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
Read more
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
Read more
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
Read more
We have our first repeat referee of the tournament, and it’s a bit of a delightful surprise: Mark Geiger of USA. As I mentioned earlier, Geiger really impressed in his inaugural performance between Colombia and Greece (above) and I expected to see him again. But not quite so soon, and in quite so big of a game. Spain v. Chile
Read more
PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 