1 BRASCO García-Aranda

Scotland gave Brazil a good game in what was an exciting opener to World Cup 1998, but Tommy Boyd's own goal ultimately gave the holders a merited victory in the curtain-raiser. 

José María García-Aranda was entrusted with opening the sixteenth football world championship, and the Spaniard delivered a good performance. The crucial call, penalty to Scotland, was a defendable one, and in a game whose difficulty was perhaps understated, García-Aranda did a sound job. 

For this tournament, we wave goodbye to a Key Match Incidents section. Big Decision(s), Managing the Game, Assistant Referees and a (very short) Balance, will be the subheadings this time. 

Big Decision(s)

García-Aranda courageously gave a penalty to underdogs Scotland in the first half (37'). It is actually hard to determine how much the situation is Aldair losing composure and charging his opponent unfairly, versus an expedient dive by Kevin Gallacher under minimal normal football pressure. 

Would it have been better to play on? Maybe, but in any case, this decision (the only real big one the officials had to face on this afternoon) is at least a supportable one.

Managing the Game

The Spanish ref astutely chose a lenient but proactive approach for this opener. 

I liked his stepped approach in the opening stages - quiet word at 7', public warning at 17', sensing the increased tension on the pitch (23', 24'), before pulling the trigger on a late challenge at 25', booking. The foul from behind which brought a caution at +47' was clearly reckless, and not more. Spaniard guided the players through the first forty-five minutes of the World Cup really well!

After the break the game became more difficult. Seconds after having ridden two potential SPA offences without warning by Brazil players (58', 61'), Gordon Durie should definitely have been cautioned for a rather ugly tackle, but the ref determined that freekick only was enough. 

Durie should also have been cautioned when again (after 20') he went in purposefully late on Brazil goalkeeper Cláudio Taffarel at 68', and a reckless foul on Ronaldo (80') was only penalised with a freekick by a partly-screened García-Aranda - both were deliberate tactics and should have been taken out of the game with cards. 

There was no replay, but César Sampaio's striking foul at 86' was probably a reckless one - however, nobody was interested in what would have been a second yellow card for him; the latter of two fouls at 89' should have yielded a yellow card for Craig Burley. 

However, there was real excellence in this performance - how García-Aranda used the advantage clause was simply fantastic. While he missed a yellow card after one (27'), that should not take away from how the Spaniard brilliantly served exciting football by playing advantage (27', 48', 55', 72', 85'). Really pleasant to see match officials contribute so positively to the football match, my compliments! 

Assistant Referees

The French camera angles used during the goings-on the game when the ball is in the penalty area, until recently still used in Ligue 1 (I haven't watched the highlights show for some time though?), are excellent for determining whether offside flags were correct or not, and a real welcome development on my side from 1994. 

Fernando Tresaco Gracia may have been wrong to flag at 50', but he dealt with situations impressively on the whole, most so with a well-seen crossover at 42'. Jorge Luis Arango played what looked like a good onside at 6', but made a fairly important mistake to flag at 85'. The Colombian assistant would lose 0,2 points in the UEFA scale for that mistake, so moves down to "6" on my scale. 

Balance

Strong performance by the Hispanic trio in the opener, Spain's García-Aranda / Tresaco Gracia duo should be candidates for further crucial matches. 

José María García-Aranda - 7 Fernando Tresaco Gracia - 7 Jorge Luis Arango - 6 Gamal Al-Ghandour ESP, ESP, COL	Brazil 2-1 Scotland Group Stage 10 June
César Sampaio (37') - SPA (Charging)  Aldair (+47') - Challenge	Jackson (25') - Challenge