44 CMRNED Pozo

 

Netherlands needed a point to confirm themselves atop their World Cup group, and achieved that by beating an already-eliminated Cameroon in their final group match. The nation from Central Africa deserved better than joining DPR Korea as the only team without a point, but such is life.

Pablo Pozo, injured out of the Algeria - Slovenia match, found himself the odd man out in South Africa. This game had all the feel of a third place playoff, officiating appointment included.

The best way to describe Pozo's performance is control-focused. Chilean ensured that he kept everyone in check with his rigorous approach - characterised by a distant leadership style, long blows of the whistle (13', 54'), an unpredictable rather reactive card selection, and a foul detection (just two of many examples, 22', 49') which didn't really allow the match to prosper as a spectacle. 

He correctly awarded a penalty for Cameroon at 64' in his characteristic undiscreet manner, for a handling offence by Rafael van der Vaart. I liked his play on call at 89', a tight one, but given the defender had just won the position off the attacker, a good call for my money not to blow for a penalty to the Oranje.

Pozo very visibly tired in the last five minutes (a nod to referees around the world - it's not just you! :)), which was most obvious in scenes at 86', and before the penalty appeal at 89'. To be fair, that is probably explained by his injury earlier in the tournament that forced him to renounce an inset on day three of the competition.

If Pozo's approach to this game was actually optimal, it was not a good resume for knockout stage matches at all; speaking bluntly, the referee from Chile didn't really have it in his repertoire to serve football - in the end, his treatment by FIFA at World Cup 2010 was fair, in my judgement. 

Patricio Basualto got an important offside call correct (40') and saw the winning goal right - onside (83'). There was a tight but moderately important mistake by Francisco Mondría at 62' (- 0,1). 

Probably exclusively, I found this man, Pozo, rather fascinating. At least, in my eyes he deserved a World Cup ticket more than Carlos Amarilla (again), who would have put Pozo's trio in the reserve place had his assistant Emigdio Ruiz not been injured out of the pre-tournament fitness test. 

Overall, one can't say that styles like Pozo's are the worst loss to modern refereeing, at least on a World Cup finals level. However, it is interesting to look back on the days when even the biggest major tournaments contained a diversity of styles amongst the officiating squad. We will probably never see the like again. 

Pablo Pozo - 8,3 Patricio Basualto - 8,4  Francisco Mondría - 8,3 Khalil Al-Ghamdi Saleh Al-Marzouqi CHI – KSA, UAE	Cameroon 1-2 Netherlands Group Stage  24 June
N'Koulou (25') - Tackle Mbia (81') - Lack of Respect (Handling)	Kuyt (17') - Tackle van der Vaart (64') - SPA (Handling) van Bronckhorst (70') - Tackle