16 GERUSA Belqola
Jürgen Klinsmann scored another great World Cup goal as Germany earned a deserved two-nothing victory over the United States to complete the first round of group matches at France 1998.
Said Belqola from Morocco, a man whose refereeing would become synonymous with the whole tournament, was in the middle for this one - he did a good job in a normal-to-quite-challenging tie with his sensible and efficient officiating.
Big Decisions
Few for the officials in this one - there were some small penalty appeals by Germany at 22' (holding), 36' (charging), 69' (holding) and the United States at 82' (challenge), but the Moroccan referee was quite justified in turning them all away. Jörg Heinrich's booking seemed to have reddish hues, but it is hard to really tell from the one replay we get.
Managing the Game
The perfect image of a Maghreb referee in terms of presence (distant) and match practice (calling it tight), Said Belqola refereed this game well.
His use of cards was very astute. In the first half, he might well have issued more cautions (11' tackle; 22' SPA; 33' tackle), but he sensibly only admonished Jens Jeremies with yellow after his deliberate trip midway through the half (29'). Good officiating.
The game became more challenging in the second half of itself, but the Moroccan referee could have helped calm everything down a bit more. Belqola missed a clear late contact at 49', incorrectly waived play on at 60', while two play on calls at 53' didn't do much to relax the players either.
This all looked like coming to a head at 65', where the referee was somewhat fortunate that a really bad (red card-level) tackle did not come in; instead as it happened, Germany scored their second and clinching goal.
That all being said, Belqola used his cards well in the second half to prevent a large escalation, and was generally up to mark in a forty-five minutes played with a strangely frenzied crowd, which visibly affected the tempo at which the players played (as we are reminded of in these COVID-times, too).
In general his distant, sometimes supercilious and generally respectful manner worked well in this game, as did his relatively rigorous penalising of body contacts.
His use of cards was very astute. In the first half, he might well have issued more cautions (11' tackle; 22' SPA; 33' tackle), but he sensibly only admonished Jens Jeremies with yellow after his deliberate trip midway through the half (29'). Good officiating.
The game became more challenging in the second half of itself, but the Moroccan referee could have helped calm everything down a bit more. Belqola missed a clear late contact at 49', incorrectly waived play on at 60', while two play on calls at 53' didn't do much to relax the players either.
This all looked like coming to a head at 65', where the referee was somewhat fortunate that a really bad (red card-level) tackle did not come in; instead as it happened, Germany scored their second and clinching goal.
That all being said, Belqola used his cards well in the second half to prevent a large escalation, and was generally up to mark in a forty-five minutes played with a strangely frenzied crowd, which visibly affected the tempo at which the players played (as we are reminded of in these COVID-times, too).
In general his distant, sometimes supercilious and generally respectful manner worked well in this game, as did his relatively rigorous penalising of body contacts.
Assistant Referees
Mikael Nilsson made a mistake worthy of losing 0,1 UEFA marks at 86', otherwise there was little to do and even less to assess for us watching on television of both his and Mohamed Mansri's performances on the line.
Balance
Good performance by Said Belqola - it would be well-deserved if he was tested with a harder match next time round, as a second appointment should be a safe bet.
| Said Belqola - 7 Mohamed Mansri - 7 Mikael Nilsson - 7 José María García-Aranda MAR, TUN, SWE | Germany 2-0 United States Group Stage 15 June |
 Jeremies (29') - Challenge Hamann (77') - Tackle Heinrich (84') - Tackle | Hejduk (50') - SPA (Holding) Pope (86') - Challenge |
This report precipitates a two-day break for World Cup 1998; we will return in earnest on Monday at the usual times.
Was this the match that catapulted him to the final?
ReplyDeleteIt surely confirmed the impression that Belqola was an above average referee from a smaller confederation, but for the final itself? Not really, to be honest.
DeleteWithout restating simply what I wrote in the report, he recommended himself for higher tasks, indeed.
I think I have read somewhere (do not remember where, though) that German Volker Roth was so impressed by this performance that he recommended Belqola for the final.
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