In the game of his life, Szymon Marciniak displayed surely the best performance of his whole career - the widespread praise for the Polish official was much deserved (I'm sure he won't be losing any sleep over L'Équipe's sour mark :P). A breakdown of the officiating in the World Cup Qatar 2022 final.
We can start with video material of the big decisions the officials had to face on the big day.
Key Match Incidents
A montage below with all the following KMI scenes:
9' - Potential penalty to Argentina (pushing)
21' - Penalty given to Argentina (tripping)
27' - Potential violent conduct by Giroud
36' - Potential foul on Mbappé before *2-0 goal for Argentina
+52’ - Potential violent conduct by Kolo Muani
55’ - Potential serious foul play by Rabiot
63' - Potential penalty to Argentina (charging)
79’ - Penalty given to France (tripping); DOGSO?
87’ - Caution given to Thuram (PAI simulation)
+94’ - Potential penalty to France (holding)
+94’ - Potential IFK to France (circumventing PAI)
+98’ - Caution to Acuña (SPA tackle); advantage?
107’ - Potential penalty to Argentina (tripping)
109’ - No offside before *3-2 goal for Argentina
116’ - Penalty given to France (handling) + YC Montiel (BaSoG)
(We will work in these incidents into the whole body of analysis below)
Match
Szymon Marciniak played a blinder in the Argentina vs. France World Cup final of 2022. The Polish referee earned the appointment to football's showpiece game with two very good performances in normal-difficulty (France vs. Denmark in GS) and quite challenging (Argentina vs. Australia in R16) prior matches, and held his nerve under the immense scrutiny of the great game to show an amazing performance in the final itself. I wonder if Marciniak is off 'cloud nine' even now!
Accordingly, the Pole made an excellent start to the game, immediately alert to recognise the first foul (00-17). His warning to De Paul (01-36) was brilliant. Rabiot 'cutely' impedes his progress legally by standing where the Argentine wants to go, and in response the key Argentina player clatters through him, also for revenge regarding the early foul. Marciniak is straight over - you know he's serious when he pulls the finger grip off(!) - and warns De Paul instantly. His facial expression + mimic to Upamecano for fouling Messi was superb (03-15). Expectations were set.
9' could never be a penalty, but 21' was - and the Polish ref was absolutely on the spot, and spot on, to award Argentina the spot-kick. It is a nailed on foul, 100%. I wasn't convinced until watching the video kindly posted by our user "VAR" (here), but you can see that Dembélé clearly trips Di María carelessly, it is a clear foul, penalty. Slow it down to 0.25 speed if you have to, one should be able to see it clearly then. Not soft, not supportable - but 100% correct! VAR should intervene in case of play on, to be perfectly honest. It seems the 'virus' of so-called 'final refereeing' caught some in the comment section, with all respect. Marciniak perceived it all by himself on the field of play and got it right - respect!
The only thing I can fault the ref for in the first half is awarding Argentina rather than France a freekick on the edge of the box at one moment (26-50), the Mbappé/36' play on is rather a modern call for modern times, but it was after Argentina's second goal where the Polish referee really earned his corn and really won the game from my perspective. Though the offside call at 30' between himself and linesman Paweł Sokolnicki deserves a mention! (29-00). Before the second score of the game, there was only one potential yellow card (for a late challenge by Romero (25-30). But after this goal, many potential bookings arose:
40-08: SPA-ish blocking by Koundé on Di María
41-10: Holding by Kolo Muani on Alvárez, given with a small delayed whistle
41-36: Deliberate and late foul by Kolo Muani on Tagliafico
44-05: Off-the-ball holding by Alvárez on Hernández, to prevent a 'one-two' with Mbappé
45-33: Play on in a very SPA-ish scenario as Dí Maria and Koundé fought for position
46-27: Crazy jump in by Romero (to block, not tackle) before foot-up by Hernández on De Paul
It would have been very easy to panic in these moments. In the last three World Cups, referees have been very hamstrung when it comes to disciplinary control. Indeed, all of these situations made for credible yellow cards - but, Marciniak couldn't really give them. He had to closely patrol these incidents, solve them in clever ways, and hope that a) the players would calm down again by themselves + smart preventative action and b) a clear yellow card could appear to 'help' him (Marciniak).
Many referees 'retreat' more into the background in such moments (eg. it happened in Croatia vs. Brazil at this WC after a SYC rightly not given at 83'), but Marciniak trusted himself, got the luck he required (deserved!), and came through. By the way - he read the game perfectly, absolutely to a tee. Immediately after the second goal, look at him charge at Alvárez, preventing any DtR or escalation occurring. Marciniak immediately detected that the game had changed. Superb!
Of course, the yellow card did come (the latest ever opening booking in a World Cup final by the way), and this saw the Polish referee through to halftime. The French targeting of De Paul was the biggest initial theme of the second half - Rabiot committed what in reality should be considered an SFP on him (see above), and then Mbappé could easily have been cautioned for deliberately kicking him (57-27). Camavinga had a go later as well (76-06). Rabiot booked, freekicks only given in the later two cases.
As ever, Marciniak deeply perceived each scene, and remained very alert. The second penalty, France's first one, is a fascinating decision on a mechanical level. It shows, like the Di María call, that the Polish ref's intuition and reading of situations is even better than maybe he realises! Again, he perfectly detects the Otamendi trip on Kolo Muani and instantly awards a penalty. Trip, you cry, he even gestured for a holding!? Yes, but let me explain:
What Marciniak percieved, in both 21' and 79' is a natural fall. This is how players assess scenes themselves - if you ever wonder why there aren't wild appeals after a 'putting your leg across' incident, this is why, they themselves know (of course at top level) what is a foul and what isn't in this regard. This is why all France players expected the Di María penalty to be given and didn't dissent the decision, you can see it in their body language. And why calling it "soft" is very irritating for me, because the Argentina penalty decision is excellent. To trust your pure instinct that much on the highest level is amazing. For the France penalty, again, Marciniak detects that Kolo Muani has been felled by Otamendi - he has, look at the legs contact. He immediately gives the penalty. He then has to rationalise, in his own head, what causes this fall - and makes the holding mimic (some holding did exist but it wasn't much). Absolutely fascinating insight this call was into the mindset for (one of) the world's best referee(s)!
Was it DOGSO/RC, then? Not so much for me really, because the tripping is caused by Kolo Muani's (100% legal!) small stop to 'reconsider' his position and not drive towards goal. All things considered YC-DOGSO is probably better, but even the missed caution is not so much of a problem for me (admittedly others will disagree, but okay). The widely-appreciated dive call on Thuram has already been much-discussed, but again, the intuition to 'grab' everything that happened from a sub-optimal insight angle is really superb. To not be second-guessing yourself so late in a World Cup final is amazing, again respect!
I don't really find the Romero 'backpass' an attempt to circumvent the laws, to be honest. The situation happens so quickly, and even lends itself to the defender going to the ground, I'm fully okay with no call here (like for the 3-2 subs, but the ball is in IFAB's court here). The missed advantage is quite a significant mistake as France had a very promising counterattack on. I suspect that Marciniak was anxious, having let Tagliafico off a couple of minutes before (95-48), to not loose his grip on proceedings, and was focused on that rather than a potential advantage. Bad luck! Marciniak did play a nice advantage in that additional time before that happened (93-40).
Finally for the first ninety minutes - Giroud's caution was recommended by the American fourth official Ismail Elfath, who seemed to have a good performance in this role from what we could assess. The boards confusion was genuinely not his fault (68-40), and having not been concentrated on a throw-in in his vicinity lead to the wrong decision being taken (80-02), he was ready to step (or indeed sprint!) in and prevent Scaloni from causing any trouble. But Giroud's booking we will come back to...
Argentina's third goal has become a point of contention orientated in sour grapes, but the actions of second linesman Tomasz Listkiewicz in the scene confuse me. He flags for offside right? But Marciniak ignores him and gives the goal? We can note that already there was a 'weird' scene in extra time where Marciniak gives the offside obviously on the comms call of his AR, but Listkiewicz never flagged (100-33). It seems that contrary to his team leader (and indeed Sokolnicki, who was faultless), perhaps the occasion got to him a bit - I strongly sensed something like 'blackouts' in 101' and 109' for Listkiewicz.
Marciniak's high disciplinary threshold continued into extra time (Messi LoR 92-47, Acuña 94-34, Romero on Mbappé 96-00, Montiel holding Fofana 99-10, DtRs in the corner at 111-55 and 113-10), but he was absolutely consistent and focused in his approach. The only two bookings were the (at least) close-to-SFP and unreplayed tackle by Paredes, and the formidably awarded penalty to the France, from in theory a suboptimal position for that offence. Chapeau!
And finally, rather than describe the penalty competition, below is the full tactical camera sequence of the KFTPM. What a war between goalkeeper and referee throughout...
Balance
To Szymon Marciniak, we can say thank you!
Thank you for showing our hobby in the best possible light on Sunday, thank you for showing that excellent officiating is always a partner of excellent football, thank you for showing that lenient disciplinary control is not intertwined with passive and lax refereeing, thank you for showing that referees are top athletes too, who can raise their level for the biggest games, and thank you for giving the best possible finale to a World Cup which wasn't spectacular for the refereeing by any means.
Despite everything, top football will always need excellent individuals who can bring excellent performances to games which require them. Marciniak showed that on Sunday.
It was a pleasure, sir. Enjoy a well-earned(!!!) break! :)
| Szymon Marciniak - 9 Paweł Sokonicki - 7 Tomasz Listkiewicz - 6 Ismail Elfath Katheryn Nesbitt POL - USA | VAR: Tomasz Kwiatkowski (POL) AVAR: Juan Soto (VEN) OVAR: Kyle Atkins (USA) SVAR: Fernando Guerrero (MEX) Video Match Officials: III |
| Argentina 3-3 France (aet, Argentina win 4-2 in a penalty competition) Final | Sun 18/Dec 6pm (Lusail) | |
And that brings to a close FIFA World Cup 2022 for us. On behalf of Chefren, I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone (well, almost everyone! :D) who contributed to the blog during this last month, a special thank you to Euro Soccer Ref and Upstylon between the three of us managed to cover every game in a level of detail I dare suggest was unmatched by FIFA internally themselves. Like the match officials themselves, we tried our best, and hope it was an effort worth making for you.
From all of us: enjoy a well-deserved (and needed! :P) break, and Happy Christmas :)
I don't think that Listkiewicz raised his flag for an offside.
ReplyDeletehttps://imgur.com/a/JjTqHbS
DeleteI agree but his gestures could (do!) easily indicate that...
You can see he raises his flag in the exact moment they get the confirmation from GLT. He should've raised his flag and go towards midfield. But no way he signals offside here.
DeleteIndeed, it's standard procedure: for a tight decision, you raise your flag, referee whistles, you give the signal (same as for a tight ball out of play). It makes perfect sense given Marciniak's signal. The AR could perhaps have started sprinting to midfield a bit quicker (as soon as he hear Marciniak whistle), but it was certainly not an offside flag.
DeleteIt is also clear through the whole sequence that referee and AR are communicating and signalling together, given the synchronised signals.
Perhaps it was an indication that the whole ball pass the goal line!!!!Of course in that case he had to move to the halfline
ReplyDeleteYeah. I don't think he was fully focused on 'switched on' by this point in the game. It is no crime, it was a tough game, much happened, WC final, ET, still no big mistakes or anything... but a six should be fair, he wasn't 100% 'all there' between 101' and 109'. But to repeat, match officials are HUMAN, and one can surely understand it...
DeleteListkiewicz said in one of the interviews for the Polish radio station that he raises the flag to confirm the goal because there was noise in the stadium and to confirm the signal from the GLT
ReplyDeleteThis makes sense to me. Marciniak didn’t signal for the goal right away, and surely Listkiewicz had no chance of hearing anything on his comms in this moment - so, better to signal visually just in case Marciniak wasn’t paying attention and missed the goal on his watch.
DeleteOne *significantly* less likely theory, but an interesting thought I had anyways: perhaps Listkiewicz chose to raise the flag (in spite of its obsolescence due to GLT) because he knew that, in doubt of whether the play was offside or not, it would mean he was correct either way! If the play was offside, then it can go down in history that he flagged for it after the typically VAR-mandated delay. If the play was onside, he was simply signaling the goal… :)
Great Point by Collinas Erben regarding the Substitutes on the 3rd goal by Argentina.
ReplyDeleteVAR would not even be allowed to intervene here, if referees would have wanted to disallow the goal, input only could come from AR1 or 4OF.
https://twitter.com/CollinasErben/status/1605222630050635778?t=T2yAdF8qrVeLxTV2vL1D2Q&s=19
Do you know their source?
DeleteI don't find the quote in
https://www.theifab.com/laws/latest/video-assistant-referee-var-protocol
Great analysis, thanks! Congratulations to Marciniak for this amazing and long time remembered performance!
ReplyDelete+1!!!
DeleteFantastic analysis Mikael. Thank you for the complete match breakdown. Merry Christmas to everyone involved with Law5 and all the other contributors.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Mikael. This is simply an excellent analysis, I can agree with every single word. You have also explained some aspects I wasn't even fully aware of in the beginning, thank you for that again.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to all administrators, contributors and readers of Law5.
Great analysis and, as always, thanks so much to the blog admins! For me, the Mbappe tackle at 96' is very close to RC, with straight leg and studs coming into ankle with some force, and only because 1) the force wasn't a little more, 2) Mbappe wasn't injured, and 3) it being a World Cup final, wasn't a RC shown, so the no YC is certainly a mistake, IMO, but deosn't deter from Marciniak's masterclass overall. Also, you will see referees nitpick about the spot of a throw in, but rarely will you see them nitpick about the spot of the ball for a quick kick, and though I think the no advantage call given (at 98' ?) was a mistake, it is actually correct for a different reason: the spot of the ball is two yards closer to the Argentinian defensive half of the field than the spot of the foul, which would have been a distinct advantage for the French team. Anyway, having such a great tournament end with such a great match AND great performance put all of us in referee heaven for a little while, for Marciniak is one of us and he did us proud. 😅🙏❤
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis mikael
ReplyDeleteFew insights from Marciniak interview in Polish: https://www.sport.pl/mundial/7,154361,29290056,szymonku-co-ty-zrobiles-teraz-to-sie-zacznie-barwne-kulisy.html#s=BoxOpImg4 (translation by Google and me)
ReplyDeleteMarciniak: When you referee the most important matches of the Champions League and Hugo Lloris, Olivier Giroud approaches you in the tunnel, you normally greet him, talk, hear that it's nice that you referee today, it's also a pleasant adrenaline. I always took a cool approach to it, but I also tried to take advantage of the good relationship with the players. Then on the pitch, every good decision drives you. The players feel it too. As Enzo Fernandez wanted to argue about the corner at the beginning, I already knew and I had confirmation from Tomek Listkiewicz and Kwiatek (Tomasz Kwiatkowski) that there was no corner. I tell Fernadez as he ran to me, why is he cheating that the opponent touched the ball? That we know and see everything. Such a player also immediately has a signal that "Łysy" (the Bald referee) sees everything and there is no need to argue. I remember immediately whistling that simulation of Thuram in the penalty area, and the Kwiatek in my ear says, wait, it looks like a penalty. I thought to myself, heck, I saw it well. And quickly, however, I hear in the handset: "Well, great decision, it was a simulation!" Then that hand in the penalty area at the end of extra time was also heavy, I couldn't see well, my gut told me to whistle. When I looked at Gonzalo Montiel's body language, I knew it was the right decision and that he played that hand. The player didn't even come to me. Someone there from Argentina asked me to see the situation on the preview myself, but I knew there was no point. I even told Kwiatek before the match: Don't call me to VAR for anything. Sometimes you feel that these decisions are coming in, that they are certain, and that was the case this time.
"Even with Messi's goal, where it wasn't clear if the ball had crossed the goal line. Before our watch started to vibrate with confirmation of information, Listek (Tomasz Listkiewicz) had already raised the flag. That's why even Massimo Bussacca (head of FIFA's refereeing department) laughed and said: They are better than technology. Gianni Infantino also joked at the after party that why does he spend so much money on technology when we do all this without whistling. It was nice.
Of course, there were mistakes in this final. I interrupted the French counter-attack after a bad tackle by Marcos Acunia. I was afraid that the fouled player wanted to unwind and I read it wrong, because nothing happened and you could give an advantage and then come back with a card. It's hard. In a game like this, I take such a mistake without a question. The important thing is that there were no big mistakes.
Marciniak: "I'll admit that I've never been so focused for the whole match. With this concentration, it's usually the case that you can't be at the same level for 90 minutes. That's why I usually find a moment to joke with the players. Here there was no reason or situation for more jokes. All the more so because the match started sharply. Rabiot fouled Rodrigo de Paul, the latter pushed him off without the ball in a moment, so I knew it would have to be managed decisively. However, in those first 15 minutes we set up the encounter. It also helped that we had previously refereed these teams after one match at the World Cup. There were no comments then. There was praise."
Delete"At two-nil, Argentina still had the advantage, I thought to myself that the match was going well because the players were playing forward, there was no bus in goal, no chess. When that first penalty for France came, as I blew the whistle I said out loud to myself: Simon, what have you done, now it's going to start for us. I'm like that, when I'm refereeing I often say to myself: you could have done this, you could have done that differently. When I'm running after the action, I report to myself that now with the foul there will be a yellow, now a red card. And after that penalty it really took off."
"We spoke to the analyst about the distribution of forces for this match the day before the final. He suggested that if there was a draw with 10 minutes to go, to try to run less and set up better. I admit that's what I was doing. I didn't chase to every part of the pitch, as is often my habit, and I wanted to leave some energy for the next 30 minutes, well there was extra time. We always make jokes about that extra time. We then joke that no experienced referee allows overtime because they don't pay extra for it (laughs)."
"We can speak Polish on the pitch. If a quick reaction is required and that split second is crucial, we throw in a word in Polish. However, for the entire six weeks, whether at training or matches, we spoke mainly in English. Let's remember that there were four referees on VAR at these championships. It is always nice when these people hear us and know what we are talking about. So sometimes it was like I would shout one word in Polish and then go on to explain everything in a few sentences in English. Let's also remember that the transcript of these matches with our messages is then used by FIFA as training material. In addition, it is also important who you have as a fourth official. For me, he is the most important. In the final it was an American, so all the more reason for English to be logical here."
Kwiatkowski: "I gave all the commands and the main information in English, but then I added a description or some remarks in Polish. These remarks were not needed by anyone on the sidelines, even good, because they were often our messages."
Marciniak: "At the final, I talked and warned the players a lot more than I usually do. We didn't want to give anyone any soft yellow card, which could have then turned into a red card. Of course, after Nicolas Otamendi's foul in the penalty area if I had given him a yellow card, that decision would have been good, but who is hurt by the lack of that yellow card?
DeleteOf course there were some mistakes in this final. I interrupted a French counter attack after an ugly entry by Marcos Acuña. I was afraid that the fouled player wanted to retaliate and I read it wrong, because nothing happened and you could have given the benefit and then come back with a card. Tough luck. In a match like this I take such a mistake in the dark. The important thing is that there were no big mistakes.
Of course, we also stand firm on the ground. We know where our place is. We know the pressure will be even greater now, because that's how it was when we were promoted to the elite. If we go to the league after that World Cup final and we make a mistake, they'll say "the world championship referees, and now they didn't see the offside". - that happens. I know there will always be mistakes in refereeing, it's not going to be now that we referee everything like the mundial final.
However, it's always good to speak honestly with the players. If sometimes it happens that I'm not sure about something, I say so. When Lautaro Martinez ran to me and was surprised that there was no corner, and Kwiatek added in my ear that there could have been a corner, I replied: Lautaro if it was a corner then sorry, I didn't see and I quickly asked if he had touched the ball with his hand somewhere in there. Then he was already focused to deny it. When you are sincere on the pitch and say sorry, the footballers also have a greater understanding of you and appreciate that you can admit or even apologise."
"We get a lot of these invitations. They are not always welcome, because when we go abroad, we cannot judge at home. And you know how it is at home. Why don't they judge abroad? And if we were abroad, everyone would ask why we don't judge at home. For us, these trips to Saudi Arabia, for example, helped. With acclimatisation, with understanding the culture. We are moving in the direction of refereeing abroad more often, but the federations must also agree on this. We remember the famous case of Mark Clattenburg, who went to referee in Arabia and was taken off the list of referees for the World Cup in Russia because it wasn't approved top-down.
DeleteWe have a good relationship with Paulo Dybala. He always comes by the match to say hello from his grandmother, he remembers those Polish roots. Now we also chatted with him, after the match he threw himself on our necks. The French also thanked us. I exchanged a few sentences with Hugo Loris, high-fived Olivier Giroud. He got a yellow card but he had no complaints, he said himself that it was a difficult match. To a sad Mbappe, I told him he was a super footballer and that he would still win more than one cup. He leaned on me, it was emotion. I don't even want to think what was in his mind at that moment.
The problems with someone were there too. Those who feel strong in the team, when it doesn't go, they try to bully a bit, cheat, instigate, scare. I understand them, I used to play football too, the referee has to do everything he can to not get caught up in it. You have a thousand ways to do it. You can turn and walk away. You can smile, make a joke. That's what I did at the beginning to Rodrigo de Paul. I went at him hard in a few words. But I quickly added is it ok between us? He just smiled. There are some things that I, as a referee, have to do because other players can see and hear it too. De Paul I had to stop hard in the match against Australia, where he shouted a lot to Listek."
"After the match, champagne and some catering was wheeled into the changing room. I admit that I was so tired from the meeting that I had no energy for anything. There were some balls to be signed, some photos to be taken. Tom had already turned on his playlist. Massimo Busacca and Pierluigi Collina came in.
DeleteCollina knew that he had always been my idol. After that final he said to me: now you are my idol. That was the best thing I could have heard. You know how it is. We don't have complexes that we are from Poland, but when we started our international career, we ended up in the third basket of the judges. Others who were in the second basket had much better matches and refereed at the highest level all the time, but somehow we got here."
I only read the first part so far but had to comment on that classic line: "Don't call me to VAR for anything." I love that so much! The hubris, the hyperbole, the hutspa! Our "baldy" is the Dirty Harry of referees, and he can pull it off because he's earned that confidence from matches like the final.
DeleteAnd something I can't fully recall Kuipers said about a pregame ritual or something like that to let the players know he was watching them came to mind when Marciniak used just the right words make Fernandez think that he knew everything, which is pure psychological genius.
DeleteAnd a key take away from the above analysis is reading the match, as a decision that might be correct in one match may not be in another, and this isn't taught as much as the LOTG or positioning or other technical aspects of refereeing, though it is in some ways more important than the former.
ReplyDelete