The refereeing performances on this second day of the quarterfinals were sure better than the first. Nicola Rizzoli (Italy), Argentina v. Belgium This is the second time Rizzoli (above) has had to step into the breach after a particularly rough outing for another referee. He followed Yuichi Nishimura’s opening day performance, and today he followed arguably one of the worst
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The last two quarterfinal referees have been named for Saturday, July 5: Nicola Rizzoli of Italy (above) and Ravshan Irmatov of Uzbekistan. I’m both pleased and sad at the Rizzoli appointment; pleased because it’s a good appointment, and sad because this means he’s out of the final. But I’m not surprised; quite frankly, though he’s been good, this isn’t the
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The final two games of the knockout stage showcased two pretty solid refereeing performances. Jonas Eriksson (Sweden), Argentina v. Switzerland Usual disclaimer: The Swiss are my boys and any referee starts at a disadvantage, even one of my favorites like Eriksson. I must say, he does tower over pretty much everyone on the pitch, and he doesn’t take a lot
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I appreciate the fact that FIFA has seen fit to give Switzerland two of my favorite referees of late: Bjorn Kuipers and now Sweden’s Jonas Eriksson (above). Djamel Haimoudi gets the Belgium v USA game, which I find a little bit surprising. The quarterfinal appointments should be quite interesting… Referee: Jonas Eriksson (SWE) Assistant Referee 1: Mathias Klasenius (SWE) Assistant Referee 2: Daniel
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Steven Defour’s straight red card was the typical “miss the ball, get the player with your studs” challenge we’ve seen punished over and over in this World Cup. Though there was a moment when it looked like Australian referee Ben Williams wouldn’t actually send the Belgian off, he produced the card in short order. At least the referees are calling
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I’m sort of getting sick of playing this game, but I’m tired of arguing about it in comments, so here we go: Yet another edition of “Penalty or Not?” This is the penalty shout for Russia’s Kanunnikov against the Belgian who’s name I’m sicking of looking up for spelling. Kanunnikov had stepped on the ball before contact was made. If
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Yesterday was an exciting day (who knew Iranians were so passionate about football?), and exciting in the refereeing world is never good. Today was much more calm. Dr. Felix Brych (GER), Belgium v. Russia Brych (above) was his usually dreamy, yet insouciant, self. He just mostly loped around the pitch, looking pretty, but not really being tested too much. The first half
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 