38 USAALG De Bleeckere

A high-definition version with broken audio is available here. 

Hollywood couldn't have written it better - with time very fast elapsing, Landon Donovan calmly slotted the rebound of Clint Dempsey's saved shot into the back of the net, and the United States, facing pending elimination, had scored in additional time and pulled it off. Both they and opponents Algeria had a great shot at qualifying: the match was certainly one for the thriller genre; it really could have gone either way.

FIFA cast one of their most experienced men in the role of referee - Frank De Bleeckere was the European selected, a high vote of confidence in the Belgian after the American association's loud complaints about Koman Coulibaly's performance in their previous match against Slovenia (FDB even stated at a mid-tournament press conference that he was going to watch Gladiator in his down-time in the days before the match!). 

De Bleeckere fulfilled the brief of avoiding a Coulibaly-esque public relations disaster for FIFA, but reports who focus on historical accuracy will note this refereeing performance as a disappointing one. 

The script of the afternoon certainly had twists and turns in the narrative. Irony, as Clint Dempsey twice felt what it's like to be elbowed, this time in the Algeria penalty area (the latter strike on him simply violent). Setbacks too, the United States again had to fight from a blown call, their first half goal was wrongly ruled offside by assistant Peter Hermans. And finally injustice at the end, Antar Yahia was simply trying to protect the referee from his furious Algeria teammates, and got sent off for it. 

A lot happened for a running time of just over ninety minutes! Let's start by looking back at those Key Match Incidents.

Key Match Incidents

20' - United States goal disallowed for offside

Algeria defense turns to AR Peter Hermans in panic, rather more in hope than expectation that goal-scoring Clint Dempsey was offside; in the same way, Hermans' flag probably constituted something of a panic on his part.

When Hérculez Gómez makes the pass to Clint Dempsey, Hermans was probably expecting Gómez to shoot and probably hadn't at that point even really perceived where Dempsey was. Given the speed of the shot and how close Dempsey was to goal, when he touched the ball into the net, Hermans probably thought "sh*t...... well he must have been offside" all in a split second. 

Flag went up, it shouldn't have done. Dempsey was on. 

CRUCIAL MISTAKE

49' - Potential Penalty to the United States

Madjid Bougherra realised that he might not reach the centred ball before attacker Clint Dempsey did, so his solution was to expediently elbow the US player - and it worked, as Bougherra could head away unchallenged. 

In this instance De Bleeckere was felled by his too strict adherence to the diagonal control path! Had he been positioned inside the arc (more righterwards), then he would have seen this decisive strike. Not the most scandalous of missed penalties, but a clear mistake regardless. 

CRUCIAL MISTAKE

50' - Potential Penalty to Algeria

A rather clear holding foul by Jay DeMerit (he had form for it) in principle, but given one could perhaps argue it was normal corner play, even besides Rafik Halliche total lack of reaction to it, acceptable call to play on. 

81' - Potential Penalty to the United States (Violent Conduct?)

This had all the hallmarks of Mauro Tassotti's very similar offence sixteen years earlier - realising the attacker had gotten goalside of him, Antar Yahia decides the only way he can stop Clint Dempsey is by striking his face with excessive force, drawing blood from Dempsey's mouth. 

To be fair to the officials only a hypothetical additional assistant referee would really have had a perfect insight into that challenge, but it was in De Bleeckere's visual control and the referee could have spotted what was a very clear penalty, and if seen correctly, ensuing red card. 

CRUCIAL MISTAKE

+93' - Second Yellow Card for Antar Yahia

De Bleeckere unfortunately totally fails in this scene. Awarding a defensive freekick for an offence not immediately obvious from the live sequence totally infuriates some Algeria players who lose their temper and beseech the Belgian referee.

Both Hassan Yebda and Rafik Halliche should actually be sent off for their actions, invading De Bleeckere's personal space with gestures and screaming in his face. The winner of this duel between official and players end is unfortunately those who lost their heads, as the Belgian ref simply bears their assaults before walking away.  

Fine, it is understandable that De Bleeckere didn't want to inflame them or issue two red cards at the end of a World Cup match. But then to somewhat lazily eject Yahia - second booking - as he was the first player in front of him, with the Belgian having escaped the confrontation with other two Algeria players, is simply not fair. Hardly a relevant in grand scheme of the event, but ejecting Yahia of all players was a really poor signal.

Actually, Frank De Bleeckere discussed this decision (in English) on a chat show in Belgium, which you can find here. 

Approach

The most valuable contrast here is between Frank De Bleeckere's game plan and Viktor Kassai's in his game (Mexico - Uruguay) twenty-four hours previous. Kassai absolutely bossed his match, choosing the optimal approach, consistently and proactively applying it the whole match through. 

De Bleeckere on the other hand, seemed to be treading on eggshells, and his disciplinary choices were very inconsistent - after a good opening caution at 12', he only verbally warned Foued Kadir after his borderline SFP foul (26'), and heavy tackles after advantage also avoided censure (20', 34'). 

Perhaps most telling was the caution to Jozy Altidore at 62': a careless trip and only after a long delay was the card shown - presumably where the Belgian referee was calculating whether a card at that particular moment was tactically valuable. Sorry, but that was simply poor officiating in my view.

In this breathless game, it seems De Bleeckere calculated the best thing he could do was to survive it. Caution procedures at 75', 82' (latter close to SFP) are not befitting of a real leader on the pitch; more of a man simply refereeing the match, not really trying to manage the game or the players. 

Officials missed an expedient tactic at 83' (De Bleeckere should have assigned watching the ball to a teammate), and the caution to DaMarcus Beasley for handling was rather cheap. After the goal - Belgian  referee failed in the second yellow card scene, ignored a clear a caution at +94', and did not enlarge additional time at all after two major delays in play (goal, red card). 

By the end, I don't think it is an unfair charge that Frank De Bleeckere had lost control of this tie. 

Assistant Referees

It was also a challenging game for both ARs. Besides wrongly disallowing the goal at 20', Peter Hermans played a good onside at 37' and correctly flagged at 47'; Walter Vromans flag at 40' looks too tight to call, even if it seems to be a tight onside. 

Balance

Especially as a serious final candidate, I found Frank De Bleeckere's performance in this game rather disappointing. Besides missing two penalties and wrongly ejecting a player at the end, unfortunately the conclusion I drew, is that this game was simply too much for the top Belgian referee.  

He did avoid a scandal, fulfilling the basic task of his very appointment, and FIFA made the sensible choice to utilise his skills in the knockout stage. Ultimately though, at the highest level, the difference between De Bleeckere and the (UEFA) referees who proved to be the best at the tournament was, in my eyes, actually rather vast. 

Frank De Bleeckere - 7,0 Peter Hermans - 7,9(5) Walter Vromans - 8,4 Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh Mù Yùxīn BEL – MAS, CHN	United States 1-0 Algeria Group Stage 23 June
Altidore (62') - Tackle Beasley (90') - Lack of Respect (Handling)	Yebda (12') - Tackle Yahia (75') - Tackle Lacen (82') - SPA (Tackle)
	Yahia (+93') - Dissent