The first game of WC Day 3, Slavko Vinčić to referee Argentina - Saudi Arabia.
Al-Daayen (11:00 CET)
ARGENTINA - SAUDI ARABIA
Referee: Slavko Vinčić (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomaz Klančnik (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Andraz Kovačić (SVN)
Fourth Official: Maguette N'Diaye (SEN)
Reserve Assistant Referee: El Hadji Samba (SEN)
Video Assistant Referee: Pol van Boekel (NED)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bastian Dankert (GER)
Offside Video Assistant Referee: Abdelhak Etchiali (ALG)
Support Video Assistant Referee: Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea (ESP)
Standby Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Nicolas Danos (FRA)
12 games, this is the only appointment that I do not understand. What a big waste......(Ramos seems a big name as well, but given his below-average in WC2018 and terrible performance in AFC Cup 2019, I view him at Denmark-Tunisia as a perfect appointment
ReplyDeleteDidn‘t age well… 😉
DeleteWhat a stadium in Lusail btw, WOW.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see the 974 stadium tonight :)
DeleteI love the purple kit!
ReplyDeleteVAR OFR
ReplyDeleteFirst OFR of the tournament results in penalty. People will compare it to the one not given yesterday.
DeleteWrong OFR imo. Similar with Maguire yesterday.
ReplyDeleteNo maguire was also holding. This was only the defender
DeleteAgain penalty and no YC,what is this????
ReplyDeleteAnyway,too soft for me....
DeleteNot every PK is a YC.
DeleteThat idea is wrong
Wrong OFR and wrong decision for me
ReplyDeleteYes, first the Argentian player went to the ground right when he felt the hold, which will encourage more players to do the same to try to get the penaly, and two, there was a two handed push on a Saudi Arabian player in the back that put him on the ground in the same OFR replay, right before the hold, I think.
DeleteOFR for Argentina penalty similar to the Iran penalty yesterday.
ReplyDeleteIn think that in this OFR we can clearly see Collina's instructions. The signal to the teams is clear.
ReplyDeleteNow clear to me that Collina wants more OFR for holding at set pieces, differently from the ones during "normal actions". This becausebefore corner kicks and free kicks, the control by referees can be less efficient. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteImagine that penalty call deciding a semi-final or final. Think of the reaction. I feel that instructions for a tournament shouldn't be so different from what the top leagues issue to their referees, as players and the fans won't be expecting it. One of course doesn't want the Premiere League's permisiveness, but one doesn't necessarily want things to be drastically more strict, either.
DeleteLine of VAR intervention is lower for FIFA than for UEFA, that's for sure.
DeleteMateu Lahoz will always be the same, be sure.
Deleteobviously before the tourament, referees get recommendation - penalties for soft pulling/holding and without yc.
ReplyDeleteIMO a wrong intervention and even wrong call. I thought after the first replay that Vincic will not whistle it after reviewing because there wasnt even a clear intention of the attacker to get away.
ReplyDeleteWe all know one ref who wont be influenced by VAR at all-some guy from Spain 😉
ReplyDeletehaha I can already imagine that OFR.
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ReplyDeleteI'm really surprised to read the comments here about the OFR. It seems like a crystal clear holding foul to me.
ReplyDeleteCorrect
DeleteCould be a recipe for disaster as many players could be tempted to go down under minimal grasp. Refs should beware
ReplyDeleteYep
DeletePerfect PK call
ReplyDeleteWhy does the AR should wait for a crystal clear offside as it happened on 18th minute?
ReplyDeleteHe started to raise his flag immediately if it is clear.
DeleteNow it's even more surprising how the hell did England not had penalty yesterday....
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Maybe will be evaluated as a mistake by VAR
DeleteIn my opinion it isnt OFR. Both players are in dispute and fall. If all games we'll have the same criteria, this will be certainly OFR WC. Boring!
ReplyDeleteOT: I saw in the opening game the new (to me, at least) technology showing more exactly the position of players at the time of a potential offside call using what looked like computer animation. Does anyone have information about that?
ReplyDeleteYou just summoned the animation.
DeleteThat's semi-automatic offside technology. You can find more at Fifa.com
DeleteThanks. Interesting look at it at https://www.fifa.com/technical/football-technology/football-technologies-and-innovations-at-the-fifa-world-cup-2022.
DeleteVincic looks clueless and clumsy so far. Not a good performance at all. Considering his name and fame.
ReplyDeleteMaybe an early OFR and also disallowed goals can influence a bit the overall confidence. But in general OK performance so far
DeleteNice of the Saudi and Argentina teams to meet up to give the AR1 an offside training drill
ReplyDeleteVincic will be disappointed to have the second OFR, but there's really NOTHING Klancnik could have done to get that offside call right. It really is a matter of centimeters or even millimeters, completely imperceptible by the human eye.
ReplyDeleteVAR intervention for offside-That wasn't OFR, that's VAR intervention, factual call :)
DeleteSafe to say SAOT doesn't work that properly now. The fancy graphics don't help at all but make it even more confusing. Seemed like KSA #13 was behind Martinez, but that doesn't become clear now.
ReplyDeleteI think the way Vincic follows the SA attack in the 39th minute sums it up: he's just a bit unlucky today.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteFor now the only protagonist of this game is the VAR tech. OFR and offsides
OT: this new offside technology is really amazing. I wrote about the need for something better than using far away tv cameras to decide offisides calls before but never thought they would come up with something so intriguing as what's described on the Fifa website: How does it work?
ReplyDeleteThe new technology uses 12 dedicated tracking cameras mounted underneath the roof of the stadium to track the ball and up to 29 data points of each individual player, 50 times per second, calculating their exact position on the pitch. The 29 collected data points include all limbs and extremities that are relevant for making offside calls.
Al Rihla, adidas’ official match ball for Qatar 2022™, will provide a further vital element for the detection of tight offside incidents as an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor will be placed inside the ball. This sensor, positioned in the centre of the ball, sends ball data to the video operation room 500 times per second, allowing a very precise detection of the kick point.
Will other leagues/confederations/stadiums be able to follow suit and utilize this technology? Will be very interesting to see.
DeleteIt's already in the UEFA CL and it's assumed the bigger leagues in Europe will use it next season.
DeleteI haven't been watching many CL games due my work schedule but don't remember seeing it in the Chelsea-Salzburg match. Has it been in all CL matches?
DeleteAll of the group stage matches were supposed to have it but UEFA seems to have had a few issues. Their system has fewer cameras and no ball sensor so it's not been flawless. But the animation is basically identical.
DeleteThis is a good tech, but expensive. Honestely, I dont see it will be used here in South America, on short term. Maybe only Europe or FIFA's competitions
DeleteI am not really satisfied with Vincic's performance so far. Controversial penalty (fans will remember it as missed by officials) + millimetrical, but missed offside by AR; and I don't feel like he control the players. Luckily, the game's difficulty is not the highest.
ReplyDeleteInteresting 1H. It seems like 'we' rather underestimated this clash, and FIFA were prepared. Reminded me a lot of Argentina's first game at the last WC 2018 (Iceland/Marciniak) - passionate but never really unfair, close management of the events required, discussion-worthy penalty call... and until now, also alinged on the caution count too :).
ReplyDeleteWaiting for 2H!
Well, of course the British media doesn't like the pk being given in this match and not in England's:
ReplyDelete'The consistency has been a JOKE': Fans fume as VAR gifts Argentina a soft early penalty against Saudi Arabia... despite England not being given a spot kick for an almost IDENTICAL foul on Harry Maguire against Iran
The British media doesn't like the penaly kick being given in this match but not in England's match:
ReplyDelete'The consistency has been a JOKE': Fans fume as VAR gifts Argentina a soft early penalty against Saudi Arabia... despite England not being given a spot kick for an almost IDENTICAL foul on Harry Maguire against Iran
The British media are split on this with quite a number agreeing it's a penalty
DeleteSurprising goal by Saudi Arabia!
ReplyDeleteI must say I'm nto convinced so far by Vincic, I agree with some of readers who already had their sasy about the reasons. He looked to be in trouble after the penalty OFR and not good to have another correction then for offside. In the middle, he wasn't at his ease in my opinion.
Wow, in the first half this was a nothing game, now in the second half Vincic might actually have (quite!) a game to referee!
ReplyDeleteThat's a big game for Vincic, I must absolutely admit that I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteIncredible outcome so far. To me, it looks like Vincic doesn't want to book players, differently from the other referees and this can put him more in trouble.
Now with tempers flaring,he will have ti adapt,plenty upset and frustrated argentinians...
Delete+1, huge credit to Saudi Arabia !!
DeletePossible penalty for Argentina for a reckless challenge, VAR allowed play to continue.
ReplyDeleteYes, 64 minute. For me, it's clear penalty + YC... Can't understand no VAR intervention
DeleteFully agree with @DrMr
DeleteNo yc in 76'?
ReplyDeleteMissed yc there if not by Vincic,then by linesman.
DeleteHas the light purple kit been seen often before? Quiet but quite nice looking.
ReplyDeleteYes, Cakir in famous Barcelona-Chelsea CL semi final
DeleteSo far he is in control but too much leniency from Vincic,from what we have seen this WC,this is the closest that ref has had his own criterium,not the "Collina one".
ReplyDeleteAgree
DeleteI appreciate Vincic's showing against dissent there by booking the KSA goalkeeper, 90'+1'.
ReplyDeleteSeems like he could have called the pretty clear foul on the gk first.
DeleteThere was offside.
DeleteMust be a RC for the keeper.
ReplyDeleteSerious concern now for a Saudi player due to a head clash with his goalkeeper. Missed head injury by the Slovenian team
ReplyDeleteWhy Vincic didn't stop the game earlier ??? 90+5 Big mistake !!!
ReplyDeleteProbably thought it was more time wasting. Could see why he might have missed it but the linesperson must have been up there with the play
DeleteToo late there by Vincic stopping play for this serious head injury, at the absolute latest, the whistle has to go immediately when the defenders clear the ball, if not right away when the collision happens (although, I must concede that this would be a very difficult situation for Vincic, stopping the game when Messi has the ball in the penalty area down a goal in added time. I mean, imagine what happens if he stops play, and then the player springs right back up having faked an injury... AR2 should help here, to identify the severity of the collision, the contact to the head, the head's contact to the ground, etc.)
ReplyDeleteUnacceptable this delay to stop this game. Vincic should be more sensibility to gravity on this end. He had a difficult refereeing
ReplyDeletePlease post later the replay of penalty call, if anyone finds it.
ReplyDeleteI like Vincic, but I am not convinced by him at all today. Sorry to say this, I think we will not see him again as a main referee in the rest of this competition
ReplyDeleteWhat a game!! I'm easily willing to give Collina -- we know how tactically well-prepared he was/is -- the credit for predicting that this match could lead to difficulties (I follow some Asian football experts on twitter and they expected stuff from KSA in this WC). Vinčić can be happy with his performance, but the controversial scene should be the penalty not given to Argentina for careless-to-reckless foot-up at 64'. There are many things to say about this game and refereeing and not much time to say it (please give me time with the report!). Again: what a game, what an upset!
ReplyDeleteLuckily no goal by Argentina, otherwise big mess for Vincic.
ReplyDeleteHe had to stop game, very serious injury involving head. Surely he missed the full incident.
I must say weak appearance by him in a totally unexpected extremely challenging game.
Also, about the added time, I think he should have whistled at maximum at 102:00, really don't understand why he continued...
+1
DeleteTerribly overlooked incident with Saudi defender and GK and then added time, which will provoke many people to say that he/FIFA wanted Argentina to score...
This also adds some spice to the following matches in that group, which probably needs to be considered in the appointments.
ReplyDeleteUnbeliavable result for Saudi's tho...
ReplyDeleteAbout Vincic...
Classic UEFA,not this years'WC style that was alright for this game.
Penalty can be backed,altough soft imo,I have only one question there:where is YC?
All of his bookings are backed,plenty of them for timewasting and protesting.
I especially liked the way that he booked the player who did come to the other side of the pitch to be substituted,plenty times you wont see refs book players for that.
Maybe one decision that left me shocked was not giving penalty for a foul on Otamendi in 64',from what criterium we have seen in this wc I was quite surprised that was not called.
Solid performance, we wont talk about him,we will talk much more about this incredible result.
I've watched several games of Vincic officiating over the years and most of the time have been left unconvinced with his performance. Today was no different. Not helped by his VAR team I must say. Dubious penalty call in the 1st half imo and then a clear penalty overlooked in the 2nd half. The delayed stoppage for the head injury summed up his performance for me. Comfortably the worst officiating display at the WC so far imo.
ReplyDeleteInterested if people agree with me or not
Argentina vs Mexico now needs big name,I think that Lahoz would be ideal for that match.
ReplyDeleteLahoz, Makkelie or English?
DeleteI had Lahoz just because of his adaptable style and language not being barrier.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIf Makkelie, he might need a different VAR than van Boekel after today...
DeleteEnglish referees probably still not possible for Argentina (Falkland war).
Lahoz.
DeleteBig name from UEFA, for sure
DeleteI can't see English officials on an Argentinian game and vice versa
DeleteA little better display in the second half, but I doubt that he will get another game. It was not the line that we saw in the previous games, a couple of mistakes made, and I can't forget that he didn't stop the game immediately in 95'. Taylor was praised by Rosetti when he did that at Euro, I expect critics now for Vincic for that.
ReplyDeleteFor some aspects we could talk about the weakest performance so far, but saying it directly would be more than unfair. The difficulty of this game made everything bad for Vincic, maybe he himself didn't expect such an open clash, even more after the first goal by Argentina, first half had been still quite calm... one should say that he had the most challenging game so far, and he didn't do as one could have expected. Not really bad, but at the same time more than clear points for improvement. A second game will follow because he is big UEFA name, but he will have to do better to dream about KO stage, and before that, we must see what the other UEFA referees will do. The missed alertness for stopping game for seriouis injury, involving in that case AR2 as well, can be strong argument taking it alone, for discussions by FIFA.
ReplyDeleteAgree
DeleteAnd we talked a lot about Al-Jassim "manners" yesterday but Vincic seems chaotic to me too. His way to pull out cards is catastrophic (using both hands, bending, etc)
But indeed he is really good with his own style and his own way to do. Appreciate also the way he treated Saudi Arabian behaviours at the end of the game, credit for that
Not satisfied with Vinčić's overall display today. From the 8' OFR and all the way to the end, I had a clear feeling of uncertainty, uneasiness from him, as well as some problems in connecting with the players. Probably it was the OFR that put him out of balance mentally. However, if not for the head injury scene in 90+5', it would have been just a minor point for discussion/improvement for me, but the complete mismanagement of that scene (IMO) sent a bad image to the viewers. That was a very serious collision with a potential for a serious head injury, the game had to be stopped immediately, whatever the consequences. I fully understand the argument about a promising attack being underway, however the serious nature of the collision should have been spotted, at least by AR2.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the 8' OFR, I certainly don't like it, however if this is the directive by the committee, it should be applied and I am fully OK with it. For me, the difference between yesterday's situation with Maguire and this one is in the fact that yesterday it was a mutual holding/pulling, while today there was only the defender holding the attacker with two hands. Let's say it was a supportable penalty for me.
As for the scene in 64', I missed it unfortunately and have to see some replays before commenting.
All the YC's given were fully OK and I especially liked those given for time wasting and dissent. However, there was a mandatory missed YC for a KSA player in 77', IMO (also AR1's responsibility).
Lastly, I don't put any blame on AR1 for the missed offside in the 1H, it was minimal IMO and without VAR, it would have probably fallen under that old "when in doubt, give advantage to the attacker"-principle.
Agree,missed yellow in 77 was also linesman's responsibility,Vincic cant spot everything.
Deletehttps://youtu.be/khGZwdjZksQ?t=2 I guess expected call after OFR, but it looks like on Argentinian player's third step he launches himself in the air to make himself fall. VAR is, of course, very helpful but there is an "observer effect" in it, too, meaning that it might plant the seed in one's mind, "Oh, my colleague in the VAR booth thinks I missed a call, so maybe I did in fact miss it," and the slow motion only compounds the observer effect.
ReplyDeleteWell, I need to say that there is some thing for improvment for Vincic, but, he was good today, also, he need to be little more strict, also some techincal aspects, but anyway, we have really high level of officiating at the WC. I think that this would not be last match for Vincic at this WC, he is safe pair of hands.
ReplyDeleteAnalysis
ReplyDelete(1/5)
DeleteBig Decisions
⌚ - Min. 6
📺 - https://streamable.com/r6i0ug
⚖️ - Penalty given to Argentina for grappling inside the penalty area. Even from the first game in 2022, I noticed the very deliberate warnings before corners and thought “here we go again” after the inane sooooo many (empty) chats at the last WC - but this time, we know that FIFA are serious about it. Correct decision, Saudi no. 12 bundles his opponent to the ground, very clearly deliberately blocking his run (the block/impeding w.contact is clearer than what *actually* causes the fall if you know what I mean). Perhaps the (perceived lack of) coherency with other such calls make the intervention somewhat problematic - but the call itself is fully okay and actually good/praiseworthy (the focus on such offences is obvious by FIFA and surely the mistakes lay elsewhere). Could Vinčić have seen it himself? I think so, he catches the offence out of the corner of his eye and makes a gesture; with less reactive positioning (more rightwards this time), I believe this could have been solved with the need to involve Van Boekel, but “using VAR as a tool”, not really a black mark against the Slovenian.
Btw, if the *players* (let alone spectators/audience) see your whistle for visiting the OFR as rather the signal to take the freekick: then sth has actually gone very wrong there on a communication/management level. Vinčić should rethink this element a bit.
Final remark - no YC is obviously a guideline, and I like it a lot! Better to save the cautions for other stuff, penalty given is absolutely punishment enough. Though it is slightly amusing to see the referees a tad ‘lost’ as they would obviously normally book and aren’t sure what to ‘do with themselves’ in the seconds after the penalty award made! :D
⌚ - Min. 63
📺 - https://streamable.com/xg0f6k
⚖️ - Penalty NOT given to Argentina after a careless-to-reckless foot-up incident inside the penalty area. I don’t *think* you can argue too much against the clarity of the foul by KSA no.13 but I would like to present arguments to the contrary - the Saudi player’s challenge was an attempt to BLOCK the ball and not DUEL with his opponent, Argentina no.19 had already played the ball and it was a ‘mutual’ collision (btw this was exactly how ALL players judged the scene, it seems even Otamendi). For ME, this is even enough to argue against OFR. However, I looked at the scene closely and the a-bit-too-often-shaky linesman Kovačić (on other days, not today) does seem to have missed an offside here, screengrab below:
https://imgur.com/a/i8W2szV
Why didn’t Van Boekel do what Guerrero did later in the day and call Vinčić to eventually restart with IFK to Saudi Arabia? Well it was surely an option, and it would have shut down any potential Argentina complaints (idk what reaction has been like in the(ir) media but I guess it is rather blaming the team and not orientated here). However, for all the reasons I mentioned PLUS not wanting to arouse unnecessary attention (if players accepted it) and already not-visible-from-the-moon penalty given to (struggling against ‘minnows’) Argentina, I guess this influences the Dutchman’s call to say “check complete”. I’m fine with that management personally; “minimal interference for maximum benefit”.
(2/5)
DeleteManaging the Game
Pretty epic game for Slavko Vinčić, who reffed it well (actually, he was the second best performance of all so far for me).
FOCUS 1 - DISCIPLINARY MEASURES
Despite the difficulty of his task, we had to wait the longest until seeing the first card dished out in this game - only was the seal broken by the Slovenian official in the sixty-seventh minute. Not that he wasn’t given mannyyy opportunities to have booked earlier if he so wished though:
> 04’ - challenging for a ball on the ground, Saudi no.8 is slower to tackle it than ARG no.22 and makes an ‘open’ contact on his opponent; after a deliberation, Vinčić issues a very clear warning to the Saudi player; looking closely at the replay, we can never see that the real contact was actually minimal (-> careless maximum); good decision
> 25’ - Saudi no.11 overruns the ball in his possession and then in immediately challenging his opponent (namely no.19), rather ‘clatters’ through him; in terms of any potential harmful contact, there was nothing here, but considering “force” it was definitely possible to assess this as reckless; however, freekick only given
> 26’ - deliberately going through the back of Argentina’s no.17, Saudi no.12 would have been my first caution of the game here; after 25’, and such a deliberate foul in quick succession, perhaps this would have been the optimal time to draw the line; in case of a stronger reaction against him by the Argentine side, perhaps Vinčić would have done; THOUGH, he clearly perceives the nature of the scene and its’ potential “danger” to him
> 31’ - turning past no.7, a KSA player (no.23) is tripped up by him as he tried to get into a crossing position on the wing; definitely careless (and not really SPA, at least that much) but I guess that many referees would have panicked and booked here
> 36’ - what seems to be a very late/careless foul in front of the Argentina bench; no replay
> 39’ - having lost the ball, small tactical foul on Argentina no.22 to prevent him joining a potential counter-attack; freekick given, no more; Saudi no.8 was the offender, PI becoming possible now?
> 52’ - interesting follow-through incident involving Argentina’s ‘Maradona of the 21st century’; seems accidental?
> 55’ - foul by Saudi no.8, after which his fouled opponent deamands a caution be given to him
> 56’ - this wasn’t a good moment for Vinčić; after an over-enthusiastic careless foul by Saudi no.18 having slightly overrun the ball, with the game still in a ‘flux’, he allows Argentina to take the freekick from a bit away from where it should have been; nearly, the Slovenian pays the price for this as the following challenge by Saudi no.23 is quite heavy (I guess that replays would show it to be en praxis reckless), but instead it worked out okay as ref is able to give a good verbal warning (see below), and no harm done
> 57’ - no replay, but what looks like a very late intervention by a Saudi player, which his Albiceleste opponent did quite well to take evasive action from…
(3/5)
DeleteAnd then came the opening caution at 67’ - this was a KEY moment and not carding here would have tipped the game over the edge; a CLEARLY reckless foul by Saudi no.8 (similar to what he did at 4’ but this time with bad contact). I was a bit worried as Vinčić seemingly had no motion to book initially but he reached the right decision in the end. Five more card admonitions followed:
DtR (75’) - very good call as Saudi had already tried sth at 60’
Dissent (79’) - an extremely refreshing call for ‘refereeing nerds’, as such a card paying attention to match control and handling the game in a technically optimal manner was IMPOSSIBLE to imagine at the last two WCs; mobbing punished here (indeed - after freekick call against them in 90’, there was NO mobbing by Saudi team, this is the benefit of proficient refereeing!!)
Challenge (82’) - credible call, late foul
DtR (88’) - substituting player didn’t listen to Vinčić, he went off the ‘normal’ side, hence booking
Dissent (+92’) - this could have been avoided if the *clear* undercutting foul on the Saudi goalkeeper was punished, the foul was assessed as legal by the officials, I understand why the goalkeeper was furious… still, again refreshing call, as in previous WCs (especially 2014), this could easily have been used in a seminar to display a referee who “lacked feeling for the game”… no, in the MANNER that Vinčić issued the caution, he showed feeling for the game, but also consequently punished the goalkeeper’s dissenting behaviour
-> I saw some comments arguing that Vinčić didn’t follow the approach of this WC; I disagree. It seems obvious to me that Collina doesn’t stand up in the seminars and advocate law-enforcer-y refereeing, always being strict: he is focused on ensuring (real) MATCH CONTROL, control of the players actions. For instance, at least one of Orsato’s cards was de facto wrong in the opening game (too harsh)… BUT, the Italian official read the game perfectly and knew that STRICT action was required in that game to succeed. This game was of a different nature, and Vinčić also read it well. This was not BLIND leniency, but careful policing of the incidents, and choosing the save his munition until the lattermost possible moment. The Saudi team were not ill-spirited or unfair, but they were (like their opponents) playing in a passionate way, and Vinčić always looked to keep a lid on everything, keep everyone in check with his approach. It worked.
Finally, to this effect, I want to highlight two very small incidents, which were reallllyyy good in this regard to CLOSELY policing the game, keeping the (Argentina) players calm. They were ‘tiny’ in the grand scheme of the match, but showed fantastic ‘game-feeling’ for me:
https://streamable.com/vc4whz
(4/5)
DeleteFOCUS 2 - PERSONALITY AND MANAGING THE PLAYERS
Slavko Vinčić does not possess the ultra-high level of interpersonal skills displayed by eg. Daniele Orsato and Antonio Mateu, and hence has to ‘do it’ a bit of a different way. His usual style is to ‘win’ the players over with quiet chats, not really requiring charisma, and showing a lot of EMPATHY in this talks. An interesting observation I made is that in the first half, the Slovenian was actually quite isolated and the Latin American / Arab teams didn’t ‘warm’ to him much, and while there were no blatant dissents or anything like that, one can’t say that he savoured too much respect either. Indeed, perhaps he was a bit ‘put off’ by the OFR and this regard, also regarding some delays in foul calls which were visible sometimes. 31’ stuck out to me in this regard, after a warning for a small player-player conflict, the warning doesn’t really resolve relations and the Argentine no.19 pushes away his opponent - I guess that has to be understood as not really a provocative gesture (Saudi no.5 was running back to his position anyway), but this perhaps wasn’t so far away from firing everyone up either.
31’: https://streamable.com/9vtelz
However, his usual style of ‘quiet’ chats with the players and trying hard to show empathy when interacting with them did work in the second half, and generally he savoured a better level of respect in this period (see below). I guess this a point just to be *aware* of when considering Vinčić for a further appointment involving Latin/Eastern teams, it surprised me a bit, but refereeing isn’t an exact/predictable science etc. Finally, I’d like to highlight a world class small mimic at 60’ which probably saved Vinčić a yellow card for dissent off Lautaro Martínez.
56’, 60’: https://streamable.com/xqea4m
FOCUS 3 - LINESMEN
Quite busy work for the nearside official, Klančnik who never made a clear mistake - semi-automated technology said otherwise, but in reality 27’ was *actually* a very well-seen onside when we take into account what the naked eye can really perceive. The only error he made was a throw-in signalled completely in the wrong direction at 71’ - praise to Vinčić here, such a blatant wrong restart could have been damaging for the crew’s credibility (-> match control), but he was receptive, and the correct outcome was reached. As for Kovačić, he was quieter, but not including 63’, he got every single offside call I saw correct.
(5/5)
DeleteFOCUS 4 - MANAGEMENT OF INJURY AT +95’
I saw that commenters were quite critical of Vinčić for not IMMEDIATELY stopping the game at +95’, and indeed: he simply should have done. However, I don’t reallllyyy count it against the Slovenian ref for the following reasons --
* It is obvious that confirmation bias would have said that this was ‘time-wasting’; Vinčić managed to keep a verrryyyy cool face throughout the whole game (his merit btw), but at 88’ his composure was *slightly* lost when solving this DtR case and I’m sure that this imprinted on his mind that their delaying was going to go into ‘overdrive’ during this overtime.
* The scene was a bit weird in that it involved both an attacker and a defender jumping for the ball, I’m sure that the Slovenian’s focus on ‘making sure’ that the goalkeeper didn’t foul the attacker; against this background, I doubt he even cognitively went through the idea “the goalkeeper hit his defender”. I mean, it is obvious! But having not ‘seen’ it, I doubt his mind ticked over.
* The stricken Saudi didn’t become the last defender (ie. ‘playing everyone onside’). When this is the case, the referees attention becomes sharper and more likely to kill the game asap - and it didn’t here. On this occasion, Argentina were still attacking frantically and probably the officials didn’t take too much notice of him until it was cleared away.
-- to me I find when they stopped the game DEFENDABLE from a practical standpoint after a very psychologically demanding event as this game was, I don’t really see it as any deduction for either Vinčić/Kovačić. HOWEVER, if they had let the game run *even* more, then indeed it would have been very bad.
BALANCE
Contrary to the majority on the blog, I saw Vinčić’s performance not only as decent, but actually quite good. I guess it wouldn’t be wrong to call this performance fairly “lenient”, BUT: 1) it *definitely* wasn’t PERMISSIVE; and, 2) this game was quite different in nature to all the others so far (more challenging). PAIs at 6’ and 63’ resulted in correct and satisfactory outcomes respectively.
Overall, I personally feel quite sure that Collina will be positive about the Slovenian crew’s work in Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia.
One point to make about the contrast between strictness (i.e. Orsato) and leniency (i.e. Vincic): If Collina is ok with referees establishing an inconsistent line for a caution, this becomes a serious "fairness" problem when players get suspended, or if, like last World Cup, disciplinary points are used as a tiebreaker. I think it's important in these sorts of tournaments that criteria for a caution is mostly similar in all games, for this reason. It sounds like you are complimentary of the freedom this gives to referees, and I appreciate that referees can choose to apply their own style; however, I think Collina should demand consistency in terms of sanction decisions.
DeleteMikael, thank you very much for the offside image at min. 63. Being in favour of the penalty and VAR intervention in that scene, this certainly changes my interpretation completely.
DeleteI am speechless! awesome report!
ReplyDeleteAnyone met the posts that say that 28` goal was wrongly disallowed?
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/ArchivoVAR/status/1595101776281305090/photo/1
I feel that this is rather a fake news, SOAT doesn`t make such mistakes. This photo shows instead that the goal was correctly denied:
https://twitter.com/RealidadAlter16/status/1595231613083951105/photo/1
If fake news (it is imo), maybe an intervention would be needed by an official, because it spreads fast on the Internet.