11 ARGJPN Van der Ende

 

Argentina defeated Japan by a solitary goal in a throughly competitive and generally brilliant game. The small(er) stadium in Toulouse with two sets of passionate, but not unsporting fans, set the tone for a fantastic football match. 

That was also thanks in no small part to the match referee, Mario van der Ende. The Dutchman had a stellar afternoon, his approach helped facilitate this dynamic, fair-play orientated encounter. 

Big Decisions

Not really any huge calls for the officials to make, but Edward Foley was fortunate that Gabriel Batistuta only hit the post at 78' - if he'd have put the ball in the net, the Irish assistant would have wrongly disallowed a goal for offside. 

However, Masami Ihara could on a couple of occasions have considered himself fortunate not to be shown the red card:

26' - borderline SFP foul from behind, you can see the contact on Ariel Ortega's sock; however, the (lack of) intensity in addition to that contact not being on Ortega's standing leg argue in favour of a caution only.

67' - is this foul by Ihara reckless? I would argue no, the contact is not made with the studs and he actually gets a clear touch on the ball beforehand. Van der Ende had it spot on for me, freekick and no sanction (careless). 

Rather correct decisions in both incidents for my taste. 

Managing the Game

Mario van der Ende gave an absolute masterclass in how to serve football as a referee, and make the game enjoyable for everyone involved (even at the top level). 

With a different referee, this game could have ended up becoming something of a battle, but Van der Ende ensured that any such eventuality was not going to happen on his watch. He succeeded in two key areas:

Foul Detection - Van der Ende operated a really rigorous foul selection policy. At first, I wondered whether that was the right choice, but it proved to be the perfect one for this game. 

The Dutch referee wasn't fussy, just very consistent, and the players could metronomically predict for which offences he was going to blow up and which not. Most times, players were happy to accept a quick restart, and the fast-flowing game could carry on in that way. 

Leadership Style - visible sure and firm, the players were happy to accept Van der Ende as the figure taking charge on the pitch; both the players and the officials let each other get on with their jobs. 

Only mistakes were smaller ones, such as a missed advantage at 47'. Juan Sebastián Verón should have been cautioned at 35' for his reckless challenge though, and a further yellow card could have been issued at 67'. Caution at 26' was mentioned above, other two yellows were clear and correct. 

Assistant Referees 

Quite a weak performance by Edward Foley - in addition to the wrong flag at 78', he was also incorrect to indicate an offside at +93', for what was a promising goal-scoring chance. Despite a correct flag at 54', Foley failed the test. On the other hand, near-sided Marc Van Den Broeck was not really challenged. 

Balance

Brilliant performance by Mario van der Ende, well done! He could rightly be confident of a second appointment. 

Mario van der Ende - 8 Marc Van Den Broeck - 7 Edward Foley - 5 Ryszard Wójcik NED, BEL, IRL	Argentina 1-0 Japan Group Stage 14 July
	Ihara (26') - Challenge Nakanishi (68') - Challenge Hirano (+92') - Tackle