Watching the first half in the stands yesterday in Munich, I really felt that the referee, Horacio Elizondo of Argentina, was a significant part of the action. His style of refereeing, best described as loose lips -- allowing moderate fouls to go -- enabled the Germans to be more physical and ultimately take control of the game.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw that the refereeing thus far has allowed some physical play:
"The refs need to clean things up a bit," he instant messages me from Boston, explaining the England-Paraguay match. "It was more like rugby, really hard fouls.
"Perhaps it's just the South American style of play."
"Anyways, England won like they should have. They were the better team.
And as I type this, Trinidad and Tobago becomes the first team to have a player sent off as Shamsul Maidin of SIN (which I assume is Singapour) shows the red card to Avery John, who earned a second yellow with a nasty tackle.
That said, anyone who wants to weigh on this can IM me at "joeyscribe" on AIM.
Did you see the replay on the Avery Johnson second yellow card? It really wasn't that bad.
He got the ball.
I've already commented (to a different blog) on John Avery's yellow-and-send-off, but I really feel it necessary to disagree here with the comment that his tackle was nasty. The replays simply do not support that. He had already cleared the ball, and Wilhelmsson came onto his feet while he was down and the ball was away. Neither of John's feet was in the air more than would be expected of a man sliding after clearing a free ball. If anything, Wilhelmsson could have been carded for "diving", but I really think that the correct call should have been "play on". If Christian Wilhelmsson really was hurt, it was his own fault, not Avery John's.
BTW: SIN, does mean "Singapore" (not "Singapour"), and I hope that Mr. Maidin is on a plane back there soon, as his work today was the weakest of the five referees who have worked so far. I do not think that he merits another game.
I've already commented (to a different blog) on John Avery's yellow-and-send-off, but I really feel it necessary to disagree here with the comment that his tackle was nasty. The replays simply do not support that. He had already cleared the ball, and Wilhelmsson came onto his feet while he was down and the ball was away. Neither of John's feet was in the air more than would be expected of a man sliding after clearing a free ball. If anything, Wilhelmsson could have been carded for "diving", but I really think that the correct call should have been "play on". If Christian Wilhelmsson really was hurt, it was his own fault, not Avery John's.
BTW: SIN, does mean "Singapore" (not "Singapour"), and I hope that Mr. Maidin is on a plane back there soon, as his work today was the weakest of the five referees who have worked so far. I do not think that he merits another game.