19 GRENGA Ruiz

 

Greece won a World Cup finals match for the first time, defeating Nigeria by two goals to one, achieving an important victory in the race to finish just below Argentina and advance. Game turned on a crazy violent conduct by Sani Kaita, correctly dismissed, at which point Nigeria were winning.

Man in charge was Óscar Ruiz from Colombia. FIFA listed since 1995 (Archundia since '93!), Ruiz was at his third World Cup - realising a strong tournament in 2002 which culminated in a quarterfinal for him, much was expected of him in 2006. However, after his very challenging opening game, he was rejected and his first appointment was his last in Germany. 

While expectations of him 2006 were quite high, here they were more moderate. Ruiz offered a good performance in not the most sonorous game, showing his experience and the merit of selecting him again for FIFA's biggest event. 

Let's take a look closer, first at Kaita's moment of madness.

Key Match Incidents

33' - Red Card to Sani Kaita

Kaita chases down Vasílis Torosídis to the ball, with the Greece player fairly shielding it as it rolls off the field of play. Kaita then continues to closely follow Torosídis, to such point that he is preventing the Greece player taking the quick throw-in he wants to.

Kaita stated in an interview that it was Torosídis throwing the ball at his chest that enraged him. It is hard to actually work out if that happened for sure, but it seems so. Before the Nigeria player could even think about walking away or taking the moral high ground, he instinctively kicks Torosídis with excessive force. 

I'm pretty sure that Óscar Ruiz does not actually see what happens. He seems to have a zero angle on the kick, and the pretty leisurely way that he approaches the scene certainly gives the impression of a man who hasn't just watched a clear violent conduct. 

It is on the shout of his assistant referee, Humberto Clavijo (widely much more conspicuous in 2014), that Kaita is dismissed. Surely it was expected of him, but Clavijo showed good alertness to see the kick out and then courage to tell his leader that it was a red card offence (+ 0,1). I really think that others might have missed it, kudos to him.   

82' - Violent Conduct by Dickson Etuhu?

Interesting incident, à la one from Maillet's first match. Do you think Etuhu deliberately stood on Kóstas Katsouránis? On the spectrum of probable deliberateness, I would say the incident from Honduras - Chile was more likely an attempt to hurt an opponent than this one, but I wouldn't totally rule out intent here.

In any case - way too muddy waters to issue a red card, especially in a World Cup match. 

88' - Serious Foul Play by Giórgos Samarás?

The reaction of the fouled Chidi Odiah, who jumps back up again, belies how close to a red card this foul actually is (or is that the point?).

Samarás virtually goes over the top of the ball and catches Odiah with reasonably high intensity on the shin of his standing foot. I would be lying to say I'm desperate to be on the end of a comparable tackle myself.

Odiah's reaction should be clue enough itself, but ultimately a yellow card was just right here; though Samarás was certainly at least somewhat fortunate. 

Analysis

Without doubt the strongest element of Ruiz's performance was his self-presentation in conversation. This man was not to be messed with - just look at his warning to Nigeria coach Lars Lagerbäck at 48'! What impressed me most was the understated way that the Colombian referee used his presence; he did not act as a dictator on the pitch, but asserted his authority when it was challenged. Everyone knew where the line was, and saw the Colombian referee as a force for good on the pitch, if a distant one.

His use of sanctions was predictable and consistent, all cards were mandatory (good signal with the SPA call at 15' though). I liked the common-sense he used at 20' - Sotíris Kyrgiákos' tactical charge was worthy of a booking, but given that the attack started off the ball hitting the referee, it was sensible to cut his losses and award a freekick only.

While it was sensible to not overreact to two more-SPA-than-not fouls (25', 64'), I don't think the same could be said for a couple of other scenes. At 27', Peter Odemwingie was understandably a bit annoyed being fouled off-the-ball as he was, and the referee wasn't really interested in managing anyone. 

Coach Lagerbäck reacted as I would have done at if my player was deliberately kicked through the back right in front of me, and while as I touched on before (48') Ruiz in a very calm way showed him who was the boss, he should have admonished the fouling Torosídis at least; his foul was worthy of a card, really.

On the other hand, Ruiz did react in a couple of other situations. His furious sprint at 51' is disappointingly panned away from by our match director (would be a good edition of What Happened Next, actually); his solution to delaying the restart at 57' is almost amusing, as if of a parental manner - the Colombian referee would have been in big trouble if the kick had been smashed long! 

Surely not constituting textbook modern refereeing, but I actually liked Ruiz more for these two solutions. I miss referees like him nowadays. 

Balance

Óscar Ruiz together with his assistant Humberto Clavijo got the decision spot on which changed this game, and in the final analysis probably decided it. Ruiz had a good game besides to start his third World Cup, in which he showed to be one of the more old school referees in 2010 - for better and for worse. 

I appreciated his approach because he showed this game, perhaps not the most sonorous of the sixty-four at the tournament - it's due respect - fully concentrated from start to finish, Ruiz's next appointment would amply reward his performance here. 

Ruiz and nearside AR Abraham González correctly determined that there was no offside offence in Greece's equaliser; did Humberto Clavijo miss an active offside at 59'? Again, not a challenging game for the assistant referees on the whole.

Óscar Ruiz - 8,4 Abraham González - 8,4 Humberto Clavijo - 8,5 Joel Aguilar William Torres COL – SLV	Greece 2-1 Nigeria Group Stage 17 June
Papastathopoulos (15') - SPA (Holding) Tziolis (59') - Tackle Samaras (88') - Tackle	Obasi (89') - SPA (Charging)
	Kaita (33') - Violent Conduct (Kicking)