Monday 5 July 2021

UEFA EURO Analysis: Round of Sixteen no.III (CROESP, FRASUI)

Two simply epic matches - what a thrilling day of action at this tournament! Nearly double the amount of goals as bookings; both respective refs contributed to that with successful officiating performances, with one of them being quite outstanding. This post follows. 



Cüneyt Çakır from Turkey was appointed to control one of the more sonorous duels at this stage of the competition, Croatia vs. Spain, and the Turkish referee repaid that trust with a quite masterful performance indeed. 

Çakır brilliantly stayed on top of all the incidents, interacting with the players on a very sophisticated level on a number of occasions (9', 10', 29', 41', +46', 51', 54', 58', 93', 110', 116'), and knowing when to (73', 83') and not to (29', 94', 117') jump in with cautions. 

The Turkish referee turned away three penalty appeals for potential handling offences (clip); GLT has it's say too (clip). This was perhaps the performance of the tournament from Cüneyt Çakır - to say he deserved more than being humiliatingly sent home from London, would be formulating it very politely. 


France vs. Switzerland was perhaps the game of the tournament, and was a great appointment for our guest trio at this EURO headed by Fernando Rapallini from Argentina. 

The two situations worthy of most discussion are, of course, the penalty given to Switzerland after on-field review (clip), and also a potential second yellow card for Granit Xhaka in extra time (clip). 

I appreciated Rapallini's performance on the whole - he used sanctions in a decent way (stricter on challenges than tactical fouls), and served football well with his unobtrusive manner and good recognition of foul offences (besides guessed phantom handling at 25'). 

The tournament has come to an end for CONMEBOL's trio, and at least on this side of the Atlantic (it seems in Brazil too), the first exchange programme involving the EURO since 2000 has been a real success! Let's see if it may continue in Champions League / Libertadores. 


Balance: A thrilling day for football fans was a good one for the match officials; Fernando Rapallini and Cüneyt Çakır both made positive impacts on the matches they were in charge of, the latter of whom's tournament came to a natural end. 

However - leaving Çakır without a further appointment, even to a quarterfinal match, points to a real disregard for meritocracy in UEFA refereeing at the moment. 

5 comments:

  1. Good analysis as usual.

    Interesting you mentioned CL/Libertatores. Is that something that has been mentioned / hinted at? A long way but maybe refs could go for approximately one week, do two consecutive midweeks and some other events / coaching / training in between?

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    Replies
    1. In a previous referee exchange between CONCACAF and AFC, the exchange referees officiated one match only: a semifinal in each respective champions league.

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  2. I just would like to ask some source for Rapallini is home now?

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  3. I have rephrased some parts of this comment:

    I generally agree with most of your analysis, Mikael. Both of Cakir's and Rapallini's performances were of the highest standard, on an excellent day of football at the Euros.

    The fact that Cakir was not appointed is a little disappointing. However, Mikael, I understand why you may be unhappy that Cakir was sent home after R16, but you are getting too emotional about it.

    In my opinion, all the 4 referees appointed for the QFs all deserved their appointments as well.
    Also, the 2 SF appointments are also great.

    I think your main anger is the appointment of Dr Brych for the QF and SF, because you think it's undeserved. And you are entitled to your opinion.

    However, I think it's a little unfair of you to publicly claim that UEFA are not meritocratic because they made decisions that are contrary to your opinion.

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