IN FOCUS: Portugal vs. England, Urs Meier
Match 25: Portugal vs. England (*2-2 aet). Ref: Urs Meier.
After a dramatic quarterfinal where they went behind after just a few minutes, pulled it back with regulation time fast running out, scored a brilliant goal in extra time only this time to be pegged back themselves - hosts Portugal progressed to the semifinals of EURO 2004 after a hugely dramatic evening in Lisbon, defeating England in a penalty shoot-out to advance to the last four.
The phrase 'becoming public enemy number one' can, in most usages, be considered rather exaggerated and cliché. Actually not concerning the referee of this game: Switzerland's Urs Meier. Meier drew English vituperation for disallowing what would have been a late Sol Campbell winner (minute ninety), penalising an adjacent incident involving Campbell's teammate John Terry and goalkeeper Ricardo.
UEFA came out in support of the decision some days later, but it is fair to say that the English media did not - even British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that Meier had got it wrong, and the tabloids were particularly vociferous in their criticism of the Swiss official, in a very personal campaign against the ref.
The phrase 'becoming public enemy number one' can, in most usages, be considered rather exaggerated and cliché. Actually not concerning the referee of this game: Switzerland's Urs Meier. Meier drew English vituperation for disallowing what would have been a late Sol Campbell winner (minute ninety), penalising an adjacent incident involving Campbell's teammate John Terry and goalkeeper Ricardo.
UEFA came out in support of the decision some days later, but it is fair to say that the English media did not - even British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that Meier had got it wrong, and the tabloids were particularly vociferous in their criticism of the Swiss official, in a very personal campaign against the ref.
Did Urs Meier get the big call right, and how was his performance in the rest of EURO 2004's best game are amongst the questions will that we will address in this 'In Focus' piece.
Big Decision: disallowing Campbell's goal
England started the game really well against Portugal in Lisbon, but their performance turned on the injury mid-way through the first half to young striker Wayne Rooney. The Three Lions were ahead for nearly eighty minutes, and spent the majority of the second half defending in the opponent's half. Venturing forward some minutes after Hélder Postiga's equaliser, they would win a freekick...
(if video gets taken down, scene is from here in the full highlights video).
Was the decision to award England an attacking freekick justified?
Yes, it was justified. Maniche steps/puts his arm across Owen Hargreaves and impedes his progress. But in some sort of way -- and this feeds into my bigger idea about the whole wider incident (see below) -- I'm not sure the call was 100% convincing. Meier doesn't blow up straight away and the decision to order the ball down for the decision was only in lieu of the ball going out for a throw-in. I am absolutely behind the punishment of too-often ignored impeding offences like this.
But somehow this sequence doesn't paint the Swiss ref in the absolute best light - at least if you ask me.
Is Meier in an optimal, proactive position for this freekick?
Not really. He should have detected that the England players were going to pack the deeper part of the penalty area and moved accordingly. The ref is rather static and doesn't modify his central position on the edge of the penalty area. Even when the ball was headed against the crossbar and there were going to be four attacking players challenging for the falling ball inside the goal area, it seems Meier remains still. It would have been better for him to move deeper and lefter to assess the incident which would follow.
Is the decision to disallow the goal correct?
Is Meier in an optimal, proactive position for this freekick?
Not really. He should have detected that the England players were going to pack the deeper part of the penalty area and moved accordingly. The ref is rather static and doesn't modify his central position on the edge of the penalty area. Even when the ball was headed against the crossbar and there were going to be four attacking players challenging for the falling ball inside the goal area, it seems Meier remains still. It would have been better for him to move deeper and lefter to assess the incident which would follow.
Is the decision to disallow the goal correct?
Hmmm. Well, I'd say that opinion generally fell into two different camps:
No, replays show that John Terry doesn't commit an offence, goal should have stood,
and
Yes, Terry impedes Ricardo from getting to ball, Meier was right to chalk it off.
Without wishing to unnecessarily be a 'fense-sitter', my view is probably in the middle of those two. My point would probably be asking it is worth distinguishing between the questions 'if John Terry doesn't exist in this scene is Ricardo then much better able to challenge Campbell' (-> yes), from 'does Terry foul the keeper' (-> more ambiguous).
After the ball his the crossbar, essentially what happens is that Ricardo and Terry get into a 'duel' to reach the ball, but Campbell cleverly manages to bypass that to read the flight of the ball perfectly, and beat them both to it, heading into an empty net. Is that bad luck for Ricardo, given that Terry was 'genuinely' trying to make it to the ball and not deliberately play the goalkeeper, or should Ricardo be 'protected', given that Terry never reached the ball himself and his jump prevented the keeper from challenging?
I genuinely think you can argue it both ways, and in conclusion, Urs Meier's decision should be supported.
Some important other things to note. First, is that in this era, the German(-speaking world) had a 'special' way to assess such incidents, basically that any contact on the goalkeeper inside his six-yard box is illegal and should be whistled down. Meier even seems to allude to this in a COVID-times interview with the website 'Planet Football' (link) about the decision. Indeed, the most popular German football magazine Kicker, in their 'referee rating' for the game, don't even mention this decision in their short review.
Secondly, something of a reflection on maybe similar or at least comparable incidents from later tournaments -- Giroud-Kassai in 2016 opener against Romania, Lewandowski-Brych at EURO 2020 vs. Poland -- where decisions to disallow goals were possible but not taken. In a big tournament, it seems that it is 'safer' and/or preferred by the powers-that-be to mostly allow goals where the contrary decision (ie. to punish the attacker was also possible). It was also quite bad 'luck' for Meier to face at 90' of a European Championship quarterfinal game such a 50/50 call (it was that, IMO).
Finally, as Meier himself notes, he was fortunate that Rui Costa blasted in from outside the box later in the game, not after the freekick for the disallowed goal was taken quickly. It is extremely hard to stay fully 'in control' of events as referee immediately circa such a 'momentous' decision, and indeed interesting to observe (as John Motson, RIP, did) that exactly the same thing happened for another disallowed Campbell goal in 1998 - Argentina took the quick freekick that time, and Nielsen reflected that he shouldn't have allowed it. My advice to referees - find any justification, even 'wrong blade of grass', to prevent a restart in scenario, even if in theory there would be no reason not to allow it taken. Cover yourself!
What about this gesture he makes after the fulltime whistle?
Yes, this is essentially my big 'gripe' with the decision. Urs Meier very clearly gives the idea that he didn't really manage to see what happened, by making a very clear gesture (also you can lip read him), that a push occurred - which whether you think the goal should have stood or not, you can agree did not exist.
And indeed, Meier confirms in an interview with the football magazine FourFourTwo (link) that he never actually saw Terry's offence, he relied on his intuition that he 'must' have fouled Ricardo, otherwise he would have been in the picture with Campbell to reach the ball. Okay, in the end what he decided was supportable, but not the most convincing thesis to take such an important decision...
This ties into the perhaps problem with the decision in context of the performance - Meier had mentally tired quite a lot by this point in the match. It reminds me of something very interesting that Szymon Marciniak revealed in the series of interviews he gave after his outstanding refereeing of the World Cup final. Marciniak stated that FIFA's psychology team had told him "if it looks like the game is going to extra time, in the last ten minutes of regulation, deliberately take it slightly easy, so as to save some cognitive/physical energy for an extra thirty to follow".
Yes, this is essentially my big 'gripe' with the decision. Urs Meier very clearly gives the idea that he didn't really manage to see what happened, by making a very clear gesture (also you can lip read him), that a push occurred - which whether you think the goal should have stood or not, you can agree did not exist.
And indeed, Meier confirms in an interview with the football magazine FourFourTwo (link) that he never actually saw Terry's offence, he relied on his intuition that he 'must' have fouled Ricardo, otherwise he would have been in the picture with Campbell to reach the ball. Okay, in the end what he decided was supportable, but not the most convincing thesis to take such an important decision...
This ties into the perhaps problem with the decision in context of the performance - Meier had mentally tired quite a lot by this point in the match. It reminds me of something very interesting that Szymon Marciniak revealed in the series of interviews he gave after his outstanding refereeing of the World Cup final. Marciniak stated that FIFA's psychology team had told him "if it looks like the game is going to extra time, in the last ten minutes of regulation, deliberately take it slightly easy, so as to save some cognitive/physical energy for an extra thirty to follow".
That really stayed in my mind as an interesting piece of advice, and it seems very applicable to what happened in this game - England led for a very long time (since minute 3'), but were pegged back to one-each on 82', so ie. late in the match. While the match was only 'complex' in terms of disciplinary matters in the first half (especially at just before HT), and didn't necessarily demand too much in terms of personality skills or even assessing foul duels - I can empathise a lot with Meier if he found himself quite drained as the match wore on.
Any finals tournament match is a 'big event', but this game was a huge, huge deal and the pressure of refereeing it must have worn quite heavy on its ref's shoulder (in a good way!). Furthermore, physically it was an extremely demanding match, especially as mid-way through the second half, play started to flow rapidly from box-to-box, always demanding huge running abilities from Urs Meier. So, if not having 'made the plan' that Marciniak spoke about, one could understand if after Postiga equalised, Meier thought "extra time... even with the best will in the world, I could be in trouble here...".
And it does seem that partly showed. Meier had awarded two prior freekicks to the Maniche-Hargreaves ones in incidents where he wasn't going to blow up, but changed his mind after a player made a complaining gesture to him. The delay in that aforementioned decision which led to the famous disallowed goal being also a signal in that direction.
Any finals tournament match is a 'big event', but this game was a huge, huge deal and the pressure of refereeing it must have worn quite heavy on its ref's shoulder (in a good way!). Furthermore, physically it was an extremely demanding match, especially as mid-way through the second half, play started to flow rapidly from box-to-box, always demanding huge running abilities from Urs Meier. So, if not having 'made the plan' that Marciniak spoke about, one could understand if after Postiga equalised, Meier thought "extra time... even with the best will in the world, I could be in trouble here...".
And it does seem that partly showed. Meier had awarded two prior freekicks to the Maniche-Hargreaves ones in incidents where he wasn't going to blow up, but changed his mind after a player made a complaining gesture to him. The delay in that aforementioned decision which led to the famous disallowed goal being also a signal in that direction.
Major tournaments, for players and referees, can be a cruel business - Urs Meier was by far the best referee of the group stages, and his reward was this brilliant top clash. Understandably, even on the highest level, was running a bit low on 'fuel', and was faced with this 'lose-lose' incident in 90' - but the impression he gave, with his decision + that telling pushing gesture after fulltime, was unfortunate.
As per those factors, despite supporting his final call:
I can't say his actions in this incident were 100% convincing.
What did UEFA say about the decision?
As per those factors, despite supporting his final call:
I can't say his actions in this incident were 100% convincing.
What did UEFA say about the decision?
Urs Meier said that it rankled him a bit that it took the referees committee a few days to publicly come out and support him in an interview with the BBC in 2015 (link) - they only did so in their routine press conference the day after last quarterfinal had been played. Volker Roth and Kenneth Ridden rightly condemned the extent and nature of the British tabloids campaign against Meier.
UEFA also vehemently supported Meier's decision. We can assume that the referee assessor, Nikolaj Levnikov of Russia, and the referees committee internally assessed the call as correct.
See below a photo from that press conference:
See below a photo from that press conference:
What happened in the aftermath of the match?
Everything in the days immediately after the game is summed up by this Guardian article (link).
But to summarise:
- ITV News, in addition to The Sun published Urs Meier's personal email address, urging readers to 'let rip'; Meier received over sixteen thousand messages, and the address was closed down
- After he would return home from Portugal, Meier went into hiding for over a week, with no contact
Everything in the days immediately after the game is summed up by this Guardian article (link).
But to summarise:
- ITV News, in addition to The Sun published Urs Meier's personal email address, urging readers to 'let rip'; Meier received over sixteen thousand messages, and the address was closed down
- After he would return home from Portugal, Meier went into hiding for over a week, with no contact
- A young woman was shamefully attacked by three England fans for wearing a Switzerland shirt after the game, on holiday in Greece
- An interview with his ex-wife was published in The Sun, who claimed he had been unfaithful to her
- The same tabloid newspaper unveiled a huge St. George's cross outside Meier's home in Switzerland
- Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, even waded in, stating that he thought Meier made a mistake
Disappointment and frustration at officials is understandable, but to say that this was not the finest hour for our media would be something of an understatement. The less well-known part of this story is what it meant for future assignments in EURO 2004 - Portugal vs. England was actually not Urs Meier's last appointment in the tournament. He was fourth official for the last quarterfinal between Czech Republic and Denmark, to the Russian-speaking crew headed by Valentin Ivanov.
The assigning of the four officials for that game was made on the day of quarterfinals beginning, ie. hours before Meier handled his tie as referee, Portugal - England. UEFA chose not to switch the Swiss out for the Ivanov match. Here is Meier at the coin toss, a sequence surely deliberately elicited by the main broadcaster (so UEFA), but kept in by German television, see below (or if video is taken down, see here).
The assigning of the four officials for that game was made on the day of quarterfinals beginning, ie. hours before Meier handled his tie as referee, Portugal - England. UEFA chose not to switch the Swiss out for the Ivanov match. Here is Meier at the coin toss, a sequence surely deliberately elicited by the main broadcaster (so UEFA), but kept in by German television, see below (or if video is taken down, see here).
What others might not know is that UEFA wanted Urs Meier to be fourth official in the final - as a show of defiance against the English media. But Meier was fed up of being stuck in his room at the referees base São Felix da Marinha hotel (near Porto), understandably scared of being outside after the number of death threats made against him, and asked UEFA to fly back to Portugal, who agreed. This is why the fourth official role for the final was 'TBD' until the semifinals were played out: with Meier out, the four remaining candidates for that role were all working on 'last four' matches themselves.
Of course that was, by then, understandably of very little concern to Urs Meier himself...
But...
It should have all been conjecture anyway!
I would tentatively be pretty sure that UEFA already didn't detect one big offside mistake in this competition (here), and in an even trickier situation, linesman Rudolf Käppeli didn't detect that Terry was actually offside when the header onto the crossbar was made, and his offside position was definitely 'active', as he even tried to challenge for the ball. The reverse crossover strikes again.
Meier, in some kind of way, actually saved Käppeli from a huge (de jure) mistake there!
Match
Knowing all about the Sol Campbell decision / aftermath quite well, the most interesting question from my perspective as I prepared to review the game was 'how did Urs Meier do in the game overall?'. For the most part he showed the excellent form which made him (by far!) the best EURO 2004 referee of the group stage but, even if the full picture can't be 100% positive, Meier did pretty well overall.
For starters - despite handling a game on day one, and being the second referee to finish his group stage 'in the middle' (having done two matches as ref), it was not a deliberate plan by UEFA to save Urs Meier for the first quarterfinal. Meier was originally appointed to be Terje Hauge's fourth man in Germany vs. Czech Republic, the day before this game, but was switched out when he was chosen for this knockout match. Given that Anders Frisk and Pierlugi Collina had taken charge of Portugal/England's final group matches respectively, the only other option for this match would have been Markus Merk - but even he had already taken England before, their opening game against France.
UEFA had the right man for the job though: this game was by far set apart from the other three quarterfinals in terms of 'sonorousness', and no ref had been as good as Urs Meier in the group stage. Of the twenty-four group matches, the two best-refereed games were both his! As stated above, while the game was maybe moderately challenging in technical aspects, Meier still faced a very challenging task as referee in this game. The first big test of his authority actually came at a ceremonial freekick in the twelfth minute, which he came through okay, and rightly showed the first caution of the game to Steven Gerrard for a tactical foul which stopped a promising Portugal attack (37').
The number of 'stressful' moments for Meier increased with some intensity as halftime drew, and the referee who had been extremely secure in both Spain vs. Russia and Italy vs. Sweden started to waver just a little bit - absolutely justified but not au fait / convincingly given calls at both 41' (impeding) and 43' (no YC for actually careless sliding tackle but rather expected booking after Gerrard's), then rather harsh booking for SPA running-into-traffic 44' (11' and 29' were similar and shrewdly avoided by the Swiss), versus real SPA ignored by Terry at +46'. Especially the latter scene was quite chaotic, Meier didn't want to sanction a third straight Englishman and was even mobbed by Portugal players in protest.
The number of 'stressful' moments for Meier increased with some intensity as halftime drew, and the referee who had been extremely secure in both Spain vs. Russia and Italy vs. Sweden started to waver just a little bit - absolutely justified but not au fait / convincingly given calls at both 41' (impeding) and 43' (no YC for actually careless sliding tackle but rather expected booking after Gerrard's), then rather harsh booking for SPA running-into-traffic 44' (11' and 29' were similar and shrewdly avoided by the Swiss), versus real SPA ignored by Terry at +46'. Especially the latter scene was quite chaotic, Meier didn't want to sanction a third straight Englishman and was even mobbed by Portugal players in protest.
Halftime probably came at a good time for the Swiss ref, who though he would face less frequent 'stressful' (though still existent, 56'/59' eg.) moments, would be quite deeply physically challenged as the second half progressed - all of that contributed to the impression as the click ticked on (especially after equaliser, then disallowed goal) that Meier was slightly 'off the pace', missing and misassessing some foul incidents. In general, s**t happens, but given the relatively small amount of stuff that he had to assess in extra time, we can actually say that his accuracy was relatively low in this period (cf. play on at +92', no card at 112'; also there were KMIs in 98' and 118'). However, given everything that had happened and taking the full picture into account This contributes to a still quite decent (and fully understandable given the context) but actually not fully satisfying final image.
Linesmen: Both Francesco Buragina and Rudolf Käppeli were very good assistants, and worthy of a place in a EURO QF. Käppeli can be marked slightly lower than his compatriot not only for missing Terry's position but another, much less relevant mistake in extra time (wrong flag at 93' is -0,1). Buragina was surely right not to award a goal at 109' when Ashley Cole cleared the ball off the line. Both made small 'team member' mistakes, but were strong overall - though Käppeli's unfaultlessness can't be ignored.
Linesmen: Both Francesco Buragina and Rudolf Käppeli were very good assistants, and worthy of a place in a EURO QF. Käppeli can be marked slightly lower than his compatriot not only for missing Terry's position but another, much less relevant mistake in extra time (wrong flag at 93' is -0,1). Buragina was surely right not to award a goal at 109' when Ashley Cole cleared the ball off the line. Both made small 'team member' mistakes, but were strong overall - though Käppeli's unfaultlessness can't be ignored.
Balance
This quarterfinal was a classic, Portugal eventually defeating England on spot kicks at the end of a hugely dramatic evening in Lisbon - of which referee Urs Meier would become an unwitting protagonist. EURO 2004's best referee was the best choice for EURO 2004's best game, while 'The Three Lions' and their tabloid media cried foul at the controversial disallowing of a late English goal, UEFA strongly stood by their man in black and were absolutely right to do so: the decision was in the 'grey area', besides being offside anyway! There was no better referee for this game than Meier at the tournament, but and even if one must admit that he was still slightly 'defeated' by this match as it wore on - he did well for sure.
In any circumstance there is no, no excuse for the shameful campaign by journalists who should know much better. The events after the game actually forced Meier to continue for an extra six months refereeing that he hadn't planned, and he was even invited by the FA as a 'guest of honour' at the FA Cup final in 2005, as some kind of apology for what happened. Scant consolation of course, but something.
A match and a performance which teaches, or perhaps reinforced, two major tournament parables for referees: both that even the very best officials can be stretched to the absolute limit by the games there, and that luck is required on many fronts to succeed. Urs Meier, despite coming into this game being the best referee of this EURO and easily a candidate for the final, who finished having struggled slightly and just wanting to escape from Portugal altogether having been hounded by the baying English press for a decision which was assessed by UEFA as actually correct, sadly knows both very well.
In any circumstance there is no, no excuse for the shameful campaign by journalists who should know much better. The events after the game actually forced Meier to continue for an extra six months refereeing that he hadn't planned, and he was even invited by the FA as a 'guest of honour' at the FA Cup final in 2005, as some kind of apology for what happened. Scant consolation of course, but something.
A match and a performance which teaches, or perhaps reinforced, two major tournament parables for referees: both that even the very best officials can be stretched to the absolute limit by the games there, and that luck is required on many fronts to succeed. Urs Meier, despite coming into this game being the best referee of this EURO and easily a candidate for the final, who finished having struggled slightly and just wanting to escape from Portugal altogether having been hounded by the baying English press for a decision which was assessed by UEFA as actually correct, sadly knows both very well.
| Urs Meier - 7 Francesco Buragina - 7 Rudolf Käppeli - 6 Alain Hamer Swiss - LUX | Portugal 2-2 England (aet, Portugal win 6-5 in a penalty competition) Quarterfinal Thurs 24th June (Lisbon) |
 Costinha (56') - SPA (Tackle) Deco (85') - SPA (Challenge) Carvalho (119') - Tackle | Gerrard (37') - SPA (Tackle) G. Neville (44') - SPA (Challenge) P. Neville (92') - SPA (Tackle) |
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