Mario Escobar from Guatemala will kick off MD2 of 2022 FIFA World Cup by officiating the game between Wales and Iran in Al-Rayyan. Let's comment his performance.
Game 17 - Al-Rayyan (11:00 CET)
WALES - IRAN
Referee: Mario Escobar (GUA)
Assistant Referee 1: Caleb Wales (TRI)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Carlos Mora Araya (CRC)
Fourth Official: Maguette N'Diaye (SEN)
Reserve Assistant Referee: Djibril Camara (SEN)
Video Assistant Referee: Drew Fischer (CAN)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Fernando Guerrero (MEX)
Offside Video Assistant Referee: Nicolas Taran (URU)
Support Video Assistant Referee: Adil Zourak (MOR)
Standby Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bruno Pires (BRA)
Mr Wales already doing his best to perform at a similar level to the previous Trinidanian linesmen at the WC...
ReplyDeleteThere is a particular story about assistant referees from Trinidad & Tobago at WC...
DeletePerhaps the funniest thing is that Caleb Wales will get the highest mark of all three officials for this game XDDDDDDD
DeleteFIY Rates referee performances so far by Dutch magazine Voetbal international. With a well-versed journalist. (5 is excellent. 1 is Weak.)
ReplyDeleteJanny Sikazwe (Zam): BEL-CAN 1.5
Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qat): VST-WAL 1.5
Ismail Elfath (VSt): POR-GHA 2.0
Slatko Vincic (Slv): ARG-SAR 2.5
Mohammed Abdulla (VAE): SPA-CRI 2.5
Wilton Sampaio (Bra): SEN-NED 2.5
Iván Bartón (ESa): DUI-JAP 2.5
Clément Turpin (Fra): URU-ZKO 3.0
Fernando Rapallini (Arg): KRO-MAR 3.0
Victor Gomes (ZAf): FRA-AUS 3.0
Chris Beath (Aus): MEX-POL 3.0
Raphael Claus (Bra): ENG-IRN 3.0
Alireza Faghani (Irn): BRA-SER 3.0
Facundo Tello (Arg): KAM-ZWI 3.5
César Ramos (Mex): DEN-TUN 3.5
Daniele Orsato (Ita): QAT-ECU 4.0
I think Al-Jassim had a good game, around 3.0 on this scale. The rest is ok, I guess.
DeleteNot clear why Barton has been ranked so low, and one can also discuss about Al Jassim, but in this case I fluly understand why one can see his performance as not totally good. The rest is quite understandable.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGerman sports magazine "Kicker" also publishes referee "grades" after each match.
DeleteNOTE: 1 is the BEST, 6 the WORST here :)
QAT-ECU Daniele Orsato - 2
ENG-IRN Raphael Claus - 2.5
SEN-NED Wilton Sampaio - 3
USA-WAL Abdulrahman Al Jassim - 3.5
ARG-KSA Slavko Vincic - 2.5
DEN-TUN Cesar Ramos - 2
MEX-POL Chris Beath - 4.5
FRA-AUS Victor Gomes - 3
MAR-CRO Fernando Rapallini - 2.5
GER-JPA Ivan Barton - 2
ESP-CRC Mohammed Mohamed - 3
BEL-CAN Janny Sikazwe - 5.5
SUI-CMR Facundo Tello - 3
URU-KOR Clement Turpin - 1.5
POR-GHA Ismail Elfath - 5
BRA-SRB Alireza Faghani - 3
Explenation by the author of perfomrance AL Jassim (sorry its with google translate). But the purpot is clear
DeleteAfter the failure of the national team, the referee from the home country also made a poor impression. The yellow card for Gareth Bale was a joke as the Welshman played the ball. The yellow card in the final minute was also a topic of discussion. The American Acosta made a professional foul around the halfway line that could also have resulted in a red card. Al-Jassim, however, mainly stood out for his lengthy speeches to the players. Talking and warning, being preventive is the advice, but the monologues of the Qatari lasted too long. After fouls, corner kicks and other situations; he must have had voice problems afterwards.
That annoying and irritating quality announced itself before the game when he told both captains in detail how he wanted to do it and what he expected of them. So no more clues for Al-Jassim? That is not so obvious. He is a referee from the home country and is therefore supported in the referee committee, so the story goes. Purely as a result of his performance in his first game, Al-Jassim cannot get a second game, but a rematch cannot be ruled out.
Turpin better than Orsato is indeed without explanation in this case, considering also the difficulty of the game, but I think they included the VAR intervention for offside in Orsato game, there are many factors and these rankings without clear criteria must be taken only as opinions and nothing else. Don't know why you must talk about favoritism, people can have different ideas, must be respected, possible that they don't have the knowledge to go deep and so on...
DeleteFully agree with Chefren on this, it is remarkable how low is the knowledge of the general public about refereeing and LotG, even those who watch football on a daily basis. That includes many sports journalists, if not most of them. So it's probably not favoritism (or favoritism only), just a remarkable lack of knowledge.
Deleteridiculous rating for AI-Jassim, totally nonsense. I rate him 3.5
DeleteQuite clear offside missed by AR2 on the last pass before Iran goal.
ReplyDeleteShould have been detected, important mistake.
No YC in 18'???..ok..
ReplyDeleteA bad miss indeed, mandatory YC for me, but also a missed foul anty75 refers to in the comment below. Both decisions didn't help his match control at all, things are starting to heat up and if he doesn't clamp on such hard play by Iran, the match could slip from his fingers easily.
DeleteUnbelievable not to whistle a foul on Neco Williams (24th minute). The clearest foul you 'll ever see probably worth of yc also
ReplyDelete31' stamp,clear yc not given.
ReplyDeleteEscobar letting them play. Nice. But, missed cpl of fouls over on sideline on Amadou, Wales
ReplyDeleteWhy not a play on in 44. after the (delayed) offside signal by AR1, as Iran was able to start a quite open attack?
ReplyDeleteItalian commentators said: "Why not allowing play on?" indeed, in this case Escobar should have read the game after the call by his AR.
DeleteAbsolutely. AR must raise the flag after delayed offside but the referee can show the advantage
DeleteCrystal clear yc given
ReplyDelete1st half summary:
ReplyDeleteProblems with disciplinary (18,24,31), maybe not all the situations are mandatory YC but the problem is none of those situations were sancionited by the referee.
First goal of Iran was half body offside although at full speed it looked bigger.
Fully agree with your summary. 18' and 31' should have been sanctioned with a YC IMO, especially that elbow in 18'. All in all, he's been letting too much rough play, especially when compared to most of the other performances so far. Let's see if he's going to adapt this approach in the 2H.
DeleteCan anybody stream those incidents, esp 18'? I saw 24' one and it wasn't a YC worthy imo, but I wonder about those two listed.
Delete54'
ReplyDeleteSorry for language,but how the hell is that not a YC!??!?!?!
This is for sure in terms of disciplinary control the worst performance. I repeat,in disciplinary control.
Really weird lack of SPA YC in the 54' for Iran. Then 57' another one that really should be a YC, but pales in comparison to the prior so no one even expects it...
ReplyDeleteLooks like lenient Escobar showed up today, not the excellent one we saw at the CWC...
Not the same referee at previous FIFA tournament, indeed.
DeleteAt 52, He pushed the ball way through too hard where the GKeeper actually came into play around possession. How is that 'Promising'?
DeleteAt 56, he is 1v2 with space only. No one else and he is halfway between his own pen arc and CC. Thats 'Promising'?
DFKs only is correct
Now clear handball missed.
ReplyDeleteIt must be said, speaking about the tournament as a whole, we are now 17 matches in and I still have no idea what the criteria for SPA is, or what the criteria for a reckless challenge is (we do know, at least, that yellow cards won't be shown for anything else unless the referee's surname starts with a V).
ReplyDeleteSome games are strict (QAT-ECU, USA-WAL, SUI-CMR, etc.), others are highly lenient (CRO-MAR, WAL-IRN, MEX-POL). The lack of consistency is annoying when yellow cards are so important on an INTER-match level, between suspensions and possible fair play points. It's not fair to the teams that got a strict ref that other teams are escaping the same YCs.
In terms of reckless challenges, in particular the studs-to-foot challenges have had very different lines. Sometimes they are given and justified due to the point and mode of contact despite a lack of any real force (Ramos in DEN-TUN), other times they are excused.
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DeleteI think this is a fair comment but by the same token (re reckless) there has not been a lot of them. We are game 17 and 1 full round done and no RCs or anything which looks close to a 'stinker' tackle. Within that sliding scale then where this is no upper bar (RC) to measure against, I can accept there is some muddling in the YC space. When we do get a RC for a tackle, then we can start looking more so around defining lines.
Delete@That Guy ask and you shall receive
DeleteYeah the universe listened
DeleteNot good enough for Escobar I must say, no room for another game for him IMO
ReplyDeleteAgree with yc for gk,but constant mobving from iranian pla,ers and he allows that????
ReplyDeleteCome on now?
Now var?
DeleteWow...
I assume the OFR was initiated because of SFP and I actually agree with that, that was a dangerous move by the GK.
DeleteYellow Card??? Really???🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
ReplyDeleteRC after check VAR
ReplyDeleteMuch more SFP rather than DOGSO. DOGSO is not clear and obvious there so I really hope it was for SFP. And it's embarrassing to allow such mobbing without showing yellow cards.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with that comment.
DeleteSo do I.
DeleteI agree entirely. And there should have been at least two YCs IMO - at least one for the captain physically barring the referee's way before handing the YC to the GK, and another for the player who followed the referee on the way to the VAR monitor.
DeleteAgree
DeleteIt was referred for DOGSO. The referee was given the wide view replayed over and over. You can bet its DOGSO
DeleteWhat? He was shown a close-up of the point of contact, not a wide view. Definitely SFP.
Deletewatch again when they replay the wide view 5 times over
DeleteAgree! The mobbing should have been dealt with immediately.
DeleteOnly afterwards. But I'll concede that I was mistaken and he did look at both. I think the wide view at full speed was just to give him an idea of the force of the challenge. It will be interesting if we ever learn what went into the game report.
DeleteJust to confirm, he was sent for DOGSO.
DeleteAll is ok,but constant mbbing and no punishing iran players,weak ref...
ReplyDeleteWhether or not the RC is correct, surely their should have been some sanction for the mobbing and aggressive dissent. The behaviour, crowding, following and almost pushing the referee is unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteVery weak image. Escobar should go home after this match.
DeleteBy the way, is the first red card in the tournament. And i was thinking it will be for SFP, DOGSO or double yellow.This red card is for SFP, not DOGSO.
ReplyDeleteI don't actually mark Escobar down too much for pulling out yellow at first there. He did well to identify that it was actually not DOGSO; the defender was getting to that ball first. Perhaps difficult in real time to see the point and mode of contact, but once we see it's a knee to the head, it is clearly SFP. Good review from Fischer, perfect use of VAR.
ReplyDeleteRed card for the Wales GK after OFR.
ReplyDeleteThis is SFP, intensity is very high, chance for injury is high. About DOGSO, we can ask the question what will happen in a next two seconds? Yes, there was defender (not so) close to the fouled attacker BUT the goal was empty. Not 100% DOGSO, but i would prefer DOGSO over SPA.
PS Did anyone noticed that referee whistled attacking foul at first?
2 seconds? Take the snapshot at the time of the foul. If he is not fouled, he is staring at an empty net. DOGSO
DeleteIf this is SFP, what is the point of contact and mode of contact and where is the brutality
Are you serious about SFP?
DeleteAre you serious about SFP?
DeleteQuite serious.
DeleteThe bar seems to be set for a direct driven contact to make an SFP foul. Not glancing or a perpendicular contact. They are looking for opposing forces. The leg is high no doubt, but the body charge/contact is far and away more of the foul. and the force is not direct on the attacker. Its not foot, its not studs, its not flush or driven. There 'might' be some knee but its by no means clear, or obvious.
DOGSO is the much better fit and the 'referee the obvious' fit. 600m people can see the GKeeper outside his box and the striker, if not fouled, stares at an empty net. They all go 'well of course'. They are not looking at nuanced possible knee that glances perhaps the chest.
Now two YC's for protesting and dangerous play.
ReplyDeleteSomething we call not the same criterium,very weak image from Escobar.
He had better chances to show YC for dissent and mobbing. Now it is too late...
DeleteYes control is gone
DeleteMobbing by the substitutes then you see the manager beside the AR complaining on no cards at all....
ReplyDeleteSomeone would say this is possible offside but it would be totally unfootball decision.
ReplyDeleteNot a clear and obvious error but interesting to discuss theoretically. The player is in an offside position upon the first touch of the shooter, and he's right on top of the goalkeeper. I don't think he makes an obvious action. Maybe you can say he obstructs the vision? I think the best case is that he "is in the way of an opponent and interferes with the movement of the opponent towards the ball", if you were to argue for it.
DeleteWhat a sh*tshow...
ReplyDeleteToday and yesterday, Arbiter was proved 100% right! I genuinely spent much of the last half-an-hour laughing out loud at how bad the decisions/management were. Report to follow!
😀 😀 😀
DeleteIt doesn't give me any pleasure at all to say this, but you are absolutely right. Very bad performance for me, very.
DeleteMikael,
DeleteI can wholeheartedly say that it brings me no joy to be proven right.
For me as non-specialist this would be both DOGSO and SFP, one can argue about DOGSO of course but probably not about SFP.
ReplyDeleteCrystal clear intervention, maybe well seen no-DOGSO if this is not but is it really far away from the AR who could have communicated?
Escobar had one of the weakest performance on this tournament. Also Sikazwe was not good. Elfath made a crucial mistake with the "Ronaldo" penalty, but if I compare him with these two colleagues, he had great management and body language in critical situations. t will be interesting to watch if anybody of these will get a second chance...
ReplyDeleteThe decision was supported for foot on foot contact.....................................
DeleteInteresting is, that TV commentators on the Czech television praised the referee Escobar, that the game had momentum thanks to him and his decisions...
DeleteSFP.........?!?!?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteI ask 'What for?' What the excessive force or brutality in a body charge? Yes the foot is high, but are we now binning for 'Attempts to kick' because the body charge is far and away more damaging than a high leg with immaterial contact.
Watch the VAR replay. Over and over again they show the wide view. to show position of the defender inside. If he is not fouled, he is staring at an empty net. This is 10000000% DOGSO
Excessive force is fully beloging to keeper's action.
DeleteRespectfully disagree. If this is the bar, then its very low
DeleteThe big mistake by Escobar is to miss to identify the SFP, and AR1 should be involved there. In my opinion there is clear brutality by keeper and despite of maybe not a classic point of contact talking about SFP, this was an absolutely clear red card belonging to this category. More than reckless, YC wouldn't have been enough. Add this final incident to the inconsistency with cards shown during the game and the result is another poor performance from CONCACAF after Elfath.
ReplyDeleteAgain,this WC will show how big the difference is between UEFA and CONMEBOL refs and rest of the world.
DeleteAR1 showed from the very first minute that he was unreliable.
DeleteJust to confirm, he was sent for DOGSO.
DeleteWe've seen some poor officiating displays in the last few days but I think that tops the lot so far. Several YCs not shown, lacked authority in decision making and then missed a clear SFP offence and had to be bailed out by VAR. No 2nd game for Escobar imo
ReplyDeleteWow, what a game will be Tuesday, Iran vs USA. And I don't think that will be Makkelie, because team form this group will play with the teams from Group A. And Netherlands will play before the games in Group B, and FIFA will try to avoid this. So, I will go with Turpin for that hot game.
ReplyDeleteCant have Makkelie, any english ref,Faghani,Orsato ...
DeleteHard match,would not be surprised if someone from CONMEBOL gets it,like Claus or Rapallini...
I'd go Tello or Rapallini.
DeleteSo Ramos and Barton showed to be definitely best referees than Elfath and Escobar at this tournament. FIFA was right in giving more to the name from El Salvador, according to what we saw so far, and I had some doubts thtat Escobar should have been in Barton's position regarding appointments' management...
ReplyDeleteI feel personally cheated that unlike Sikazwe's, the camera didn't pan onto Collina for this game! XD
ReplyDeleteYears ago, I watched Escobar referee the USAMEX Gold Cup final. One of the most stunning performances, but not in a good way.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it is sad when your own views of the refs are confirmed by their performances (yesterday e.g.). Today it has a comedic aspect.
If you don't think that is 100% SFP then frankly your opinions on this blog are rendered meaningless.
ReplyDeleteI'm the one arguing DOGSO over SFP but at least I put forward considerations as to why.
DeleteEither way, this is a RC offence, its just a case of what box gets ticked on the form for the offence.
Unknown +1
DeleteThere is the whole RC incident:
ReplyDeletehttps://streamable.com/3thx11
I'll start by stating that this was the weakest performance of the tournament so far, at least for me. Disciplinary line was not lenient, but pretty much non-existent and I dare to say that it was sheer luck that brought this match to an end without worse consequences, not the referee's performance.
ReplyDeleteI can identify 4-5 mandatory YCs missed, at least for my taste. The one for a reckless elbow to the face in 18' is the one that "hurts" me the most and it probably set a tone for the rest of this match. The one in 54' is somewhat debatable because of a too strong pass forward by the attacker, which probably negated "promising" in an otherwise pretty clear SPA.
As for the "big" call in 84', after rewatching it a few times, my personal opinion is that this was a clear SFP, but also a DOGSO. I would dare to bet that the defender wouldn't be able to stop a potential shot towards an empty net, although being slightly from the right side. That being said, I tend to put blame here both on Escobar and AR1. VAR intervention was mandatory and, most importantly, good.
Probably the greatest issue was his player management today, or the lack of it to be specific: constant dissent and even mobbing went completely unpunished, which presented a very bad image to the spectators and widely opened the door to more of the same negative behaviour. That mobbing scene in 84' was especially "painful": I can identify at least 2 YCs that had to be issued to Iranian players, maybe even a RC to Iran no. 10 for initiating contact with the referee twice (with a decent amount of aggressiveness for me, but maybe I'm overstretching it here, I would like to hear more views on this). Escobar tried to appear to be in control of things, but he wasn't, completely (at least for me). The players were doing what they wanted.
Add to that a pretty bad missed offside by AR2 in 15', which warranted a VAR intervention to cancel a goal for Iran, and we get a performance that is (sorry to use a strong word): unacceptable at WC level (or any level at all, if you ask me).
Now USA vs Iran match will be even more important, qualifying from the group depends on this match. Who ll be the ref, any guesses?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Mateu working again soon?
DeleteMakkelie or Turpin, I guess
DeleteRC for DOGSO. Pause video just BEFORE keeper contact. Defender is beside attacker. Remove keeper (and their offence) and we have an empty goal to shoot at. 100% supportable.
ReplyDeleteSFP. The force of the contact is high. There also appears to be contact to the face area with the leg/knee. 100% supportable.
We see the wide view to see the overall movement, but also the overall force.
In either case, an experienced referee has to find a red card in their gut (sixth sense) instead of a yellow card without the need to go to VAR.
I have not seen the contact to the face on any replay but if its there, that does change things. Until I see it, its still DOGSO for me.
DeleteEven if not to face (I did include 'appears'), the intensity is high.
DeleteAny other player who runs 30 yards to jump at another player with contact being made from chest up would receive a red card - why should a GK be any different? RC for SFP in any competition
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm going to tell you what most of you don't like, but honestly I didn't think Escobar was that bad at all, he missed some possible yellow cards, and he allowed some emotions in players, but were the emotions really too high? Shouldn't a referee also be able to deal with players' emotions? I think Escobar sensed the game more than perfectly, because were there really nasty fouls, and was the game about to boil over? I do not think so! Escobar let the game be the game, and did not throw all the attention to himself by throwing cards for everything where possible, but let his way of leading and the ignorance of the players create a beautiful spectacular duel, worthy of a World Cup .
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that according to this logic you can throw away the LotG and just "manage" everything by using your presence. Is it still refereeing though?
DeleteAllowing yourself to be mobbed and borderline manhandled just because you want players to be able to show their emotions strips any and all authority you have as a referee. Allowing this type of behavior to go unpunished just emboldens the younger generation to act in the same manner. As it is, we (in the USA) are struggling to recruit/retain referees because of the abuse they take. Nowhere in the LOTG does it say that the referees should take abuse because players are emotional. These referees must do better because the world is watching.
DeleteYep, I agree he was way better than Elfath yesterday
ReplyDeleteAs an American, I agree, though Elfath's game was much harder. Escobar was not so bad today. Obviously there are some clear yellow cards that he ignored, which is classic Escobar lol. His future assignments will depend on how FIFA feels about a referee enforcing such an extremely lenient line. If they support it, for what it was he looked great, as great as one can look when implementing that style.
DeleteMy personal opinion is that a referee should show cards to players who deserve it. So he is not my style of referee. But if FIFA wants his style, it's hard to argue against his performance. So it all depends on what FIFA wants from him.
"Pierluigi Collina has said the 'mobbing of referees' by players and managers is unacceptable in football."
DeleteSo it's not really black and white,there is no place for his cold and lenient style when it comes to mobbing,he has to deal with that with such authority that players respect him,not to have confidence to suround him even more.
The whole YC/RC/mobbing scene is a debacle for refereeing.
ReplyDeleteIf you come from any other sport and see how referees allow themselves to be treated the way Escobar did, then you'd think that referees are clearly the subs in a D/s relationship.
Downright embarrassing by Escobar not to show YCs for the dissent/mobbing there. Even more embarrassing to not show the clearest RC ever for the knee to the face DOGSO tackle. Funny how you guys discuss what the RC reason was - either is a 100% RC. I mean, LOOK AT THIS: https://imgur.com/a/mYfYaWo
I just wished all the top football referees expected and demanded the same level of respect from players as their counterparts in Rugby do.
DeleteAfter this and Elfath's performance I really hope that Martinez gets his first game instead of giving them a 2nd one.
ReplyDeleteIf Martinez follows the simple and safe style he utilized in the 2021 Gold Cup Final. He can definitely succeed at this World Cup.
DeleteAnalysis
ReplyDelete-- Video Clips --
03: https://streamable.com/q4bqwa
15: https://streamable.com/yakis4
17: https://streamable.com/80pm42
24: https://streamable.com/7u2qnm
31: https://streamable.com/qbx44e
+48: https://streamable.com/wf1z7q
54: https://streamable.com/v49xp6
57: https://streamable.com/nvvcas
79: https://streamable.com/grpvwu
84: https://streamable.com/5ik1re (this is the RC scene)
+93: https://streamable.com/cu2h4u
+94: https://streamable.com/5s8kqe
+95: https://streamable.com/58mkk5
+97: https://streamable.com/5zlizp
-- ends --
Unfortunately, Mario Escobar lost the plot yesterday and delivered the poorest performance of Qatar 2022 until now. The 1H was always on an okay level, despite some sub-optimal calls, and he mandatorily opened the cards in additional time after a crystal clear reckless/SPA tackle. It all started to go wrong in the 2H, the ignored cautions at (especially) 54’ and 57’, and Escobar’s lack of charisma came into focus, as he simply dealt with Iran’s dissent like a statue. I noted in the previews that Escobar suffers from the ability of not being able to retain full focus for the 90mins, and this was certainly the case in WALIRN, as he began to issue a number of quite crazy play on calls as the game hotted up further (67’, 69’, 72’, 75’, 79’).
Everything fell apart after the RC which he quite incredibily didn’t give on the FoP — only saved by the sound VAR work of the crew led by Drew Fischer — and the result was that the game descended into a ‘typically CONCACAF’ level of chaos, most evident in the total carte blanche towards the benches incredible behaviour (+93’, +97’). Unfortunately, it seems we will never know what happened to infuriate everyone off-camera in the latter scene, but one can make an educated guess… This was a loss of control over the match which exceeded what even Elfath experienced yesterday. Comfortably: the worst performance so far.
His ‘collaborators’ did not help the impression either - Juan Carlos Mora was corrected by the CONCACAF VAR crew at 15’ when wrongly allowing a goal, and Caleb Wales never at any point seemed really comfortable, most obvious at 3’ but also in other scenes (non-flag of elbow at 18’). If marking fourth officials, then Mr N’Diaye should also *not* exceed a mark of 4. Unfortunately, the referees work in this game was far from satisfying, and I don’t think it is unfair to call it “a disaster”.
(3 - 6 - 5 - (IV))