Three more referees today, newcomer Ben Williams and two repeat referees, including the Dutch God of Refereeing, Bjorn Kuipers. Enrique Osses (Chile) – Italy v. Costa Rica I wasn’t nearly impressed with the Chilean referee in this match as I was in his first outing. But in his defense, this game was played midday in the heat and humidity of
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Dear me, Enrique Osses, dear me. In about the 42nd minute of the Italy v. Costa Rica game, Joel Campbell was racing toward Italy’s goal. He was controlling the ball and running forward. Giorgio Chiellini of Italy was beaten and he knew it. So, he committed a professional foul and pushed Campbell down from behind. Penalty and yellow card? You’d
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Yay! Switzerland get Bjorn Kuipers!! When my Suisse play France on Friday, we’ll have the very best in the middle. Kuipers (above), a supermarket owner from the Netherlands, put on a masterclass in his inaugural game: England v. Italy. He’s a “by the book” kind of referee, but we’re a “by the book” kind of team, so that should work out
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Luckily, the referees appear to have moved past their nervy start and the four referees today performed admirably. There was one big penalty call and a red card (both from Felix Brych in Uruguay v. Costa Rica) but neither could really be disputed. Mark Geiger (USA), Colombia v. Greece – Geiger did really, really well. Very solid performance, and he looked very
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