Irfan Peljto, Spain - Italy

2nd appointment for the Bosnian referee on the sonorous clash between Spain and Italy. The winner would proceed to the Semifinal stage. An important match for both teams. The match presented quite a few difficulties for the refereeing team with a whistled penalty for Spain and 11 cautions.

Let’s start with the penalty scene. Min 67’: As we can see on the video there is a holding by ITA N15 to ESP N9. The ESP attacker manages to take a shot on goal at the moment of the holding. The referee has a good position and clearly sees the infringement but he could be closer to the action (step inside the penalty area) in order to sell the decision better. However, a correct decision.

* Foul detection was overall good. Peljto tried to whistle any infraction deemed necessary thus avoiding unnecessary stoppages to the match. He let both teams to play in a physical manner and he always had control of the match.

* He was very good at the disciplinary aspect. He started the match with the mandatory caution at min. 06’ setting the limits for all the players. We could argue about a possible caution at min. 34’ but as the tackle is careless and there isn’t a real SPA opportunity, a caution is deemed as not mandatory. All the other cautions were correct.

Min. 06’
Min. 34’
Min. 52’
Min. 64’
Min. 66’
Min. 83’
Min. 87’
Min. 90+2’
Min. 90+3'

Unfortunately, there isn’t an available video for the 2 cautions at min. 84’ which were both for confrontation.

Finally a few words about player management. He had mostly small talk with players during the first half without facing real challenges on this aspect. From the beginning of the 2nd half, the nature of the match changed and the referee decided to use more disciplinary measures. A good example of his alertness is the scene at 62’.

Co-operation with his AR’s was mostly good as can be seen at the min. 34’ scene. However there were some moments with a communication problem with AR1 (22’ wrong decision on a throw-in, 39’ same). However, both AR’s supported the referee with foul decisions on their area of vicinity. AR2 with a missed offside at min. 37’ before a possible goal opportunity of the Spanish team.

Overall mr Peljto delivered a very good performance on a “quite” challenging match. Following his promotion to 1st Group a few weeks back, he presented some positive points that could help him on his way to the Elite Category. Good luck to the future.

LAW 5 - THE REFEREE BLOG REPORTER:
Edward