One of my favorite things about Djamel Haimoudi is that he always just looks so darn happy to be there. I mean I guess they all are, but Haimoudi just can’t hide his joy. It’s adorbs. But, to quote myself after his first match, because of that: “I wish he’d done better.” Or to quote my friend Mark: “Fastest referee
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Few people expected this game to end the way it did: with a 7-1 Brazil defeat. In fact, what most people expected – a brutal, ugly display and possibly retaliation for Neymar’s injury – didn’t happen at all and much of the credit for that can be given to Rodriguez. He could have called an early foul for Brazil right
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Marco Rodriguez of Mexico – known as “chiquidracula” partly for his love of hair product – will take the first semifinal, between Brazil and Germany. Rodriguez has had a good tournament, and what’s more, he’s proven that he can handle making tough calls. It was, after all, Rodriguez who sent off Italy’s Claudio Marchisio for a studs up challenge. This
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This is some of the worst news I could have heard, both as a fan of the referees and a lover of the game: Neymar, one of the true talents and bright spots of this World Cup, is out with fractured vertebrae. Read that again: fractured vertebrae. Make no mistake about it, Juan Zuniga – the player who went over his
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Note: My somewhat lame only “bright side” to Carlos Velasco’s performance in Brazil v. Colombia was that no one had a broken leg. Unfortunately, it now appears that Neymar has a broken vertebrae and will miss the rest of the World Cup. That challenge – which went unpunished – was the direct result of very poor refereeing and lack of control
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And, we’re off! The two referees for the first quarterfinal games have been announced. Nestor Pitana of Argentina (above) will take France and Germany, and Carlos Velasco Carballo of Spain will get Brazil and Colombia. I’ve been especially impressed with Pitana in this tournament, so not a surprise to see him. Velasco has been solid, if not overly inspiring, but
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Two of Europe’s best – Howard Webb and Bjorn Kuipers – were out today, and both showed just why they’re one of the best. Howard Webb (England), Brazil v. Chile Big Howard had his game face on today, particularly after the ridiculous accusations of bias from Chilean players a day earlier. Early on, he made it clear that he was not
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One of the big talking points of Brazil’s penalty shootout win over Chile was whether it should have gone to penalties at all. At about 54 minutes, Hulk appeared to score a goal and Brazil celebrated wildly, only to have Howard Webb call it back for handball. Webb also produced a yellow card for deliberate handball. Hulk’s arm is up and it
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FIFA aren’t screwing around with the first knockout stage games. They’re pulling out the big guns: Howard Webb of England and Bjorn Kuipers of Netherlands (both shown above). Brazil v. Chile will need a strong hand, and they have it in Webb, who was stellar in his last appearance. Kuipers has impressed in this tournament, as well. Also, we get some pretty, pretty boys
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Great performances from the referees today in some very physical and exciting games. Bakary Gassama (Gambia), Netherlands v. Chile First time I’ve seen Gassama (above), but I was fairly impressed with him. He was pretty good at foul detection, not missing much. These two teams are prone to, shall we say, over-exaggerating. He didn’t fall for much of that. Not
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 