16 ESPSUI Webb
A big surprise - Switzerland defeated European champions Spain by a goal to nothing in the opening round of the tournament; their counter-attacking tactic was played par excellence.
Something of a choppy game to referee in the first half, rather more just tense after the only score in the second, but a match well-handled by the Englishman Howard Webb. Having refereed the Champions League final a few weeks previous, Webb utilised his excellent manner and soft skills in addition to well-placed disciplinary choices, to steer the game to a positive officiating conclusion.
Analysis
Only one caution was given in the first half, for a potential DOGSO at 30' - Webb's delay of the whistle made that decision a bit less pressurised than it might have otherwise been. Close, but I agree - there was too much doubt here to be a red card, and definitely not a smart decision at any rate to send off in a (World Cup) match.
At first, English referee bore a couple of small cases for a yellow card well (3', 23'). The way he solved the passive mobbing by the Spain team - 25' - after a(n admittedly incorrect) freekick went against them was pretty formidable.
At 28' he might have opened the cards for a heavy charge by Reto Ziegler on Andrés Iniesta, the Spain bench whom it happened right in front of certainly thought so, but Webb held his nerve and only warned Ziegler. Then, a minute later when Iniesta himself committed a probably SPA trip on Eren Derdiyok, Webb rather smartly did not want to inflame him and his Spain teammates, and decided a freekick was enough.
Stephan Lichtsteiner should have been cautioned for a reckless sliding tackle 32', and so probably should Tranquillo Barnetta at 36', but Webb ultimately saw through that rockier part of the game. No FIFA referee worth his salt would have given it, but what do you think about the merits of giving a penalty at 45'?
Little to dissect in the second half, and Switzerland could celebrate a famous win at the final whistle.
Balance
Howard Webb had a strong start to his World Cup. Englishman showed to be a top class manager on the pitch, and his next appointment showed the trust that FIFA had in him.
Darren Cann, whose presence in the Webb trio was actually something of an accident (Peter Kirkup was not available for U-20 WC 2007), played a nice onside at 24'; Mike Mullarkey missed a tight and important offside at 70'. FIFA's graphics seem almost hilariously off now, to us in the VAR era.
| Howard Webb - 8,4 Darren Cann - 8,4 Mike Mullarkey - 8,2 Martin Hansson Stefan Wittberg ENG – SWE | Spain 0-1 Switzerland Group Stage 16 June |
 Grichting (30') - SPA (Holding) Ziegler (73') - SPA (Holding) Benaglio (+91') - Delaying the Restart Yakin (+94') - SPA (Handling) |
The detail about Kirkup is interesting, since he returned to Webb's team for Euro16, but missed both WC10 and WC14. Mullarkey stayed with Webb in all 3 major competitions, but, in my opinion, Cann should have stayed since he performed better.
ReplyDeleteThe Kirkup detail is quite interesting and reminds me of a similar situation in the US. Adam Wienckowski went with Mark Geiger as a duo to the 2011 U20 CONCACAF championships. The two were then supposed to be paired up with Joe Fletcher of Canada for the U20 World Cup. But, Wienckowski could not afford to take another month off work for a tournament, so he had to decline the invitation. Sean (Mark) Hurd went to the World Cup instead in 2014.
DeleteWienckowski's non-football work committments probably cost him two World Cups. He and Geiger worked together a lot and were friends. They grew up working youth tournaments together. Honestly, Wienckowski was probably the best American AR of the 2008-2018 range, so it's unfortunate.
Geiger had another issue with ARs heading into 2018. Geiger wanted Charles (CJ) Morgante to replace Hurd. As you saw, Morgante was in the pre-selected trio but my understanding is he had problems at the Confed Cup in Russia. That set off a scramble, resulting in Frank Anderson joining Geiger's crew.
Morgante's removal is particularly interesting in retrospect, given Marrufo also went to the WC with Rockwell... so FIFA must have really had an issue with Morgante. To really bring it full circle, Frank Anderson's twin brother Ian was in Marrufo's trio but HE didn't get to go, as Marrufo only went as a duo. So a lot of strange US-related AR politics happened in the past decade.
Interesting! I have two questions to usaref:
Delete1. What was the big reason for Morgante's removal? If I recall correctly, nothing major happened on the field at the 2017 Confederations Cup. Was it something off the field?
2. Why North-American referees cannot solve their other commitments as European or South-American refs do? Except for the Kirkup example mentioned above, I have not heard of other referees missing major FIFA competitions because of other commitments (not health-related). Most European or South-American refs would make other sacrifices in order to be able to achieve as much as they can in football. Is it just a cultural aspect?
My understanding is that Morgante's removal was more about off-the-pitch than on-the-pitch. Nothing scandalous, to my knowledge. But Morgante can be a gruff individual and has made enemies in the past; it would not surprise me if he did not endear himself to the FIFA bigwigs and made more than one or two faux pas. I wish I knew more, because Geiger is/was close personally to Morgante, as well (evidenced by the fact that Geiger is the one who selected him to join his trio after Hurd's retirement). But I consider further details to be personal and I have never pressed the issue with the very few people I know that would have knowledge.
DeleteTo your second question, I am not sure there are enough examples to say this is a problem based on geography. For our Referees, this would never be a problem now. But our ARs have their own jobs. Many have jobs in football or academia that allow flexibility. But Wienckowski had/has a local government job. When you factor in training and pre-, post-tournament prep and travel, two events in 2011 would have likely cost him nearly 3 months of work time. My understanding is that he did all he could to get the time off for the CONCACAF event. But when the designation came for the FIFA U20s, six more weeks of leave was a nonstarter. The issue was so much time in one calendar year. I'm sure if he had been selected for Brazil in 2014, he could have got that time off. But it was not to be once Hurd took his spot for Colombia event.
Really interesting, thanks usaref!
DeleteCann's forthright manner lead him to be not the most popular person with the FA, and Elleray decided to remove him from Webb's quintet for EURO 2012. Even when Cann returned, he was moved to AR2.
Anonymous I can think of a counter example to your point - Kenn Hansen had to reject an appointment to U17 WC for being not professional, and he ended his career soon after.
And Shield, as another example that comes to my mind, ended his promising career very early citing professional reasons. However, I am coming from the latin world and spent decades in active refereeing. I know many referees and ARs from Southern and Eastern Europe, having daytime jobs in the early 2000s, when there were not many pro refs, who were ready to quit their jobs, if needed, in order to achieve more in refereeing. In our culture, it was hard to understand why Western referees would choose work over refereeing, while Southern and Eastern refs would choose the other way around. At the time, we were very surprised to see Western referees missing competitions or quitting their career earlier for non-medical reasons.
DeleteThank you for the insight into Morgante and Cann situations. At least, Cann came back for a second WC, but for Morgante to lose a WC spot for something off the field it had to be something major, not just someone not liking his smile.
Webb showed - even better than Irmatov - how to manage and referee such a game without tolerating too much. It was a much better disciplinary line he chose and what is even more important, his management skills were top notch - not just in this match.
ReplyDeleteReview by MARCA.com: 4/10. He wasn't up to it. Should have disallowed the Swiss goal for offside and missed a PK on Silva in the first half.
ReplyDelete(Biased ofc)