Semifinals
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| EURO 2004 was the only major international tournament to have used the 'Silver Goal' rule |
UEFA determined the last three appointments of EURO 2004 all at once - on Monday 28th June, it was announced that Markus Merk's trio would referee the final of the tournament, a prestigious honour for the German team. The two teams taking part, nor whom the fourth official would be, had yet been determined.
That would be decided circa the semifinals, the first of which (hosts Portugal against the Dutch) fell to Anders Frisk, who gained his fourth inset of the tournament in the process. Pierluigi Collina would control the second semi in Porto, where tournament outsiders Greece faced the Czech Republic.
Semifinal 1
Weds 30th June 19:45 (Lisbon - Alvalade)
29 - Portugal vs. Netherlands
Referees: Anders Frisk, Kenneth Petersson, Peter Ekström (Swedish)
Fourth Official: Ľuboš Micheľ (SVK)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Kenneth Ridden (ENG)
Referees: Anders Frisk, Kenneth Petersson, Peter Ekström (Swedish)
Fourth Official: Ľuboš Micheľ (SVK)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Kenneth Ridden (ENG)
Semifinal 2
Thurs 1st July 19:45 (Porto - Dragão)
30 - Greece vs. Czech Republic
Referees: Pierluigi Collina, Marco Ivaldi, Narciso Pisacreta (Italian)
Referees: Pierluigi Collina, Marco Ivaldi, Narciso Pisacreta (Italian)
Fourth Official: Valentin Ivanov (RUS)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Vítor Melo Pereira (POR)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Vítor Melo Pereira (POR)
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Match 29:
ReplyDeletePortugal
vs.
Netherlands
(2-1)
Ref: Anders Frisk.
(1/2)
DeleteI don’t think the Portugal - Netherlands semifinal was a game too far for referee Anders Frisk - but perhaps it was one too many, even if Dutch calls of homer were ungrounded and in the bigger picture the performance was mostly adequate. The experienced Swedish ref was leading his fourth EURO 2004 game (and third in ten days), all of which had been challenging and surely mentally-sapping affairs. This semi, won deservedly by the hosts two-one, would naturally go the same way - but unlike in the three prior assignments, Frisk couldn’t deliver a fully satisfying performance this time.
Spain against Portugal was his (and actually the tournament’s) toughest gig of all, and the warning lights for what would ensue in ‘Portugal vs. Holland’ were visible in Frisk’s next match, the France-Greece quarterfinal: problems in assessing fair versus foul challenges. Aerial duels the biggest offender there, but back in the Alvalade stadium for the semifinal, it was impeding scenes where Frisk never really found a clear line and got himself into a bit of a pickle. The upshot — and also the nadir — of this was a caution for ‘diving’ to Arjen Robben for (persistent) diving for which the ref never, ever had the grounds.
In one of the banal lines given to UEFA.com accompanying the appointments back then, Frisk commented before the quarterfinal - “UEFA are keeping us busy, but that’s how we like it”. One is understandably hard-pressed to read too much into these quotes, but on this occasion there probably is sth of value there. To even make such a remark is perhaps hint enough that the Swedish official was feeling at least partly ‘underrested’ in the competition’s latter stages. A quarterfinal immediately followed by a semifinal is a very big ask indeed (it also showed with Torres Cadena in ’94; Brych’s QF was extremely easy in 2020). A cleverer choice could have been Collina to France-Greece (a day less rest than Frisk, but CROENG can’t have tooo taken much from him) and Frisk straight to a semifinal? Hindsight is 20/20 of course - and in general UEFA paid moreover for 6/12 refs never convincing in the tournament and being discarded after the GS.
Anders Frisk should still be very happy with what he achieved at EURO 2004. Only final referees Rosetti and Proença joined him in refereeing four matches in a 16-team Euro, and the sum of their respective tasks was decidedly lower than what the extrovert Swede faced in Portugal. The Dutch’s main complaint about the referees in the semifinal match — namely that Ruud Van Nistelrooij was unlucky to have a goal chalked off by linesman Peter Ekström — was bogus, and the rest certainly on the right side of passing the test by Frisk. The timestamp analysis follows, giving a more technical analysis of the performance.
Age eligible to even attend EURO 2008 (as Peter Mikkelsen was for this tournament and Byron Moreno was for WC2014 :)), the aftermath of this tournament is where Anders Frisk’s career turned rather sour for him — struck by a coin in Rome, recipient of death threats after Barcelona vs. Chelsea — and Frisk called time on it all less than a year after EURO 2004, retiring as an active referee. One of the most iconic characters in top-level football officiating ever, reviewing his games at this tournament ascertained my historic impression of him: not technically perfect, but a formidable personality who could steer even the most difficult games to a good conclusion. Perhaps drained, Portugal vs. Netherlands might not have been the best demonstration of that, but was still an okay performance overall; Frisk would round off his record-breaking EURO 2004 as fourth official to Markus Merk in the grand final.
(2/2)
Delete[all times HL video timestamps]
06:14 - a sequence which highlights quite well some doubts about foul selection in this match
06:59 - the first player cautioned in this match was ronaldo for removing shirt in celebration, but the second was marc overmars, cautioned for confronting peter ekström after he rightly disallowed a goal for the netherlands, offside
08:06 - overmars could have been credibly sent off, second yc, for this late challenge, but frisk managed the situation instead
09:31 - rather harsh or at least uncongruent caution for nuno valente
11:48 - two ignored bookings in quick succession, or at least one clear one (miguel), van bronckhorst was the second offender
13:08 - unlucky situation where frisk felt the ‘buzz’ from teammate ekström for offside, looked out, whistled play dead, denying an advantage, for which the dutch (coach advocaat) protested
15:04 - after too soft foul was whistled against him, a (borderline) dissenting gesture by arjen robben
19:13 - a caution for simulation to robben, terrible call, he was simply kicked on his standing leg forty yards away from goal… (some further thoughts on this added)
20:19 - at least missed caution to van nistelrooij for very ugly deliberate studs challenge on goalkeeper ricardo, hard to detect though
23:02 - ‘disallowed’ goal for the netherlands, good decision, charging by van nistelrooij on couto
24:07 - caution to figo for dtr not retreating, already in prior minutes had he performed a similar action at two seperate freekicks
24:43 - after freekick given credibly/correctly for impeding, but not consistent with frisk’s line in the rest of the match, it seems he is mobbed by three netherlands players
26:36 - a de jure impeding by stam in a dogso scenario is played on from
26:57 - the only mistake made by either assistant in the match, very solid performances by petersson and ekström again, was in the game’s very last minute, by ar2 ekström who missed an offside
Besides being wrong in itself — Robben was fouled in the scene where he was cautioned for simulation — I’m not sure this whole ‘situation’ gave the best image of Anders Frisk’s refereeing in Portugal vs. Netherlands. The commentator is right to talk of sth like a ‘running battle’ between Robben and Frisk, with numerous tight duels involving the then-young Dutch winger (2’, 17’, 23’, 53’, 59’, 67’ and then the caution at 71’) - many of them ‘dramatic’ in terms of where they happened, often resulting in exasperated gestures by either or indeed both of the ‘duo’. The problem for Frisk was that, contrary to later times perhaps, Robben wasn’t really trying to exaggerate fouls, he was just an exciting attacking player who was often checked by defenders - how often these were fouls to be given can be discussed, but this was no ‘diving’-laden performance by Robben. Frisk’s reaction to him at 71’ was too haughty, and felt like more of a ‘personal’ than ‘persistence’ decision. Frisk even forgot to signal ‘IFK’ at the restart, adding to idea of a card out of ‘annoyance’. A wrong caution in -0,1 in the UEFA system (and ultimately this performance comes to 8,2 imo), but somehow this scene counts for a little bit ‘more’ against in the final reckoning and counts as sth more than just a simply incorrect decision. Great personalities can have their contras, as well as pros!
Match 30:
ReplyDeleteGreece
vs.
Czech Republic
(0-1 asg)
Ref: Pierluigi Collina.
A rather bohemian semifinal for Pierluigi Collina, one whose appointment to didn’t particularly enthral the famous Italian (some info about that during the ‘in focus’ for the final), and surely a clash between Greece and the Czech Republic which didn’t necessarily play to Collina’s strengths. He managed it fine with his rather arbitrary disciplinary control, visibly trying particularly not to book somebody out of the final, and also using his characteristic exterior skills; besides in the Czech Republic (who already reviled him after 2000 and if not for Frisk already having Greece in the QF one suspects CZE-Collina paths wouldn’t have crossed in 2004), I am quite sure this game had no adverse effect on the reputation of the ref one poster demanded, ‘comes to the (English) Premiership’.
DeleteWith a stricter ref, perhaps the Czechs would have won this semifinal — see the premeditated opening foul (on the HL) that Seitaridis knew he would get away with on Nedved, and did get away with — but honestly it is hard to say. Unrelated, Nedved went off injured before halftime and the CZE side were pretty stifled by their Mediterranean opponents, and ultimately bundled out by owing to a one-hundred and fifth-minute winner from a corner. Rather than giving individual timestamps, this is probably a performance you can best get the feel of by skimming through some moments in the highlights vid.
There is one scene worth analysing closely though: Jan Koller could rue a golden chance shot wide with about ten minutes to go, but the tallest man in the tournament can also look back on a decision which should have gone his side’s way too. 55’ (from 12:13), Koller gets the wrong side of Traianos Dellas, who panics, and pulls him back - no clear match error, but the correct decision would have been a penalty to the Czech Republic (and card for either SPA or DOGSO, rather SPA). Already officiated by Collina in the opener, Greece played both the game (they really went for it attacking in ET!) and their ref to perfection; unlike for the celebrity official who so craved it to complete his collection, the final would await for Otto Rehhegel’s stoic underdogs.
Good morning mikael when will you analysis the final ?
ReplyDeleteNext weekend for the final! :)
Delete