The English referee about to make his debut at WC in Japan - Costa Rica, let's follow his performance.
Game 25 - Al-Rayyan (11:00 CET)
JAPAN - COSTA RICA
JAPAN - COSTA RICA
Referee: Michael Oliver (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Stuart Burt (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Simon Peter Bennett (ENG)
Fourth Official: Maguette N'Diaye (SEN)
Reserve Assistant Referee: Malick El Hadj Samba (SEN)
Video Assistant Referee: Jerome Brisard (FRA)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Benoit Millot (FRA)
Offside Video Assistant Referee: Cyril Gringore (FRA)
Support Video Assistant Referee: Adil Zourak (MOR)
Standby Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Nicolas Danos (FRA)
Strong start from Oliver. Getting around the park and really making sure he is using his proximity to show players he is in charge
ReplyDeleteThe snail's pace of the game certainly helps. Add in two fairly clean teams and that the majority of the fouls have been pretty obvious. Makes for easy work for any of these referees.
DeleteSo far, so good. A relative stroll in the park
ReplyDeleteSnooze fest. Can only referee whats in front of you.
ReplyDeleteGood YC
ReplyDelete41': what a "deep" step on foot, this could have been easily RC for excessive force (no matter the exact point of impact).
ReplyDeleteYellow and nothing more. To send off would be lowering the bar. Considering the contact point, there is no way thats red
DeleteI get what you're saying Chefren. But that be a hard sell if it was Red. Mostly because by default, bellow the ankle will be Yellow.
DeleteA very hard sell indeed, I just wrote a remark, nothing more. YC expected decision, but step on foot clearly different from the "normal" ones.
Delete^^^I agree with your assessment Chefren
DeleteSecond YC follows a few later, for me could have been avoided.
ReplyDeleteNothing had happened before during the full first half.
Agree. That was soft and should have managed that
DeleteYet it was smart. It evened things up. Gives Costa Rica nothing to whine about and the Japanese player took it like the well-disciplined that he is. Win-Win
DeleteYeah, he had to even it up there. He hesitated but ultimately did the smart (right) thing.
ReplyDeleteThis is a nailed on YC and that is all.
ReplyDeleteand thats a soft YC
ReplyDeleteSmart > Soft
DeleteFor me, thats a stock standard foul and that's the referee finding something thats not there. It's a push from behind. There may have been foot contact but a push should not be a YC especially in a game that has not been overly physical once past the 1st 5 mins
DeleteAs an Englishman, he interpreted the Latin American team perfectly. He knew that if he had shown no card, it would open the door for them to begin to whine and dissent. Up to that point, there had been none. He shows the card and nips that possibility in the bud. More importantly, the Japanese player didn't make a fuss about it either.
DeleteI wonder if the time of day at the possible conditions (heat) is what may be causing these two teams to play at a walking pace.
ReplyDeleteIts a fair question but I would have thought Costa Rica would be used to hot conditions
DeleteTrue. But Costa Rica is also one of the oldest squads at the Cup. A lot of these players are from that memorable team that made that memorable run at Brasil 2014.
DeleteHeat? Every stadium in Qatar is air-conditioned, the temperature on the stadium is between 16-20 degrees Celsius.
DeleteIs that a fact? Or is it another of those "empty promises" Qatar presented? After all, Qatar initially said that they had the tech to play this World in its usual summer time frame in "climate-controlled" stadiums. Yet here we are playing in November.
DeleteGood 1H from Oliver, relatively quiet half that heated up towards the end, 1st YC nailed on, 2nd YC quite soft but could be backed.
ReplyDeleteThe second YC probably given to make a balance between the teams, but if we compare the two fouls... well...
DeleteYes from a technical point of view, I don't think the 2nd YC is within the "spirit" of the game but could be a clever one as Arbiter mentioned when it comes to managing the game but I agree definitely on the softer side
DeleteOliver made an indication with his fingers that the 2nd yc was for repeated infringements
ReplyDeleteHey, whatever "sells it". Good on him!
Delete70'
ReplyDeleteVery,but very orange for Calvo.
2 players that were on the line with him saved him from RC.
Good decision with free kick and not penalty kick.
DeleteEasy game to handle,but Oliver handled some tricky moments very well.
ReplyDeleteCould not do anymore than he has
ReplyDeleteNormal difficulty game for Oliver, he was ready when needed especially the situation in 70', but nothing more. The game was rather quiet.
ReplyDeleteI think he could directly get a R16 match as a second game but that‘s it very likely. Good performance today.
Delete6 bookings,maybe FIFA will not like that,that's too much maybe for them 😀...
DeleteImpressive performance from Oliver, not the busiest game but got the big call correct in the 2nd half. Good body language and full control throughout.
ReplyDeleteWell, this result throws my MD3 predictions out of window
ReplyDeleteCosta Rica - Germany? :) Maybe the same for me, it could be a crucial game, but still I think if one looks at both teams, a certain choice can be made. I decided for Gassama first (and very likely last) appearance there.
DeleteI opted for Conger as i thought both teams would lose today :)
DeleteGood performance at all, but the game helps him a lot (Fair play and few fouls, without discussions or polemics)
ReplyDeleteVery easy game to handle (if that is ever fair to say), but a very good performance from Oliver IMO. I would argue that the YC given in 41' was the correct decision, although I do agree that it could be interpreted as pretty close to a RC, but the bent leg, point of contact and a sort of slide in that stamp make it a YC for me. As for the YC for Japan in 44', soft from a technical perspective, however I think it was pretty clever in terms of match control, not just to "equal things up" (as most of the contributors correctly stated), but also to cool things down as that was a phase when the match started to heat up a little bit IMO (maybe as a result of an otherwise poor game).
ReplyDeleteAll the other YCs were correct IMO and I think none were missed. I agree with SPA assessment in 70', but it was very, very, very close to DOGSO. We also saw a pretty nice assessment of the foul location in that scene.
Oliver was very concentrated in the latter stages of the match, with two very good play on decisions in CRC penalty area (87', 88'), correct YC for JPN in 90+3' and some nice prevention of DtR. Along with good body language and rapport with players, all of this ensured a full control over this game and made it a very good performance for my taste.
Analysis
ReplyDeleteKey Match Incidents:
41' Possible red card to 7CRC for serious foul play.
https://streamable.com/34dumc
We know that a step on foot is almost always reckless and it would've been a quirk to issue a red card after this challenge, especially given that 7CRC's action was not cynical, just challenging for the ball. Correct yellow card only.
70' Possible red card to 15CRC for DOGSO
https://streamable.com/io97jb
Veeery borderline. The presence of two defenders makes the YC shown by Michael Oliver somehow supportable but I really wonder whether they would be able to intervene. The type of foul makes it even worse. Nonetheless, let's give the benefit of the doubt to the referee and VAR.
74' Penalty area incident: holding.
https://streamable.com/wav58c
Shirt tugging is clear but the way it's done by the defender has no real impact on the attacker. Supportable and preferable play-on call, correct no VAR intervention.
87' Penalty area incident: impeding.
https://streamable.com/f3eup6
Japanese player not in control of the ball, so at least supportable play-on call and correct no VAR intervention.
Overview:
Not the most difficult game for Michael Oliver who walked through it without bigger problems. His foul detection was very good in general, with the exception of missed handball in attack in 57'. However, I didn't like his passive approach that led to escalation of foul play by both teams, especially in the first half.
See the compilation:
https://streamable.com/yusfgw
Not that he missed mandatory cautions but as a top referee you should be able to detect that Japan's tactic was to commit many small offences to make their opponent's life harder and "Ticos" responded to that by joining their rivals in such a way of play. Had Oliver taken any preventative action after one of first six fouls of JPN players (especially at 14', 31' or 37'), the game could've been even smoother for him.
But well done to Oliver that, after cautioning 7CRC for very reckless step on foot in 41', he picked up the next (careless!) foul of Japanese to balance the cards in 44'. That was really good!
The second half contained three key match incidents but it was easier with regard to disciplinary control:
57' - missed handball of the attacker
61' - correct YC 5CRC for SPA tackle (actually 5CRC was stepped on the leg by an attacker but his tackle was clearly targeted at stopping him at all cost)
70' - correct YC 15CRC for SPA/DOGSO holding (see above)
83' - correct YC 4JPN for SPA impeding
90+2' - possible YC 8CRC for pff-the-ball LoR holding
90+3' - correct YC 6JPN for reckless SPA tackle.
In a nutshell: big decisions taken correctly and a little too passive approach in the first half which was revised by Oliver in the second half. However, big respect for being able to detect that during the game, understanding that it can lead to something worse, and changing it for the better of the game and own performance.
Marks:
Michael Oliver - 7
Stuart Burt - 7
Simon Bennett - 7
Jérôme Brisard - IV