Abdulrahman Al-Jassim had a nightmare in the bronze medal match. The penalty not given to Croatia by him and Chilean VAR Julio Bascuñán was a hilariously bad mistake, and ultimately the Qatari official had realised one of the worst performances of the whole tournament by the end.
How did a ceremonial match go so wrong for a relatively competent international official? This post tries to set out how.
How did a ceremonial match go so wrong for a relatively competent international official? This post tries to set out how.
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| Now it all makes sense... |
Key Match Incident
Let's start by talking through the game's most controversial call with questions and answers.
Yes, very clearly. Gvardiol is deliberately kicked by Amrabat as he was really through on goal on his left foot/leg. Without such a kick, he wouldn't have been 'destabilsed' and unable to control the ball. There is also a holding by the Morocco player on his opponent's left arm. Overall: a clear foul.
Why does Al-Jassim miss the offence in real time?
He was in a bad position. But the Qatari ref was a bit unlucky, as it wasn't just him who didn't expect the excellently played slide-rule pass by Oršić - it fooled the whole Morocco defense too.
He was in a bad position. But the Qatari ref was a bit unlucky, as it wasn't just him who didn't expect the excellently played slide-rule pass by Oršić - it fooled the whole Morocco defense too.
You can see that the ball doesn't go where Al-Jassim expected it to (figure 1), and accordingly is not in an optimal position to detect Amrabat's trip (figure 2). He needed to be more leftwards.
Is Amrabat's action SPA or DOGSO?
It should be assessed as DOGSO - deliberate. A red card should be issued.
What happens next?
Al-Jassim then ignores a clear pushing foul on Hakimi on the edge of the box when Morocco attack, before then pulling the fullback up for what looks like a pretty agricultural kick on a Croatia player after that. Watch how the Qatari ref tries to pull Hakimi in for a talk, and is rejected... not good!!
Why does the VAR, namely Julio Bascuñán of Chile, decide not to intervene for a penalty?
He must have assessed the contact as not enough... not acceptable.
Is Amrabat's action SPA or DOGSO?
It should be assessed as DOGSO - deliberate. A red card should be issued.
What happens next?
Al-Jassim then ignores a clear pushing foul on Hakimi on the edge of the box when Morocco attack, before then pulling the fullback up for what looks like a pretty agricultural kick on a Croatia player after that. Watch how the Qatari ref tries to pull Hakimi in for a talk, and is rejected... not good!!
Why does the VAR, namely Julio Bascuñán of Chile, decide not to intervene for a penalty?
He must have assessed the contact as not enough... not acceptable.
-> Clear Match Error
Managing the Game
Abdulrahman Al-Jassim turned a competitive but not really demanding or even passionate game into an officiating disaster in Croatia vs. Morocco by a hugely ineffective tactical approach, ultimately realising one of the poorest performances of the whole Qatar 2022 tournament.
His sound performance in the intense-starting United States vs. Wales game was characterised by two early cautions, and he passed up the oppotunity to do the same in the eighth minute here after a clear SPA tripping by Gvardiol. No card is surely a quite expected decision at this tournament however. If his thesis for not booking at 8' was partly orientated around the calmness of the game, the crazy mobbing which he encountered at 33' for an actually correct goalkick decision (yes, goalkick!) must have disabused him. It seems Boufal had already challenged the ref's authority after a play on call at 18' which had resulted in a Croatia attack, but this team dissent was absolutely wild. Only a warning here is, in isolation, a crazy piece of refereeing, explanations for which can be explored below.
Halftime was reahced intact. The second period started in a more intense and unfair way than the first. Having not booked at 8', Al-Jassim was powerless to take action against a number of SPA(-ish) offences -- 46', 51', 55', 57' -- and his authority and control over events on the pitch eroded further. He was somewhat unfortunate that the one Morocco player whom he actually connected to and won 'points' with, El-Yamiq, pulled his hamstring and was substituted - but one can hardly rely on such disparate things at such a level. By a good reaction he managed to avoid Ounahi booting the ball away forty yards at 69', but he still bounced the ball down in frustration, and was rightly booked by Al-Jassim in consequence. The players definitely picked up on errors like the throw-in absurdly ordered retaken at 50' and of course the 74' events, and the game trundled towards losing control.
Halftime was reahced intact. The second period started in a more intense and unfair way than the first. Having not booked at 8', Al-Jassim was powerless to take action against a number of SPA(-ish) offences -- 46', 51', 55', 57' -- and his authority and control over events on the pitch eroded further. He was somewhat unfortunate that the one Morocco player whom he actually connected to and won 'points' with, El-Yamiq, pulled his hamstring and was substituted - but one can hardly rely on such disparate things at such a level. By a good reaction he managed to avoid Ounahi booting the ball away forty yards at 69', but he still bounced the ball down in frustration, and was rightly booked by Al-Jassim in consequence. The players definitely picked up on errors like the throw-in absurdly ordered retaken at 50' and of course the 74' events, and the game trundled towards losing control.
The freekick (I think rightly) given at 84' wasn't the first given in a not-terribly-convincing mode of the evening, but it was the one which finally caused the Morocco players to lose the plot, crazily mobbing the Qatari match official, probably committing some violent conducts on him in reality. Order had been lost on the field of play. Modrić kicking the ball away (88'), Perišić's blatant lack of respect holding (89') and the phantom penalty which Morocco weren't granted (90') all infuriated them further, contributing the final mobbing the executed on Al-Jassim after the final whistle, which brought a smile to the Qatari referee's face. I certainly wouldn't have been smiling though if En-Nesyri had scored in the dying embers of the game and brought us to extra time - unlike Mateu Lahoz, at least Al-Jassim was spared that indignity!
Balance
And I interject before the obvious answer follows - every third place playoff appointment is at least partly, and often deeply, political and un-meritocratic. It was quite obvious that Al-Jassim really had nothing to give yesterday: appointing someone for a match on day two and giving him nothing for a month until the bronze final, besides one fourth official birth, is unacceptable management of human resources. To expect a referee of Al-Jassim's style, managing Croatia and Morocco in what is a big game for them both, with the WC2014 style, is also complete lunacy. The terrible performance in the third place playoff was unfortunately very predictable.
As a penultimate remark let me say this: If FIFA (and UEFA) were taken over by imposters whose only aim was to demotivate their referees and lower the quality of the officiating (of course while being discrete enough to avoid detection as imposters) - what exactly would they have done differently in recent times?...
| Abdulrahman Al-Jassim - 4 Taleb Al-Marri - 7 Saoud Almaqaleh - 7 Raphael Claus Neuza Back QAT - BRA | VAR: Julio Bascuñán (CHI) AVAR: Pol van Boekel (NED) OVAR: Bruno Pires (BRA) SVAR: Armando Villarreal (USA) Video Match Officials: II |
| Croatia 2-1 Morocco | Third Place Playoff | Sat 17/Dec 6pm (Khalifa) | |
And as a final remark: to Szymon Marciniak and the whole crew officiating the big final today, from us at Law 5, good luck! Wishing you all the best for a fantastic performance and great game! :)
Then there is a suspicion about VAR cause they made a mess with this decision,imagine if MOR scored and won,you can imagine how the world would react.
ReplyDeleteIt just goes to show that no matter what technology there is,we always need quality official whether it is on the pitch ,whether it is in the VAR room.
And Nenad Bjelica,coatian coach who was in the studio last night said it that VAR is easily the most manipulative thing that can influence the game,there is no such thing that you can miss the call with 10 or more cameras.
Only if you want to call ref and in this case,Bascunan and Van Boekel failed badly at doing that and let's remember,last couple of months whenever Van Boekel is in the VAR room,bad decision happens.
On purpose or accidentaly we will never know,but something needs to be done.
Punish those refs,cause if players get punished for saying words in frustration after obvious call that they did not made,then thos refs needs to be held acountable cause those matches mean something, especially this one,bronze medal is not some plastic that's being given away,it is a medal that means something.
Luckily,Jassim's bad performance and VAR team bad performance did not influence match,but,does it have to happen ,then things will start changing ?
We all remember Lampard and his goal that was not given ,after that GLT was introduced.
Maybe that's the problem.
Who cares about small countries like Croatia,they will not complain,they are happy when they reach SF.
If that no call happened to England,France, Germany,Argentina,Brazil ,Spain or Portugal,we would be hearing about ref non stop and then FIFA would do something.
This way,who cares about small Croatia,who cares about weird offside against Belgium,who cares about questionable penalty in favour of Argentina, who cares about no call vs Morocco.
Who cares when Nishimura gave Fred non exsistent penalty call in 2014,who cares about Pitana and his major 2 calls that influenced Final match in 2018.
After all,that's just Croatia and with all that injustice(intentionally who knows) we managed to have 3 medals out of 6 WC's.
"and brought us to extra time - unlike Mateu Lahoz, at least Al-Jassim was spared that indignity!"
ReplyDeleteI don't see the comparison. Lahoz made no mistake which took the ARGNED game into extra time. Obviously it led to the YC count rising, but that of course was primarily the players' fault.
Penalty: When players flop after minor contact, doubt is established. Both the referee and VAR had doubt for good reason.
ReplyDeleteI've been clipped. Sometimes I'm able to stay up, sometimes I stumble and lose my advantage, sometimes I fall.
With a flop, we have no idea which of the three possibilities will occur. Hence doubt. Hence no whistle. Hence no OFR.
As for player management, it simply wasn't there.
As for the political appointment, he'd have served better as 4th Official for the final... - but that appointment would have been no more deserved.