Liechtenstein - Armenia, István Kovács

In a game ended with a very surprising score, Kovács showed in my opinion overall a good performance. However, there are for sure some interesting points for improvement. The match was challenging, especially in second half when home team managed to score the 1-1 goal. Please find below some videos of the most interesting situations.

YC for reckless tackle 10'
https://streamable.com/j44ff
Referee started the game with a early YC, absolutely mandatory for the nature of the foul, as you can see.

Possible second YC 22'
https://streamable.com/bopcn
And some minutes later, the same player took a risk by committing this foul. In my opinion, it is still OK to whistle without booking but for sure a YC wouldn't have been 100% wrong.

Offside call by AR1
https://streamable.com/c9a0l
One can discuss about the opportunity to play advantage. Armenia in possession of the ball in an attacking action. However, difficult for referee to guess that a few seconds before.

YC for reckless use of arms 29'
https://streamable.com/047ar
Looks like a correct decision.

Warning - 36'
https://streamable.com/wlj41
YC for reckless tackle could have been issued but not 100%% mandatory if you ask me, so it is OK by referee to manage it in that way.

Possible YC and management, possible cooperation of FO 40'
https://streamable.com/op24u
Interesting situation, YC was possible there, maybe not mandatory, however you can hear in the video somebody asking for "YC". I think it was Armenian coach, this foul happened right in front of him. Fourth official Ionuț Marius Avram with some chances to manage better this situation?

YC for reckless challenge - 48'
https://streamable.com/cnnk5

YC for reckless tackle - 53'
https://streamable.com/vd8m5
This one was very clear and mandatory.

Possible second YC - quite blatant holding
https://streamable.com/bz6ov
In my opinion in this case one could say more YC than the previous possible second one for LIE player, because in this case it was a very blatant action. No matter the importance of the action, UEFA doesn't like this behavior by players. I think that this is very borderline, one small step more and this would have been a very clear second YC missed. I don't perceive this as 100% mistake, though.

Advantage to Armenia but then goal scored by Liechtenstein, possible YC - 71'
https://streamable.com/0d9yo
I think good decision to give an advantage there (it went unlucky with LIE scoring but this was not referee's fault) but then YC should have been issued. Reckless foul by home-team player.

Situation inside the box - 90'+2
https://streamable.com/3nn73
No replay. However, for sure one can back referee, not enough for a penalty.

YC for delaying the restart of the game - UB - management 90'+5
https://streamable.com/z3znn
I think good decision by referee to book the player for his behavior, and then good management as well.

If you back the referee regarding the two possible second yellow cards, I think you have as result a quite good performance in an (unexpected) difficult game.
So, after Genk - Napoli in CL, the Romanian showed again some good skills before leaving for his FIFA Under 17 World Cup.
Assistant referees with some offside calls. For one of them you can read the specific analysis (27'). Mostly, the other ones were without replays, I could check only a correct one by AR2 in 79' and then also the ONSIDE before 1-1. However, expected level by both.

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