Pedro Proenca (Portugal), Netherlands v. Mexico As always when the Dutch play, this match threatened to descend into violence early. Proenca (above) is a good referee for that sort of thing. He doesn’t have the imposing visage of a Howard Webb or Bjorn Kuipers, nor does he have the temper of a Nicola Rizzoli. He’s just a very calm referee and
Read more
I watch Arjen Robben play the way I watch Luis Suarez, always half-cringing. They’re both so difficult to watch the way they throw themselves about, straining to get a foul or a penalty instead of – you know – playing the game. They’re both much too talented to have to act that way. I know it’s their game and it
Read more
The second day of knockout stage action is a good one if you are a female fan of the referees. Two lookers up: Pedro Proenca of Portugal and Ben Williams of Australia. I must say, I’m pleasantly surprised to see Williams. I thought he did really well in his last outing, with great fitness and foul detection and a good red
Read more
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
Read more
FIFA has a serious problem. There have been four goals wrongly disallowed for poor offside calls in the World Cup so far, and we’re not even out of the group stages. Four! They are: Two against Mexico (v. Cameroon) One against Switzerland (v. Ecuador) One against Bosnia and Herzegovina (v. Nigeria) The first three goal decisions did not change the
Read more
The showpiece today was Brazil v. Mexico and what a showpiece it was, thanks in part to the refereeing crew. But we start with the Mexican referees… Marco Rodriguez (Mexico), Belgium v. Algeria First of all, this guy loves his hair product, doesn’t he? Rodriguez tended to let a lot of potential fouls go, but it was equal for both teams,
Read more
UPDATE: Cuneyt Cakir (above) of Turkey has been announced as referee for Brazil v Mexico. As of this moment (9am Pacific Time), the referee has not been officially announced by FIFA for the Brazil v. Mexico game. For all the talk swirling of Brazil getting an easy ride from the referees in the opener and Mexico have at least one, and
Read more
PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 