Not expected as main referee, but Omar Al Ali from UAE managed to get a game at 2026 World Cup: New Zealand - Egypt.
Match #40
Group G
22 June 2026, 03:00 CET
BC Place, Vancouver
NEW ZEALAND - EGYPT
Referee: Omar Al Ali UAE
Assistant Referee 1: Mohamed Al-Hammadi UAE
Assistant Referee 2: Taleb Al-Marri QAT
Fourth Official: Kevin Ortega PER
Reserve AR: Michael Orue PER
Video Assistant Referee: Mohammed Khamid UAE
Assistant Video Assistant Referee 1 : Shaun Evans AUS
Assistant Video Assistant Referee 2 : Armando Villarreal USA
Very bad mouvements from ali
ReplyDeletepotential foul before ball is in play i think
ReplyDeleteMaybe offside
ReplyDeleteCorrect yc
ReplyDeleteCorrect yc again
ReplyDeleteAmateur ref this guy. Nowhere near good enough. The YC for Singh he was still showing when Egypt restarted the game
ReplyDeleteYep he didn't stop the game
DeleteYou can't let Egypt start an attack when you're still stowing a NZ player a yellow.
ReplyDeleteWrong corner given corrected by var
ReplyDeleteFrom the replay for me there is a foul before the ball is in play and with new VAR protocol that should have been reviewed imo.
ReplyDeleteThere cannot be a.foul if the ball is not in play
ReplyDeleteWith the new protocol if there is a foul before the ball is in play and a team score then VAR can review it and the decision is to retake the CK, or i didn't understand the new protocol.
DeleteNot the case here.
DeleteOn the first goal there is not a foul for you ?
DeleteFor me, maybe. Not for this tournament.
DeleteOmar Al Ali looked uncomfortable with almost every situation he had to deal with. Let's start with his positioning. the ball struck him once and easily could have hit him three or four more times throughout the match. He never appeared to establish authority. Almost every time he blew the whistle, players surrounded him with complaints, and instead of addressing them confidently, he often avoided eye contact, giving the impression that he was uncomfortable managing confrontation.
ReplyDeleteNormally, having a referee who shares a language with one of the teams can be an advantage in managing players and building rapport. However, that was not the case here. Egypt's players seemed increasingly comfortable protesting decisions, and New Zealand's players quickly followed the same approach.
The biggest concern came when he cautioned New Zealand 10 and then allowed play to restart without properly managing the restart procedure. After a caution, the restart should be clearly controlled with the whistle. It appeared he was reluctant to stop the attacking team and ensure everyone understood that play could only restart on his signal.
Overall, it was not a convincing performance.
So far! it just first Half
ReplyDeleteThe second half will be hot!!
DeleteHe got through 45 but it's really starting to heat up.
ReplyDeleteThe second half will be hot al Ali need to be more confident and take action with discent and sounding by players or he will lose control at some point
ReplyDeleteNot a referee of world cup standard
ReplyDelete