UEFA EURO Analysis: Round of Sixteen no.IV (ENGGER, UKRSWE)

A quieter day than the one which preceded it. Danny Makkelie handled the round's marquee tie assuredly, and Daniele Orsato ended his tournament in a satisfying way. A look back on Tuesday in this post. 

Close readers of the blog will note that I was away for Monday's epic games - analysis of the performances of Cüneyt Çakır and Fernando Rapallini will follow tomorrow (Saturday 2nd). Our focus is on the final two matches of the second round here. 


Dutchman Danny Makkelie was appointed to the storied England vs. Germany match, and delivered a strong performance - staying calm and taking sensible decisions throughout. 

The key decision of the game was the potential red card to Kalvin Philipps (clip). A caution is the correct outcome - the England player at least partly plays the ball and the contact with Kroos is only glancing, not more than medium intensity. Makkelie solved the incident optimally, well done. 

Otherwise, the Dutch referee used sanctions in a very practical way (would highlight excellent balancing caution at 25'), and operated a widely good, if short of excellent, foul detection. A convincing performance! A chance for a fourth appointment remains open. 


Sweden vs. Ukraine was perhaps the least sonorous of all the round of sixteen matches, and it went to Italian Daniele Orsato, a fair appointment, all things considered. 

The least sonorous, and certainly the least challenging of all the matches for Orsato, with very few foul duels to assess. The first two cautions were very good calls, the third for striking was too harsh. In general, Orsato jumped in when needed in extra time (108', 116'), in a solid performance. 

The controversial decision of the game was the red card after on-field review to Marcus Danielson (clip). In general, these follow-through SFP incidents are actually one of the most interesting facets of refereeing just at the moment, but I'd argue that this case was one such that should be a red card. 

Danielson did play the ball, but the whole action continued with him flying towards his opponent and making an extremely dangerous contact. I really wish that some associations, confederations would take the initiative in this regard (at some point I might make a post setting out some vision for them), but in this particular situation, intervention and red card is the correct solution in my view. 


Balance: Two good performances on Tuesday. Daniele Orsato surely rounded off a decent tournament in the later game, while Danny Makkelie left the door very much open for further assignments through England vs. Germany.