Valenzuela earns the distinction of becoming the first referee from his country to handle a World Cup fianls match - the Venezuelan official begins on the sonorous England vs. USA game. Discussion here.
Game 20 - Al-Khor (20:00 CET)
ENGLAND - UNITED STATES
Referee: Jesús Valenzuela (VEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Jorge Urrego (VEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Tulio Moreno (VEN)
Fourth Official: Yoshimi Yamashita (JPN)
Reserve Assistant Referee: Nueza Back (BRA)
Video Assistant Referee: Juan Soto (VEN)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Nicolás Gallo (COL)
Offside Video Assistant Referee: Diego Bonfá (ARG)
Support Video Assistant Referee: Julio Bascuñán (CHI)
Standby Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Ezequiel Braislovsky (ARG)
Missed advantage in 27'.
ReplyDeleteThought the same. Should have been yellow too.
DeleteStrong manager with his very serious mimics but another referee who tries to avoid cautions. Very late challenge in 1:25, tackle when no advantage was played in 26:50, kicking in 29:50 - all by ENG players. To save all three of them is too much for my taste.
ReplyDeleteNow imagine one easy SPA by US player and you end up with either inconsistent disciplinary control if you issue a YC or with a blatant card missed and strengthening an already too lenient approach.
Make it simple, guys...
Bravo
DeleteValenzuela is very calm and discreet. Overall he forgot some fouls, advantages and maybe needs a little bit more atention to disciplinar issue of the americans (claims). But so far so good
ReplyDeleteThough not the most challenging match, excellent first half by Valenzuela, maybe the best half I've seen so far.
ReplyDelete53' Shaw challenge of Weah into his ankle, no foul called and YC missed.
ReplyDeleteStuds into ankle.
DeleteNormal. Only both dispute the ball
DeleteAgreed, absolutely mandatory card missed. An unfortunate loss of concentration here (no help from the FO?).
DeleteTwo YCs are all that stands in the way of this to be deemed a very good performance: 27' and this one. But they do tell the tale, as Euro Soccer Ref correctly noticed in his comment above.
Pretty clear reckless challenge and YC missed. Probably very hard to see live, but we can't chalk it off as both playing the ball... that's a YC.
DeleteI dunno about Euro Soccer maybe WC is more closely (probably with criteria for fouls and disputes been more rigorous) but currently here in South America, more precisely on Libertadores Championship, none referee would assigned this
DeleteCONMEBOL? Where matches continuously end in mass brawls. Where you have a game with 10 Red Cards. Where mobbing and manhandling the referee is the norm. No thanks!
DeleteThis is Futbol (a game) not combat.
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DeleteConmebol football roots mode, while UEFA baby powder mode
DeleteGood performance overall in surprisingly easy match.
ReplyDeleteThis game was so high-paced that we had no time to comment. The approach that Jesús Valenzuela implemented contributed to the beauty of this game. Yes, there were a few missed fouls and YC, but that is what this game needed. Full control and great game management. Excellent fitness. No wonder that in 2021 Valenzuela was awarded as CONMEBOL's best referees (Wikipedia).
ReplyDeleteAgree! Good performance
DeleteThis was the most boring game so far. Almost nothing happened. It was like a friendly game.
ReplyDeleteAwful game, I couldn't watch it!
ReplyDeleteGenerally good overall performance
ReplyDeleteSolid display from Valenzuela across the board.
ReplyDeleteAnalysis
ReplyDeleteKey match incidents:
- - -
Overview:
The first match without any key match incident to solve with both teams focused only on playing very tactical football (like a chess game).
Jesús Valenzuela quite surprisingly got this big clash but as we can see, FIFA RefCom really know the selected referees and their abilities. The Venezuelan is a very athletic and extremely serious, no-nonsense type of referee. He used his serious look to manage players and incidents. In this game it was OK - however, I think he was rather helped by players and I'm not sure he would be able to keep full control by being such an isolated figure if the game had exploded.
He started the game extremely focused, even over-motivated, trying to see everything -> a very good reaction to a late challenge at 2' and his acting at throw-ins at 4', 4', 6', 8'.
His disciplinary control was lenient but "still OK". In the first half, there were three harder fouls of ENG players (2', 26', 30') after which a caution was not mandatory but maybe sanctioning the second or third of them would've been optimal for the game management. Two fouls of 2USA (careless-reckless tackle in 71' and holding in 73'), cynical shot on goal after whistle by 8USA (59') and dissenting against FK (90') fall into the same category of being at the referee's discretion but a stricter approach would be optimal, at least in my eyes.
Then, the only missed mandatory caution was the one for reckless step on foot committed by 3ENG in 53' - fourth official should've been able to help the referee there.
I've got a gut feeling that sometimes players were expecting a whistle that didn't come and sometimes they were surprised by a FK being awarded. Some Valenzuela's reactions - mimics - on questioning his calls were really amazing and funny (25', 70') but in general he simply ignored any sign of players disagreement.
There were two missed advantages in 28' and 82' but on the other hand he played three good advantages in 25', 37' and 87'.
Fabulous scene in 49' when - looking for best angle - the Venezuelan ran at ENG player who teetered. The referee followed play till the end of USA attack and then showed a "SORRY!!!" gesture to the player.
Valenzuela didn't feel the need to verbally communicate with players. He based his performance on his excellent fitness and serious look. In case of minor conflicts he was just there and everybody calmed down immediately. It worked well today but not necessarily is the best option for hotter games involving teams that play dirty football.
Marks:
Jesús Valenzuela - 6
Jorge Urrego - 7
Tulio Moreno - 7
Juan Soto - III
Fully agree with your analysis. It sums up my thoughts completely.
Delete"He only missed mandatory caution was the one for reckless step on foot committed by 3 ENG in 53' - fourth official should've been able to help the referee there."
ReplyDeleteMy sentiment exactly on 4th Official (who would have been much closer).
Rest of game, referee was one step ahead of the players the entire time, keeping this (easier match in excellent control.
Valenzuela no es el primer referee venezolano en Copa del Mundo. En 1974 Vicente Llobregat dirigió Italia - Haití.
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