Wembley pitch at EURO final sequel (77:36 ;)), unpunished clear case of reckless foot-up (78:07), [Germany goal], potential penalty to Germany which would definitely have been given by Javier Castrilli (clip), correct freekick given not in accordance with UEFA22 (82:26), too harsh freekick given for management reasons (88:40), play on call (+90:30), and two correct 'dramatic' freekick calls at the end of the half (+91:25, +93:15).

In a theme which reappear in a much more relevant context later, Monzul missed two recompensated minutes at the end of the second half, blowing simply after allotted four minutes. With the game level etc. on this occasion I'd class it as common-sensical. In this period by far the most interesting scene was the undetected striking by Russo at 86' (clip). The more that I watch it, the more sure I am that this is actually a crystal clear case of violent conduct - the elbow is loaded, fist clenched, and thrown back into her opponent's face with force which I'd certainly class as excessive. I guess UEFA would assess such a scene at RAP8, but for me it should be 9, and intervention required for RC to be given!

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Extra time started with treading foul (91:06) and stealing meters (91:36) incidents, with the extended periods being hard work for Kateryna Monzul. If the play on call at 96' was dubious (95:11), then the no call which followed two minutes later was completely wrong - to be honest, a sanction was in order for transgressing Bronze there (clip)! There was also another potential penalty for Germany, this time an alleged pushing offence (clip). Russo, who would already have been off in my vision, again walked the tightrope with a very borderline-to-SFP sliding tackle for which Monzul cautioned her in minute one-hundred (clip).

This foul was reported by fourth official Stéphanie Frappart, Monzul's main rival for the Wembley appointment, you can see her very visibly press the 'push-to-talk' button on her comms kit. If the Frenchwoman had called for 'rouge', she wouldn't have been wrong, but yellow is just about the more satisfying choice for me - Russo hits her opponent on the calf with open studs, but the tricky thing in assessing this foul is the intensity heading. That she slightly pulls out makes me err more towards 'medium', but also the overall force of the whole movement could make one go for 'high', in which case a red card would be appropriate. Yellow is my preferred option but tight call.

As yellow would be in Bronze's latest foul at 103', and no card from Monzul is not really acceptable in this scene (clip). England's defender studs bounce over the ball and combined with the scissor motion make this an absolutely mandatory caution for reckless. As a general remark, while her card choices have much more credit in my view than (seemingly?) most, in scenes where the Ukrainian ought to have taken the initiative and been more proactive than reactive in enforcing the laws, this skill was not really one which Monzul has in her repertoire. The same as the non-card at the start of extra time - for not-treating Toone, sorry but this is simply weak refereeing and not more!

Preserving match control by issuing warnings and a firm exterior was a strength of Monzul however, another such case occurred at the end of extra time's first half (+105:12), well-solved. Remarkably, there were two more penalty appeals for England hands in extra time - the first was carefully checked by Valeri (clip), the latter went under everybody's radar, see here (clip). Empirically, nobody really cared, but if I understood UEFA instructions correctly, this is actually (another) clear missed penalty for Germany?

England's extra time goal was scored fairly, good play by Kelly and no impeding offence committed. This goal would prove to be the winning one, but not only after extensive delaying the restart efforts afterwards, and I must say, a quite disgraceful lack of action against it by the match referee. The most blatant scene was a corner which took over a minute to be taken and clear caution to Hemp missed for deliberately placing the ball outside of the corner quadrant (116:02). The match should have continued until at least +127:00 after all this, and instead, Monzul blew at +122:00... at least, even four minutes given extended to 5/5:30 would have been still not enough, but more satisfying that what happened. Understanding Pierluigi Collina rightly, FIFA aren't going to tolerate such poor lost time compensation at the World Cup, and rightly so too. Such management of the end left a quite sour taste, after a performance which wasn't so bad, I believe, as was discussed here (and elsewhere). 

Finally, we can touch on potential second yellow card decisions for Oberdorf (clip) and Kelly (clip) in what additional time was played at the end of extra time. The former a rather clear reckless charging, the latter would have been an exaggerated SYC. Monzul's confusion at what Baranowska had flagged for is quite poor for EURO final level, I must say; on the other hand, this was at the end of a very demanding match, and the correct restart was reached in the end. More problematic is her completely missing the duel itself, to be honest.

Balance

Germany can feel somewhat hard done by. With the contrary decision in some key incidents, most notably the handball penalty not given in the first half widely reported, the match could have turned out quite different. That being said, Monzul's overall performance was of a significantly higher standard than otherwise reported in my opinion. With her admittedly idiosyncratic manner, she actually brought some quite significant skills to the table in probably the most challenging match of the tournament. That being said, there were (too) many minor mistakes, and bigger ones, such as the horrific time management in 2ET. Of course, no errors were bigger than the overlooked first half penalty for Leah Williamson's handball.

Kateryna Monzul's performance was a fitting finale for this whole EURO - a big VAR error, and a performance which didn't wholly convince (though on this occasion more due to difficulty, in other games referees were saved rather by lack of difficulty from something even worse). In my experience, it is in the women's niveau at the top international level where referee managers and instructors show their skill (or lack of), where more than in men's stuff, the quality of the training is reflected in the performances.

Kaer perfectly illustrated my thoughts: "my impression is that female football improved a lot in recent years in terms of physical and technical strength, but referees didn't develop accordingly". BILD's criticism can hardly count for much, but there is definitely much internal introspection required on the level of officiating at this Women's EURO. Certainly: between Damková and Rosetti, the tournament certainly hasn't done anything for my strong conviction that European football deserves better and much more competent refereeing leaders, than those who currently occupy UEFA's offices.