Group Stage (Matches 17-24)
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| A tense, rain-swept finish was due in Group C for the three challengers: Denmark, Sweden and Italy |
The final round of group matches at UEFA EURO 2004. Qualification questions were riding on all eight ties as the first stage drew to a close. Appointments for the last six matches were composed on Saturday 19th June, with Group A's deciders determined two days previous.
Group A [GRE 4 - ESP 4 - POR 3 - RUS 0]
Group A [GRE 4 - ESP 4 - POR 3 - RUS 0]
Sun 20th June 19:45 (Lisbon - Alvalade)
17 - Spain vs. Portugal
Referees: Anders Frisk, Kenneth Petersson, Peter Ekström (Swedish)
Fourth Official: Stuart Dougal (SCO)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Jozef Marko (SVK)
Sun 20th June 19:45 (Faro/Loulé)
18 - Russia vs. Greece
Referees: Gilles Veissière, Frédéric Arnault, Serge Vallin (French)
Fourth Official: Frank De Bleeckere (BEL)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Vladimir Šajn (SVN)
Mon 21st June 1945 (Lisbon - d.Luz)
19 - Croatia vs. England
Referees: Pierluigi Collina, Marco Ivaldi, Narciso Pisacreta (Italian)
Fourth Official: Manuel Mejuto González (ESP)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Jozef Marko (SVK)
Mon 21st June 19:45 (Coimbra)
20 - Switzerland vs. France
Referees: Ľuboš Micheľ, Igor Šramka, Martin Balko (Slovakian)
Fourth Official: Kýros Vassáras (GRE)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Nikolaj Levnikov (RUS)
Group C [SWE 4 - DEN 4 - ITA 2 - BUL 0]
Tues 22nd June 19:45 (Guimarães)
21 - Italy vs. Bulgaria
Referees: Valentin Ivanov, Juryj Dupanaŭ, Vladimir Enjutin (RUS, BLR, RUS)
Fourth Official: Alain Hamer (LUX)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Reidar Bjørnestad (NOR)
Tues 22nd June 1945 (Porto - Bessa)
22 - Denmark vs. Sweden
Referees: Markus Merk, Christian Schräer, Jan-Hendrik Salver (German)
Fourth Official: Michael Riley (ENG)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Vladimir Šajn (SVN)
Weds 23rd June 19:45 (Braga)
23 - Netherlands vs. Latvia
Referees: Kim Milton Nielsen, Jens Larsen, Jørgen Jepsen (Danish)
Fourth Official: Lucílio Batista (POR)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Michel Vautrot (FRA)
Weds 23rd June 19:45 (Lisbon - Alvalade)
24 - Germany vs. Czech Republic
24 - Germany vs. Czech Republic
Referees: Terje Hauge, Steinar Holvik, Ole Hermann Borgan (Norwegian)
Fourth Official: Urs Meier (SUI) Stuart Dougal (SCO)
UEFA Referee Assessor: Vítor Melo Pereira (POR)
Match 17:
ReplyDeleteSpain
vs.
Portugal
(0-1)
Ref: Anders Frisk.
The younger sibling took out his older brother - what a culturally significant game to provide an authorative final verdict on the destination of Group A. Host nation Portugal, only so thanks excellent association-government cooperation which pipped the more favoured bid of their Iberian neighbours, needed a win to progress - which in doing so would push Spain out of the tournament (so long as Russia didn’t win vs. Greece by 2≤ goals). The Spaniards, requiring only a draw, were even slight favourites I’d say based on play in the first two group games.
DeleteThe deep significance of this match gets a bit lost by the success that Spain would have in immediate later years, but that felt far from what a ‘bearpit’ evening in Sporting Lisbon’s home ground, providing the backdrop for what was a very tough examination not only of the two sets of players, but also for the Swedish officials, headed by experienced referee Anders Frisk. A very (very) complex task for him with much to manage and stay on top of. Portugal ran out one-nothing winners but Frisk and his crew would come through as winners too, surviving one of EURO 2004’s most extreme matches.
Nervous players from both teams kicked off a game whose first fifteen minutes were ‘on fire’, with numerous borderline offences which tested match control to the limit - Frisk’s solution was to pick out a caution for handball (exaggeratedly?), and then be forced into a balancing booking less than a minute later for an offence which was actually neither SPA or reckless. After the two early offenders, only three more players would be sanctioned by the Swedish ref, all for blatant LotG transgressions mid-way through the 2H.
By the book, one could point to something close to a litany of scenes where a yellow card might have been more appropriate than Frisk’s final decision, but the huge merit of this performance is that everyone on the pitch knew he was the BOSS. The wick at the end of ‘carefully patrolling close-to-YC scenes’ candle was burning thin by the last stages, but the referee could blow the final whistle quite fully intact, having been firmly ‘unbeaten’ in one of this EURO’s most momentous matches.
Video officials would actually have ordered Frisk to award a penalty for a seventy-fifth tripping offence on a now mullet-less Fernando Torres (22:28), but such ‘eagle eyes’ could in 2004 be reserved only for the top hit single of the year :) - and maybe that isn’t a bad thing too! To carry on the metaphor, Spain and Portugal were not the killers of Anders Frisk in 2004 (as they would have been for many a ref) - instead, the extrovert Swede held his nerve, and gave a great display of imperfect but real (leadership) refereeing. If Spain were pretty unlucky on the night to go out (Torres hit the post and from a corner they hit the bar both at 0-1), then Frisk’s passage through was, by contrast: absolutely merited indeed.
(my feeling was that after the English duo, the Swedish linesmen were the best at this EURO and that wasn’t disproved in this match, they did well - nearsided Petersson not always correct in his rulings on foul vs. no foul in his vicinity, but he was mostly so, and always delivered his calls in a convincing way; good job by all three officials in this game).
Match 18:
ReplyDeleteRussia
vs.
Greece
(2-1)
Ref: Gilles Veissière.
Greece diced with death in their final group match against Russia, squeezing through ahead of Spain by the tighest of tiebreaker merits - goals scored. The already-eliminated Russians were two-up inside seventeen minutes and ought to have added to their tally, but more by luck than judgement Greece were able to steady the ship in a very chaotic first half, and see through the second without concession. So long as Otto Rehhegel’s side held up their side of the bargain (at worst losing by one goal), they were never actually in much danger - but conceding after sixty-seven seconds, the whole game was really quite a drama for them, from which they were lucky to escape.
DeleteHaving shown zero cautions in what was a relatively unimpressive display of refereeing in the Czech Republic vs. Latvia game, Gilles Veissière was put in charge of this one, and generally did a sound enough job. He might have awarded three penalties (8’, 10’, 67’) and could have sent as many as three Russians off (65’, 77’, 82’) but was never without vouching argument in all six of these scenes. The Frenchman read the game, which started in extremely chaotic fashion, quite well this time - delivering a firm formal warning in the twelveth minute, before carding in the fiftenteeth. That first caution was one of eight in the game, the fourth of which worth highlighting; it was an inexplicably (and rather unacceptably) bizarre decision, 11:38 on the video.
How harshly one judges his refereeing of Russia vs. Greece largely orientates around that one decision - it cost the ridiculously unlucky player (Zisis Vryzas) a quarterfinal place… vs. France; conspiracy theorists could run amok. Personally, the yellow card is actually sth close to a ‘technical mistake’ in my opinion, and would be a meriting thesis to actually reject the performance (in conjunction with other unconvincing elements). Besides that this scene, this was definitely better than his first EURO showing, but the doubts raised by Monsieur Veissière there were still quite evident here - rather insecure in his decision making (cf. clear booking only after mobbing in 39’, poor use of advantage in 82’; too many wrong/surprising calls in the game).
This appointment signal enough, but Gilles Veissière was not a referee taken forward by UEFA for the knockout stages. In an interview about his career, the second linesman of this crew (Serge Vallin) said that he was a bit bitter that he the French refs didn’t get a third EURO 2004 assignment, and he blamed Michel Vautrot for that. Let me say: he should feel no bitterness towards Vautrot, nor any member of the referees comittee, who treated them perfectly fairly. In the AR stakes in this match, Vallin was quiet, Frédéric Arnault not the most convincing team member, but seemingly sound when it came to offside judgements.
Match 19:
ReplyDeleteCroatia
vs.
England
(2-4)
Ref: Pierluigi Collina.
Applauded by the (England) fans as he warmed up, in charge of an exciting game with six goals played in a good atmosphere, which was pretty amicable to referee, and now in with a great chance of confirming himself ‘formally’ as the best referee ever by taking charge of both the WC+EURO finals - life must have felt quite good for Pierluigi Collina as he took charge of the Croatia vs. England decider at EURO 2004, and indeed he realised a second successful performance of the tournament in the process. Otto Barić’s side were more functional / less spectacular than past and future Croatian generations, and in the end England just had too much for them, Rooney-inspired as they were.
DeleteNot that much to report here on a good job well done by the Italian crew, but a walk through some incidents on the highlights:
00:43 - correct freekick awarded resulting in a Croatia goal; potential foul in the build up to Niko Kovać’s score on Ashley Cole, but the defender’s reaction suggests it was only a mistake by him, and not foul play
02:17 - correct simple play on (no foul / no card for simulation, just evading), Steven Gerrard and Igor Tudor
04:11 - Paul Scholes, a caution away from missing the QF, quite fortunate to avoid formal censure here, Collina managing his foul tackle with only a warning
05:08 - Croatian encroachment ignored!
07:05 - in the same boat as Scholes, Milan Rapaić’s more-yc-than-not offence was dealt with by a firm warning from the Italian ref
10:17 - the only booking of the game, rightly shown in what was a mandatory situation, tactical foul by Dario Šimić
11:54 - Ashley Cole dissents at a correct freekick awarded to Croatia by Collina in conjuction with linesman Narciso Pisacreta; from that set-piece, the Croats would score
Match 20:
ReplyDeleteSwitzerland
vs.
France
(1-3)
Ref: Ľuboš Micheľ.
Switzerland could actually rue the performance of the Slovakian referees in their group decider against France: the Swiss needed to win and were drawing one-each until late goals which were respectively offside (15:18) and after referee L'uboš Michel' had pointed for the French to kick the ball out but changed his mind after nobody noticed his gesture (18:03). Apparently, neither errors (the former made by EURO/WC SF linesman Igor Šramka) were noted by contemporaries.
DeleteMichel' was sublime in his first match but didn't manage to hit the same heights here, only offering an adequate level performance (even besides his erring in the 1-3 scene). The Slovakian ref never seemed settled in what was a big game for both sides, and doubtful: advantages in team ball scenarios; management of ceremonial freekicks; disciplinary choices and recognition of offences, were all features of his officiating in Switzerland against France.
Vogel's non-caution (06:12), Henry's diving caution (09:45), and only a caution for Raphaël Wicky (12:22) might also be of interest to observers. Michel's performance was far from the worst of this EURO and it would seem that he had the fortune that the shortfalls in it (late French goals but also re. overall), went rather unnoticed. Considering the high level shown by the Slovakian in his first game, notwithstanding Šramka's error, I'd say he remained a good candidate for knockout games. A certain 'arbitrariness' of the mistake which fooled the AR can perhaps be found -- and eg. he played a good onside for the Swiss goal -- as a saving grace.
Hello my best friend Mikael where the rest of matches in 1 st round?
ReplyDeleteGroup C/D matches will follow in next days, starting with Ivanov today.
DeleteThanks for your interest in the blog Mohamed! :)
Match 21:
ReplyDeleteItaly
vs.
Bulgaria
(2-1)
Ref: Valentin Ivanov.
A night where everything came back around for Valentin Ivanov. The thesis for the 1961-born Russian official to spend the last four years of his career at the highest echelons of world refereeing owed to: a) Levnikov replacing Spirin on the UEFA refs committee in Summer/02 and the greater lobbying abilities of the former, and, b) a very well-received performance in the Champions League Madonnina derby SF in 2003, the Italian media talking up a ‘grande arbitraggio’ and even AC Milan (performatively) sent him a letter congratulating his reffing. Positively assessed by Jozef Marko in game one, Ivanov could hardly hope for letters of Italian adulation this time in any event - Italy could have won 10-0, and they would have still been eliminated by Sweden and Denmark (who drew two each) on head-to-head goals scored.
DeleteAlready-eliminated Bulgaria played admirably, led at halftime, and only with a ninety-fourth Antonio Cassano winner could Italy even afford themselves the right to talk conspiracy in the other game, having then gotten the requisite result themselves. Bulgaria’s lead came from a converted penalty kick just before halftime, supportably awarded by Ivanov for Mattarazzi holding (08:50); that the first yellow card of the half, the next came two minutes later was the first ever caution for ‘removing shirt in celebration’, for penalty-scorer Petrov. The Russian ref’s steady style served him well for seventy-five minutes in an intense but not unfair match, but he was caught out as the game headed towards it’s end - a quickly taken freekick ensured that he missed Cassano being taken out inside the box, a clear penalty missed (19:58).
Chaos reigned for a few minutes thereafter, leading to a duo of ridiculous play on calls at 82’, topped off by an even more ridiculous (if understandable) offside call on Cassano (22:11). Ivanov was lucky that an injury from the first missed infringement ensured play was stopped for sixty seconds, allowing calm to return for both players. The rest of the match was seen out without problems. Ivanov must be assigned a crucial mistake for his non-penalty at 77’, but with the context factor can avoid a clear match error, and overall I would still say the Russian-speaking crew’s performance in the match was satisfying overall. While Italy’s efforts left them below the dotted line Group C, Ivanov’s group stage still left him in the magic ‘top six’ for both UEFA and I, allowing his EURO 2004 to progress to the next round.
Finally, a focus on the two linesmen:
Dupanau (BLR, 7) - had to raise his flag seven times in the 1H, was always correct to do so, in generally ‘expected area’ situations, however he should have raised the flag one more time, at 29’, an undetected reverse crossover.
Enjutin (RUS, 6) - played the best onside of the tournament at 55’(!), well done for that, but his lapse at 82’ (timestamp above) was glaring… also didn’t help Ivanov with two clear fouls in his vicinity (37’ and indeed 82’), but only in the latter case can we blame the AR; coming to a final judgement, he seemed a solid/reliable official to me.
-- NOTES --
(sth more detailed for those interested)
4' - potential violent conduct by petrov
17' - pot. yc for tactical foul
23' - pot. yc for tactical foul
32' - pot. yc for reckless
39' - pot. penalty to bulgaria for tripping
44' - penalty given (see above)
49' - yc to bojinov for reckless
52' - pot. syc to bojinov for reckless
61' - pot. penalty to italy for pushing
63' - pot. foul situation
66' - yc to stoyanov for reckless
67' - pot. foul situation
77' - penalty missed (see above)
78' - pot. yc for tactical foul
80' - yc to lazarov for reckless, pot. sfp
81' - pot. penalty to italy for holding
82' - play ons then offside call (see above)
84' - pot. penalty to bulgaria for tackle [given as freekick outside]
+91 - pot. yc for tactical foul
Thank you very much Mikael in your opinion who was the best referee in Germany in history merk in my opinion?
ReplyDeleteTo be honest my idea is that Roth-Schmidhuber-Merk-Fandel-Stark-Brych were all vaguely at the same level for their time(s). Another interesting name would be Pauly, and obviously one can't (or at least I can't) compare those above to eg. Glöckner, when football was very different, the only German to ref the WC final. Personally my favourite is Stark, who is probably the best 'staying in control of the players actions' ref of all time, but I can admit that his performances were sometimes too inconsistent.
DeleteKirchen who refereed in wc 1986 and wc 1990
DeleteYes, good remark! I'd forgotten about him. Honestly I found Kirschen rather overestimated - despite being very fit, his calls were quite poor (see Gil Manzano style). Adolf Prokop however, though he disposed a somewhat 'comical' manner on the pitch, seemed a very good referee to me.
DeleteMatch 22:
ReplyDeleteDenmark
vs.
Sweden
(2-2)
Ref: Markus Merk.
UEFA, they of head-to-head as primary/secondary tiebreaker and not goal difference, had a problem heading into the Scandinavian derby between Denmark and Sweden. The group results not including Bulgaria had gone as follows:
DeleteDenmark 0 - 0 Italy
Italy 1 - 1 Sweden
Denmark ? - ? Sweden
If SWE-DEN-ITA would all finish on five points (and they did), Bulgaria’s results could essentially be discounted, and only the three other matches considered ‘relevant’ for determining the group’s final. H2H points was the first consideration, but goals scored between teams in question was next - so, high-scoring draw between Denmark and Sweden would ensure both progression into the knockout rounds.
As the rain fell in the smaller-compact Porto stadium and the fans cheered for their sides in very passionate but cordial terms, one really had the impression he was watching a quite ‘special’ match unfold infront of him. Sweden were lucky on the day - they should have been much further than two-one behind when Thomas Sørensen’s haphazard goalkeeping allowed them to get the decisive and tieing goal with time fast running out in the eighty-ninth minute.
All things considered, this constituted a relatively benign appointment for Germany’s Markus Merk, an assignment which continued the cultural ‘homogenity’ of this clash (UEFA did the same in '92 - coincidence?). He watched a brilliant goal by Jon Dahl Tomasson in the first half, and the key decision of the game came in the second when he awarded Henrik Larsson a penalty kick less than 30secs after the restart. The commentators were sure that Merk was wrong, but a clear Sørensen-Larsson contact can actually be observed upon viewing the replays. At the least, the German ref’s call is “supportable” (and for me it is simply correct).
The second half was quite boring for the refereeing honestly, but the first offered a degree of challenge for Merk. An invented booking for Erik Edman who wasn’t (trying to or inadvertently succeeding in) fouling on that particular incident — 36’ — came after a long sequence of incidents between the Swedish defender and Jesper Grønkjaer, not all of which were optimally solved by the referee; especially the incident between them just before 36’ had obviously spooked Merk, where he hurriedly played on after an off-the-ball ‘duel’. Germany’s official had the fortune that Mike Riley didn’t for Latvia: nothing occurred from/after this play.
Unlike France against England, Merk did whistle some zero fouls, but overall it was a decent/effective piece of refereeing on an 8,3-ish level. The commentators reported that he even afforded himself a smile as what little stoppage time there was played as a pure non-event, one would guess safe in the knowledge that his penalty call being supported, bigger things beckoned for him and his team.
Timestamps:
11:30 - penalty given
8:37 - edman booking
Match 23:
ReplyDeleteNetherlands
vs.
Latvia
(3-0)
Ref: Kim Milton Nielsen.
A great night for the Netherlands, who qualified for the quarterfinals despite starting the day on a single point, edging through having defeated Latvia three-nothing. Certainly the game where the Baltic minnows least threatened a major upset, though Aleksandrs Starkovs’ side could hold heads high and how well they competed in the ‘group of death’ overall. That being said - Latvia could hold some gripes about the officials at EURO 2004:
Deletevs. 🇨🇿 - though they were allowed too much rough play without ever being carded, ref Veissière wrongly denied them a one-on-one chance while a goal up, blowing up for a prior foul
vs. 🇩🇪 - one had the feeling that awarding them a penalty kick was actually too big of a decision for Premiership ref Mike Riley on the day…
vs. 🇳🇱 - soundly beaten, but the first of three Dutch goals came from a penalty that never should have been! (HL - 03:32)
Kim Milton Nielsen was fooled by Edgar Davids, who had been tripped by a defender outside the box, managing to kick his left foot with his right whilst stumbling. This generated a natural fall which occured due to a contact inside the box, wrongly judged by the long-time Danish international ref as a penalty.
Clear Match Error.
A pity for Nielsen, as not only did this game (which was otherwise soundly handled) result in the end of his EURO 2004 (he was sent home after the GS), but in the end of his whole major tournaments career. One of the most iconic officials, the Dane attended five WCs/EUROs, handling a total of ten matches - the most famous of course being his strong performance in Argentina vs. England at France ’98. What happened in this EURO was a shame in my opinion: he actually threatened to display his ‘1998 form’ in his two games here, but ultimately he made too many doubtful decisions to carry on. I would have decided the same as UEFA in their stead too; it was goodbye to the CL final referee, at EURO 2004.
Match 24:
ReplyDeleteGermany
vs.
Czech Republic
(1-2)
Ref: Terje Hauge.
Unlike four years prior, Germany actually did well in their EURO game three, but caught on the break by Milan Baroš with time running out, Rudi Völler’s side lost the game they needed to win against the already group-topping Czechs, and a soul-searching group stage exit would ensue. If the theme of the evening was ‘not being able to get back what had been lost in previous matches’ for the Germans, the same was probably true of referee Terje Hauge, who would join ‘Die Mannschaft’ in being cut out after the group stages.
DeleteHaving aroused huge attention for issuing what would be the only straight red of the tournament, also being assessed by UEFA as missing a clear penalty kick for the hosts later in the game (I found that out this week) and not leaving the best impression besides all that - Norway’s top referee had a relatively decent performance this time out. Operating on exactly the same style as Russia vs. Portugal, the very fair-spirited players in this match helped ensure that nothing untoward could occur on the pitch, and the old adage about ‘the best refs are the ones you don’t notice’ was probably quite applicable for this tie. Some interesting incidents to discuss maybe (sfp 28’ or 38’?; lucky not be sent off tyce at 48’?; penalties in 76’ and 81’?), but no more than that. 8,3 should be the mark for Hauge, also good grades for the assistants, who gave a faultless impression.
Perhaps the most ‘iconic’ refereeing incident from this game was Hauge having the misfortune of being taken to the floor by the mutual tackles of Tomas Galásek and Michael Ballack ten minutes in. Both Galásek and Ballack were one yellow card away from being suspended out of the next fixture ;). To Hauge’s credit, having picked up his whistle and gotten back up following play, the Norwegian could afford himself a warm smile afterwards!
https://twitter.com/MikaelReferee/status/1652000628200157188
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/euro-2004-in-portugal-vorrunde-gruppe-d-spiel-24-lissabon-news-photo/52537884
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/michael-ballack-of-germany-and-tomas-galasek-of-czech-news-photo/1194889167
An analysis post for the whole group stage will follow here in the next days (probably Sunday), once the marks for matches 21-24 have been fully standardised. Quarterfinals will begin hopefully some time next week. Thanks to all viewers of the blog so far! :)
ReplyDeleteAnalysis
ReplyDeleteFirst, some overall grades for the group stage. I calculated them by boosting the ref mark in each performance by x3 (ie. forming 60% value), no tiebreakers at equal scores, only alphabetical order :).
Here:
1. Urs Meier (73)
2= Pierluigi Collina (70)
2= Anders Frisk (70)
2= Markus Merk (70)
5. Valentin Ivanov (66)
6. Ľuboš Micheľ (65)
—
7. Terje Hauge (63)
8. Manuel Mejuto González (62)
9. Gilles Veissière (60)
10. Kim Milton Nielsen (59)
11. Michael Riley (58)
12. Lucílio Batista (51)
Worth noting maybe that:
a) always referee + linesman performing at ‘expected level’ (7) gives a final score of seventy and,
b) my ‘top six’ names were the same as UEFA (see the QF post text).
Follows, a small precis of how each referee performed in his group games:
(1/3)
Delete1. Urs Meier (73)
Excellent. Actually the only ref to fully convince (on the highest level) in both games, even he had BOTH the two best GS performances! Was sent to Faro for day one to ensure ‘the tournament would start well’, NOT because ESPRUS was a sonorous duel, and faced a very challenging game which was on fire from the start. One can doubt whether other ‘big names’ would have been able to pass there, but Meier was brilliant, super refereeing. Faultless too in ITASWE, a game with pretext after Totti’s trial etc. On pure merit, easily candidate number one for the final.
2= Pierluigi Collina (70)
CROENG was an easy day at the office for the baldpated Italian, but the opener was more testing. To his credit, with only one exception Collina was actually able to show a strict face in terms of cards and generally did well in PORGRE - any idea he was ‘just’ a celebrity referee could rightly dispelled upon watching that game (not that anybody needed convincing(!), not least the England fans who applauded him warming up in Lisbon :)). 100% trusted name by 99.999% of football world for any game of course but hinted at difficiencies for harder games, though.
2= Anders Frisk (70)
Made a bit of a miss out of GERNED - rightly booked Kuranyi for handball at 12’, but bizarrely chose to forgive Lahm’s (26’) handplay when everyone also expected yellow. This made disciplinary haphazard for the rest of the game, and the Swede rather ‘stumbled over the line’ to a 7. ESPPOR was a big test of mettle however, more of personality and ‘great man of history’-ness, than only decisions/cards/tactical approach etc, and Frisk deserves big, big credit for ‘landing the plane’ in such circumstances, many simply wouldn’t have been able to. Brought huge skills to the table for UEFA in KO stages.
2= Markus Merk (70)
I really liked his performance in FRAENG! Perfect example of how to apply a lenient, sensible line for a match’s benefit. Correct in playing ‘the long game’ in not expelling Silvestre for a blatant professional foul, but this really had to be rouge in the LotG… DENSWE less good, Edman vs. Gronkjaer wasn’t so well handled in 1H, in 2H it was much easier. Awarded three penalties, always rightly, contrary to what the commentators saw in Porto! Easily a name for QFs, SFs, he could handle the final, an option for it…
(2/3)
Delete5. Valentin Ivanov (66)
Ivanov would have been able to join the ‘biggest’ names on 70≥ until min76 of ITABUL - his first game (ENGSUI) was an easy one but he was tested second time out and was doing well, but then he missed a blatant penalty, and proceeded to at least partly lose the plot for five minutes after that. His games are interesting to watch - limitations in some areas are balanced out by mostly clever, considerate calls. Rightly also adjudged by UEFA to be in the top half of 2004 refs: but a benign first appmnt also helped him (ITABUL gave insights into both good, very steady in tough game for 75’, but also bad, those poor five minutes were quite crazy…).
6. Ľuboš Micheľ (65)
Did a really, really nice job in GREESP, apparently Vautrot even platonically kissed the Slovakian referees after the match and the venerable French assessor did have his reasons - this was the third best performance of the whole GS. Actually Micheľ didn’t manage to convince though in SUIFRA, too ‘edgy’ and just let a bit much pass him by, but that became the least of his problems really: the only linesman to make a GS crucial mistake was his, Šramka, the second and very decisive French goal came from an objective offside. I WONDER IF LEVNIKOV/UEFA DETECTED IT?! Šramka was WC/EURO SF AR, Micheľ earned the benefit of the doubt after game one. But in case of being sent home, the Slovakians could have NO cause for complaint; they survived the cull and were into the QFs.
—
7. Terje Hauge (63)
I guess UEFA weren’t anticipating the hosts to lose on opening day, so the Hauge’s RUSPOR immediately became a huge clash, maybe bigger than they foresaw when drawing up the assignments. The big decision, Ovchinnikov off for DOGSO handball, aroused huge attention but was actually okay from an assessing pov, even the non-given Figo penalty too somehow, but the Norwegian had pretty big deficiencies in managing the players and game which were hard to ignore for EURO level. If one could ‘forgive’ him that match then he actually showed no real improvement in GERCZE and was rather fortunate that the players were as benign as they were (reason for six despite 8,3), even if the refereeing was no wider topic for discussion in this tie at all. In the end, he wasn’t a knockouts-level referee with his dogmatically background style, and UEFA had the same idea as me on that.
8. Manuel Mejuto González (62)
How tournaments turn on disperate moments - if Totti hadn’t tried to assault his man-marker Poulsen in the last seconds whilst he was 25yrds away, Mejuto would have been given a ‘7’ for DENITA (also by UEFA) and probably the Spaniard would have reffed NEDCZE quite well, Spain were then out… alas! I guess he was sacrificed for the latter game to be honest, using Mejuto’s experience to deliver this clash for the tournament and be pushed out of the knockout stage: Totti caused UEFA a big internal drama. Unlike DENITA when he showed calm in managing the game aspect, NEDCZE he didn’t, and didn’t ref it well: too many wrong freekicks, an SFP he DID see and did nothing about, de facto wrong SYC. However, to bring it back around, the reason Totti partly did what he did in game one was because Mejuto’s angry shouting as a management tactic only worked so well, and the Spaniard ran out of other options/ammunition by the end of the match… still, he was somehow unlucky in the final analysis (both his games were pretty challenging), but surely deserved to be out after all the discussions and a number of doubtful moments.
(3/3)
Delete9. Gilles Veissière (60)
Not actually facing any ‘key match incidents’ elevated easily the second worst EURO 2004 referee into ninth place. I don’t know the situation exactly but surely Sars deserved a chance at this point after 2000, 2002. RUSGRE was generally okay besides Fyssas ULTRA-ABSURD booking (which deserved rejection on its own…), but CZELVA was just bad refereeing - really chaotic and unconvincing. His linesman Vallin (who was also shaky himself in CZELVA…) has the nerve to blame politics for them not going further, the reality is quite different… rightly out after GS.
10. Kim Milton Nielsen (59)
I reflect with sadness what happened to Nielsen - he had a great general style and easily the skills to join Collina/Frisk/Merk’s level. BUT he suffered from too many blackouts when making decisions, he de facto gave two wrong penalties! You can defend him at CROFRA, but not NEDLVA, the definition of a clear match error. This all being said, he showed not insignificant lapses in concentration besides KMIs in both games, so maybe I should be less sad about how his EURO turned out; after the blatant wrong Dutch penalty, UEFA actually had no chance but to push the Danish crew away post-GS.
11. Michael Riley (58)
EURO 2004 convinced me that Mike Riley was a good referee - it is actually easy to see why Ridden thought it was worth chancing his ‘when you commit a yellow card offence I will call you over with clear gestures and issue you a yellow card’ style for this tournament. Frisk ‘won’ ESPPOR simply by being a great man of (ref) history; Riley stuffed this EURO up in a very ‘mortal’ way. If he was nervous at SWEBUL, then it wasn’t well-hidden: really ridiculous IFK+YC (opening card!!), wrong penalty, trouble about SYCs despite good/great disciplinary plan. Damage was done maybe after that game and the penalties not given to Latvia unfortunately fall in the bottled category; not great to reflect that Baltic nation were victims of their own fair play. A bit sorry for Riley, but to say ‘a major tournament was simply too big for this guy’ is not an unfair statement. Sent home.
12. Lucílio Batista (51)
Really bad, De Bleeckere/Vassaras must have been speechless at losing out to him. To be fair: SUICRO was a tough gig, many tough KMI calls (we supported him re. mistakes in all cases), but he actually failed in managing the game and left an amateurish impression in too many episodes. He and Januário-Cardinal officiated BULDEN very nervously, and Batista was so poor. To give eighteen yellow cards combined and still allow so much, not to be at all in control… sorry, to select a referee who showed such performances was a BIG mistake, much much more exaggerated case even than Veissière. A showman who gave a show, that’s for sure(!) but unfortunately who turned his games into a circus at the end… caesura moments not only for not only this EURO, but his whole UEFA Elite career.
BONUS:
DeleteSome 16:9 slow-motion replays from a couple of key incidents from the group stage which we hadn't managed to see in full HD until now.
DENITA (Mejuto) - https://files.catbox.moe/x4dn59.mp4
NEDLVA (Nielsen) - https://files.catbox.moe/tpt5ha.mp4
Excellent analysis Mikael
ReplyDeleteThanks Mohamed! :)
Delete