31 CHISUI Al-Ghamdi

 

Chile and Switzerland played a real battle royale in this match. Both teams knew this game was the key to them advancing, and it was absolutely played that way; Chile survived, scoring a quarter-hour before the end, in this match they had to win, and ten-man Switzerland all the while cried foul. 

A very tough job then for the man in charge Khalil Al-Ghamdi - nine yellow cards, but most controversially the red one to Valon Behrami on the half-hour, which went a long way to deciding the game. In the strict, austerely-mannered Saudi referee, Switzerland had found their public enemy number one. 

Al-Ghamdi did exactly the job FIFA knew he would on appointing him, after a successful night in France - Mexico, consistently card unfair play out of the match. Did Al-Ghamdi's officiating calm the match down or inflame everybody even more? It probably depends who you ask.

At any rate: I don't think Behrami can have too many complaints (though neither could Medel have either), the Chile goal was onside - even if FIFA's poorly drawn lines suggest otherwise - and the players forced this referee to act how he did; even if somebody else might well have done it differently.

A very tricky performance to assess, too. Al-Ghamdi wasn't without mistakes - let's start with those crucial decisions, starting with the big one: red, to Switzerland's Behrami. 

Key Match Incidents

31' - Red Card for Valon Behrami

I have little sympathy with Behrami here - having already struck Jean Beausejour in the face on the pretence of shielding the ball, he does the same to Arturo Vidal. Switzerland player loses interest in the ball just for that split second so he can hit Vidal. His frustration at being sent off is better directed at himself, not the Saudi referee.

Behrami was to that point probably the match's key player - he had fouled Vidal a number of times already (4', 15', 16', 20', 20') and was probably the key player on an officiating level. I would be quite sure that Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld told him to try and antagonise Vidal, one of the most talented Chile players and known for his temperamental issues, in an attempt to get him sent off. Ironically - it totally backfired.

Iranian assistant Hassan Kamranifar is very animated in informing his team leader about Behrami's second offence, on Vidal; if only he had been so for his earlier strike on Beausejour! Officials could have prevented the whole scene by whistling the play dead at the first offence, as it was clear the Switzerland player had something mischievous on his mind.

Coach Hitzfeld knew as soon as Behrami was penalised for his second offence that he could be in trouble, look at him standing on the edge of his technical area trying to put pressure on the officials. When Behrami is sanctioned, he sprints out of his technical area to confront Kamranifar, only to be cajoled away by fourth official Martín Vázquez - really, Hitzfeld should have been ejected too.

But what of the decision to send him off?

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with those who say that yellow is enough, but the red card is supportable in my eyes. Behrami looses interest in the ball and strikes Vidal on purpose in the face, the force more significant than it might look on first glance. Given the widespread criticism of the decision in the (Western) media, there is no doubt that a caution would probably have been the smarter call. 

Procedure though is an absolute catastrophe. I don't really think that Al-Ghamdi totally perceives what happens on his own, he reaches for his yellow card and then looks out to Kamranifar for a few seconds before showing Behrami the red. Referee is off the field of play when issuing the sanction.

The whole thing was way too chaotic and surprising for everyone. Al-Ghamdi should have ordered Behrami to the centre of the pitch, with lots of long whistle blows, so that when he pulled out the red card, nobody would have been surprised. I actually don't think he was a referee over his head in that moment, but unfortunately that was the impression the watching world had.

49' - Chile goal disallowed for offside

Good teamwork here between the West Asian officials - between them they determine that Mark González touched Alexis Sánchez's shot before going into the net (and if not impeded the vision of the goalkeeper), and the goal was correctly ruled out by Hassan Kamranifar. You can hear a very short delay in the whistle, suggesting Al-Ghamdi confirmed his AR's impression that González deflected the ball. 

61' - Violent Conduct by Gary Medel?

Steve von Bergen gets exactly what he was looking for - he irritates Medel enough that he strikes out on his neck. Chile player has now put Al-Ghamdi in a difficult place - he hasn't absolutely sparked von Bergen , but regardless of whether it was an act of violence or not the Switzerland players then beseeched the referee to even it up with the red card.

Saudi isn't having any of it and pretty immediately pulls out his yellow card before beckoning Medel to him; Chilean's reaction to me says he knows he is very lucky to not be sent off, running away quickly, despite shaking his finger to the referee. I suspect Al-Ghamdi only had a cursory view of the offence, he was just running back from setting up the wall. 

Medel lost his composure and struck his opponent's neck, ie. in a violent manner. If he simply wanted to push von Bergen away, he should have done so on his chest - this was an attack on the Switzerland player. I sympathise somewhat with Al-Ghamdi, yellow card was the strong decision and the red card the weak choice; on a game-management level too, perhaps a red was not necessary (what about von Bergen's actions?). 

But the evidence is clear, not least for having sent off a Switzerland player for a non-crystal clear VC, Medel should have joined Behrami in the early bath.

CRUCIAL MISTAKE

75' - Goal for Chile; offside?

Contrary to the lines presented on the television, the general view of the media and even - if I'm not wrong - FIFA's internal evaluation, this goal in my eyes was correctly allowed to stand.

You can see Steve von Bergen's leg plays Alexis Sánchez onside. So, another brilliant decision by Hassan Kamranifar right? Not quite - you can see that the Iranian is not quite in line with play this time, and actually another Chile player is blocking his line of vision. So partly by intuition and partly by in doubt, no flag Kamranifar gets it right (+ 0,1). 

That being said - if he had instantly flagged, I doubt many people would recall the situation now and I doubt too much would have been made of it back then.

Approach

Application of the LotG

Khalil Al-Ghamdi faced a real battle on the pitch in this match. He opened the cards very early for a clearly reckless tackle by Humberto Suazo, where many would have decided a freekick sufficed. I would say that perhaps the Saudi referee could have made more of a point with this call in mimics, gestures and whistle tone, but I think the players realised where the referee's line was. 

Saudi referee issued a further three cards in the opening twenty-five minutes, when I guess most referees at the tournament would only have issued one - again, I actually think each one had it's value. Players knew they couldn't dissent, tackle recklessly (of course), or delay the restart with this man. I mean it as a compliment to Al-Ghamdi's disciplinary control when I say he had the players somewhat treading on eggshells. 

Actually, the red card given to Valon Behrami really calmed everybody down in a fractious match. From thereafter, the players played the match in a mostly sporting manner with one blip right through to the end of the match. Only one dissent card probably tells it's own story - Al-Ghamdi's decisions from play-to-play were hardly unpredictable (though he should have issued a yellow card at 51').  

To me, the key moment of the match on a management level was caused by a (bl**dy) ballboy! With everyone more-or-less focused on football, at 58' another ball is randomly thrown back onto the field with the actual ball still in play. Al-Ghamdi correctly (in 2010) restarts play with a contested drop ball. 

It is the laws of the time that befall Al-Ghamdi here, the players don't realise what is about to happen; referee is just following what is written in the LotG (would anybody have really cared if he just reordered the throw-in to be taken?). Genuinely, no player walks over there in mala fide. Though, when Alexis Sánchez takes advantage of the confusion and expediently wins a corner, he unsurprisingly inflames the Switzerland players.

By that point everyone had no real reason to challenge Al-Ghamdi and his predictable decisions, especially in terms of foul detection, but that situation made everyone much more anxious, which eventually resulted in Medel's violent conduct at 61'. 

Saudi referee should be praised for managing to assure the rest of the game finished calmly after that incident.

Personality

In assessing this performance, one must balance the technically quite strong impression from Al-Ghamdi, against his weaker showing in self-presentation.

Verbal warnings at 8' and 46' were successful, but one can wonder how well-judged his conversations were at 20', 31' and especially the dropped ball at 58', where he essentially failed. His presence at the two biggest calls of the afternoon, red for Behrami and yellow for Medel, weren't necessarily optimal. 

Empathically, he was extremely distant from the players, in terms of mimics and gestures, even up there with some of the most I've ever seen (Fredriksson, Moreno, Clattenburg). Ordering players to him as he did (46', 61') as well as telling them he wasn't interested in what they had to say (35', 73', 74') - it is fair to say that Al-Ghamdi was not interested in being a players' friend!  

While his manner was effective in controlling the match, one can pose the question that if a more charismatic referee, more respectful in interaction than the Saudi, might have been able to calm the players more than Al-Ghamdi was able to. 

Balance

While Arabic news outlets staunchly defended their man's performance, those in the West, the Swiss especially, strongly criticised Al-Ghamdi for a pedantic piece of refereeing, particularly the red card given to Valon Behrami. Besides the patriotic fervour (Saudi news rumoured Al-Ghamdi's mark was 9.5; tabloids in Europe called him "a ref from the desert"), between them they probably paint a useful picture of how the game was refereed.

Al-Ghamdi gave a red card, on the shout of his assistant, which most referees wouldn't have given at the tournament and his wider performance and way of dealing with and sanctioning the players was really strict. The charge that the Saudi referee made players more anxious is credible, but one should also remember that this was a really tough game - succeeding in any manner is an achievement, even if others might have done it differently.

While his managerial AFC colleagues went further, this was Al-Ghamdi's last match. It was de facto impossible to give him any other game after this one, given how controversial his performance was. Perhaps, FIFA could reflect that they managed their Asian referees in an optimal way, as they headed towards the knockout stage. 

Besides scenes already mentioned, Hassan Kamranifar (89' - important) and Saleh Al-Marzouqi (9') correctly recognised offside situations. Another strong showing from the West Asian assistant referees. 

Khalil Al-Ghamdi - 7,9(3) Hassan Kamranifar - 8,6 Saleh Al-Marzouqi - 8,4 Martín Vázquez Miguel Nievas KSA, IRN, UAE – URU	Chile 1-0 Switzerland Group Stage 21 June
Suazo (2') - Tackle Carmona (22') - Tackle Ponce (25') - Delaying the Restart Fernández (60') - Aggressive Behaviour Medel (61') - Aggressive Behaviour Valdivia (+92') - Simulation	Nkufo (18') - Dissent Barnetta (48') - SPA (Holding) Inler (60') - SPA (Tackle)
	Behrami (31') - Violent Conduct (Striking)