Wednesday, 23 November 2022

Game 9 - Fernando Rapallini in Morocco vs. Croatia (discussion)

After their decisive group stage clash vs. Scotland at the last EURO, Fernando Rapallini reencounters Croatia - the Argentine match official takes charge of the first game of Day 4. Please discuss here!


Game 9 - Al-Khor (11:00 CET)
MOROCCO - CROATIA
Referee: Fernando Rapallini (ARG)
Assistant Referee 1: Juan Pablo Belatti (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Diego Bonfá (ARG)
Fourth Official: Kevin Ortega (PER)
Reserve Assistant Referee: Karen Díaz (MEX) 
Video Assistant Referee: Julio Bascuñán (CHI)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Leodan González (URU)
Offside Video Assistant Referee: Nicolás Taran (URU)
Support Video Assistant Referee: Paolo Valeri (ITA)
Standby Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Martín Soppi (URU) 

35 comments:

  1. All reports from yesterday btw --

    ARGKSA (Vinčić):
    https://law5-theref.blogspot.com/2022/11/2022-fifa-world-cup-match-8-argentina.html?showComment=1669193292861

    DENTUN (Ramos):
    http://law5-theref.blogspot.com/2022/11/game-6-cesar-ramos-in-denmark-vs.html?showComment=1669194649931#c2952340597789914961

    MEXPOL (Beath):
    http://law5-theref.blogspot.com/2022/11/game-7-chris-beath-in-mexico-vs-poland.html?showComment=1669155375751#c4872107654308125421

    FRAAUS (Gomes):
    https://law5-theref.blogspot.com/2022/11/game-8-victor-gomes-in-france-vs.html?showComment=1669197028861

    ReplyDelete
  2. Women's CL MD3 assignments (short form, referee and observer):

    PSG - Vllaznia Marotta (ITA), Brohet (BEL)
    Slavia Praha - St. Polten Olofsson (SWE), Daly (IRL)
    Chelsea - Real Madrid Ferrieri Caputi (ITA), Logarusic (CRO)
    Roma - Wolfsburg Cvetković (SRB), Jonsson (SWE)
    Zurich - Lyon Soeder (GER), Palmqvist (SWE)
    Barcelona - Bayern Foster (WAL), De Boeck (BEL)
    Juventus - Arsenal Demetrescu (ROU), Gökçek (TUR)
    Benfica - Rosengard Tsiareshka (BLR), Migalova (SVK)

    ReplyDelete
  3. 23'
    The ball crossed the line, but AR1 missed it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rapallini should ve booked Modric already 2 times, 1 stamping, later a tactical foul. Good body language and foul detection so far. But a bit too lenient.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As it was not the ‘classical’ stamp no sanction is fine for me. Before Modric stamped the foot he played/touched the ball as well.

      Delete
    2. Well, he is certainly lenient. The second incident was maybe SPA but really mor borderline, it doesn't need to be given, and I think given Rapallini's approach to the game no card was a better decision here.

      The earlier incident with Modric (I forget the minute) was less than a minute after a tackle by Morocco that probably should have been assessed as reckless, so I guess Rapallini kept things even there.

      In a vacuum, this game has been fine for Rapallini. As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I personally have a bit of a problem with the different disciplinary lines displayed in each game. Some refs were quite strict, others quite lenient. I think this is a problem due to accumulation rules and the potential for disciplinary points to determine standings.

      Delete
    3. (29th minute were the offenses I mentioned about)

      Delete
  5. 45'+1 Correct to play on following a penalty appeal no punishable handball. A quite easy going first half for Rapallini.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Does Rapallini want to openly defy Collina?! :D
    Already lenient disciplinary (still not bad management per se) but only two mins after the stop for Croatia injury which by itself was already ≈2mins. Let's see about 2H...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly what I think. By reviewing others' performance in this competition only, Rapallini seems very "unique", but I think he is doing well and everything is under control.

      Delete
  7. Satisfactory 1H imo, good detection and nice line of accepted physicality given the closeness of the game. Missed YC as mentioned above, normally nothing to major but given the way the WC has been officiated with aggressive use of the YC it becomes more of a talking point.

    ReplyDelete
  8. A "different" performance, in comparison to others, so to say. Still fully satisfactory, with a clear line in foul detection and good body language in dealing with players. However, disciplinary line is certainly more lenient than in previous games. I would highlight Modrić's stamp on foot in 19' minute as the only clear mistake for my taste, a YC should have been issued IMO. There was a certainly a possibility for a YC in 29' and 30' for Croatian players, but I'm OK with no sanction according to his clear line (maybe I'm a little biased, so take my views in this game with a grain of salt).

    ReplyDelete
  9. I guess they criticised Vinčić internally for his +95' yesterday? Rapallini was very quick to stop there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly Mikael, see that quick reacton, more than what you can expect in normal conditions there, quite likely that Collina has already spent some words on Vincic incident. You are a great observer.

      Delete
    2. I disagree. Both stopped the game when the ball is kicked to the neutral zone. Rapallini is just more lucky this happens a bit quicker.

      Delete
  10. How Modric hasn't been cautioned yet I'll never know.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Mandatory YC right now issued by Rapallini.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Instead the first caution ironically comes for a foul on Modric.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow. Just wow. Anyone else shocked there is again no caution? This time for the Moroccan player. 88th minute.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Interesting performance. Nothing particularly scandalous (but also definitely nothing spectacular), notably extremely lenient. The interest is that Rapallini contradicted the general line set in almost all previous games in relation to general physicality and especially YCs. Will be very interesting to see whether as the tournament progresses Collina’s directions continue to be followed or referees begin to use completely their natural style and ideas. We may have already seen the beginning of this with Beath earlier and now Rapallini. Similar with Beath, 1H was generally satisfactory, and foul detection was competent, but the lenient style does not pair well either with Collina’s instructions or the more aggressive and heated nature of a 2H with a close score line.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think that FIFA's Director of Refereeing should be much more satisfied than the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee about such a performance... report to follow in due course! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great performance IMHO. I like Rapallini style, he had a clear (lenient) line, completely consistent, great acceptance by the players, great foul detection.

    I expected more than 6' but this is a minor thing, I think he could be a strong candidate for important appointments in this tournament

    ReplyDelete
  17. Good performance for me, but definitely different than the rest so far in terms of leniency and disciplinary line. I liked his foul detection today, body language and communication were very good and contributed to full acceptance by the players and full control over this game, as Forlan rightly pointed to in his comment above. Two very good play on decisions in potential handball penalty situations.

    Certainly lenient, but absolutely clear disciplinary line, with only one clear YC missed for my taste and all the other decisions supportable. If this approach will be liked by the committee is a question in itself, but I don't mind him having his own style at all, as long as it delivers a good performance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, I disagree. Not showing YC in min 88 after a tactical foul stopping a promising attack is NOT supportable.

      Delete
    2. I've rewatched it now and yes, you are fully correct, YC should have been issued. My mistake, sorry. (I even have this situation written down but somehow missed it in my notes.)

      Delete
  18. Analysis

    6min20secs ‘quickfire’ compilation about disciplinary control in MARCRO:
    https://streamable.com/j5xt6r

    Fernando Rapallini was not at the top yesterday. I had the impression that the Argentine match official, who had refereed three games to a very good standard at UEFA EURO 2020, found himself in bad form for Morocco vs. Croatia. It was very visible that his only aim was to ‘survive’ the game, and in that Rapallini did succeed - but he didn’t really escape ‘unscathed’ and it would be very interesting to see how Pierluigi Collina determines this performance internally.

    As early as the second minute, there was a borderline-reckless stamp (deliberate) performed by Morocco no.17 - instead of delivering a clear warning/signal to the players, Rapallini instead only just caught the offence with his trailing eye and ran over only to ‘keep control’. This passive theme continued for the whole match. Most egregious were:

    — Modrić not being cautioned after his many offences (19’, 30’, 40’, 63’); I think FIFA will be annoyed that the general public would think that this player (also Brozović) had a ‘carte blanche’ to do what he wanted

    — Players knew they could get away with SPA-ish stuff (38’ is a good example) without punishment, as Rapallini never gave any warnings etc, but 88’ is a very irritating decision; funny thing - due to the time in the game, I believe 88’ would have *even* been given as a caution in WC2014!! :D

    — Contrary to Vinčić, he didn’t punish mobbing (at 19’)

    I don’t think the Argentine was actually unmotivated, instead using all of his ‘cognitive energy’ to focus on keeping the overview of everything in this game, but one did arouse a fairly unmotivated figure from him throughout the game. This was most obvious in the corner prevention warnings, the most ridiculous one I included in the highlights. We *know* that these warnings are not spontaneous and are demanded by FIFA - but Rapallini did a pretty terrible job of hiding that fact, looking not interested in dealing with the players here as human beings (I would expect such mgmt by Fallaj Al-Shanar, and not candidate for WC QFs/SFs in 2022…).

    I was quite surprised by this appearance of Fernando Rapallini. While he showed his ability in some kind of way - good ‘game-feeling’ in order to SURVIVE this occasion (the game wasn’t easy with passionate Moroccan fans and tense scoreless), and arousing enough respect from the players to pass through. However, his struggles were NOT insignificant (8,1-level performance) and I’m sure that FIFA won’t be that happy with the way that he handled the game - or compensated for lost time either.

    Taking everything into account, the key question should be: do FIFA give Fernando Rapallini a second chance, or was his style weak enough for his performance to be ‘rejected’? We will have to wait and see (maybe also for SUICMR :)).

    Final notes: Rapallini was always correct to play on in PAIs (+46’, 51’, 73’); linesmen were quiet, Belatti missed a goalkick trying to get back in line (24’) but played a good onside at 48’.

    MARKS: 6 - 7 - 7 - (III)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha you beat me to it Dalborgo! :)
      I'm glad the compilation was valuable for you - the disciplinary control was really interesting in this game and understanding that during this WC, one is quite 'time poor', I thought that this would be a nice resource for those interested whom missed the game. Thx, as ever, for the kind comments!

      Delete
    2. Can you elaborate on the Al-Shanar reference? A little before my time lol.

      Delete
    3. JB - Here are some clips of Fallaj Khuzam Al-Shanar in action at Mexico '86:

      https://youtu.be/nkf8oIoN-Y4?list=PLJNDTL9UhkPtE-OJNe7HTQvWo-AlPPDRE&t=41

      https://youtu.be/nkf8oIoN-Y4?list=PLJNDTL9UhkPtE-OJNe7HTQvWo-AlPPDRE&t=79

      https://youtu.be/nkf8oIoN-Y4?list=PLJNDTL9UhkPtE-OJNe7HTQvWo-AlPPDRE&t=308

      https://youtu.be/nkf8oIoN-Y4?list=PLJNDTL9UhkPtE-OJNe7HTQvWo-AlPPDRE&t=461

      https://youtu.be/nkf8oIoN-Y4?list=PLJNDTL9UhkPtE-OJNe7HTQvWo-AlPPDRE&t=703

      Delete
  19. Ty for the quickfire compilation!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for writing a comment on our blog!