Europe (UEFA) Part 2 - Road to WC 1998

 

Europe (UEFA) - Part Two
Günter Benkö   Peter Mikkelsen   Kim Milton Nielsen   Sándor Puhl   László Vágner   Mario van der Ende   Rune Pedersen   Ryszard Wójcik   Vítor Melo Pereira   Nikolaj Levnikov   Hugh Dallas   Urs Meier   Serge Muhmenthaler   Anders Frisk	AUT (1955) DEN (1960) DEN (1960) HUN (1955) HUN (1955) NED (1956) NOR (1963) POL (1956) POR (1957) RUS (1956) SCO (1957) SUI (1959) SUI (1953) SWE (1963)

This is part two of the UEFA analysis, you can find the articles discussing the officials from the big five nations on the respective part one post. 

Usurped - Peter Mikkelsen

First thing to state - there are numerous referees whom I could have included in this list, Ahmet Çakar, Atanas Uzunov, Karol Ihring, Gerd Grabher, Leif Sundell, Armand Ancion, Karl-Erik Nilsson and others (such as the too-old Václav Krondl), but for ease of reading and analysis they have been omitted. 

The two candidates for the last World Cup final, Peter Mikkelsen and the man who got it, Sándor Puhl, were both out, despite handling important playoffs (Russia - Italy and Australia - Iran respectively). Both had compatriots, new kids on the block, take their place at the World Cup finals. 

Mikkelsen was being overtaken by a compatriot and began to lose motivation, realising that continuing his international career would mean to do so not at the very top. So, he renounced his FIFA badge after the infamously freezing and boggy Russia - Italy; without doubt, he did go out at the top. 

I would compare what happened to Mikkelsen with Viktor Kassai - one really can't understate how much  the Hungarian referee was a pioneer in 2010, the same as Mikkelsen's elegant background-based style in 1990, but in time other referees caught up. 

Kim Milton Nielsen actually operated with more-or-less a carbon copy of the Mikkelsen-style, just in a more modern way. He attended Le Tournoi, top Champions League matches and even the AFCON - FIFA were very interested in this man and his way of refereeing. Actually, very big things were expected of him in France. 

What is most interesting in Sándor Puhl's case is to speculate how relevant Feyenoord - Manchester United was in his non-attendance of World Cup 1998. His inability to admit being mistaken infuriated UEFA and indeed was the end of his career with them. 

However, he took charge of the quite famous Australia - Iran playoff some time after that, so FIFA weren't so bothered about it that they would remove him from the game. I guess there is no way of knowing whether this was a valedictory appointment or whether at that point he was still on the road to the World Cup finals. 

My feeling is more the former - FIFA were pushing László Vágner, including giving him the first leg of the Republic of Ireland - Belgium playoff. My feeling is that on a personal and professional level, FIFA had kind of had enough of Puhl, and Vágner was certainly a very competent referee himself. A good choice in my eyes. 

Only one referee on this list returned from USA 1994 - Mario van der Ende. An impressive feat, the turnover of referees from tournament-to-tournament is really not insignificant in this era, but van der Ende had no issue staying at the real top. 

Only his nation of origin's team stopped him from getting a really big assignment (eg. a semifinal) at that tournament, and he would have to hope the same wouldn't happen this time around.

Kurt Röthlisberger and Leslie Mottram from Switzerland and Scotland respectively of that 1994 tournament had rather different looking youngsters in their place this time - Urs Meier and Hugh Dallas were both real talents making their major tournament debuts in France. 

Dallas fell for a dive in the important Spain - Czech Republic game in qualification, but with Scotsman David Will (still) leading the Referees Committee, Dallas' spot was never in much doubt, especially given his considerable skills a game-manager.

Urs Meier's participation wasn't always so certain - EURO 1996 referee Serge Muhmenthaler was on FIFA's radar, even so much so that he refereed Italy - Brazil at Le Tournoi. But by the time Muhmenthaler was appointed to handle the Naples-hosted Italy - Russia playoff, FIFA had decided that they wanted Meier, and Muhmenthaler that he would retire internationally at the end of 1997. 

A former top player, Muhmenthaler's style would find him at home in today's Premier League. Urs Meier with his determined and respect-arousing manner offered something really quite different for his time, and it was with him that the Swiss World Cup tradition was continued in 1998. 

Another referee under close focus by FIFA was Günter Benkö - he had passed tests at both Le Tournoi and in the second leg of the Belgium - Republic of Ireland playoff before he was confirmed on the list. Quite remarkable too, given that he was behind Gerd Grabher in UEFA's eyes regarding EURO 1996 selection.


One can suppose that Norway had a certain lobby in FIFA refereeing during the late 1990s (Swede Lars-Åke Björk?) - Terje Hauge got the U-17 WC final in 1997; and Rune Pedersen was under close focus vis-à-vis this World Cup, what would turn out to be his only major tournament appearance. 

His five qualifying games are all quite interesting, and of varying difficulty. Stand-outs being Yugoslavia - Spain (not the most convincing performance to be honest), and passing the test in the Ukraine - Croatia playoff. His assistant Erik Ræsted made a scandalous decision to disallow a Ukraine goal, which would have levelled the tie, but in this pre-trio era it mattered not. Pedersen and his unique style were there. 

Despite not that great appointments at World Cups, Russian referees were treated quite well by FIFA in the 1990s (WC 1962 final ref Nikolaj Latyšev was surely out of the committee by 1998?), and everything fell into place for EURO 1996 attendee Nikolaj Levnikov to continue that tradition. 

Carlos Silva Valente's perhaps a bit exaggerated appointments at his two World Cups suggest that perhaps the same statement could be made for Portuguese referees as Russian, and Vítor Melo Pereira made the cut this time. 

Melo Pereira did not attend one FIFA tournament in the lead up to the World Cup, and if we compare his qualifying appointments to say Günter Benko, it is pretty obvious that the Austrian was given many more chances to stumble than him. That being said, his UEFA appointments in 97/98 were strong. 


Despite widely being recognised as one of the top referees of modern football, Anders Frisk only took charge of two World Cup matches. Both were in 2002 - Swede was age eligible for 2006 (though it is hard to imagine him there, somehow, don't ask me why), and was actually selected for this World Cup 1998.  

However, disaster struck for Frisk, and he was injured out of the tournament. In his stead, the Pole Ryszard Wójcik was chosen - the first reserve on the list, and originally appointed for the EURO 1996 squad before UEFA allowed the big nations to have more than one ref, and he was one of those shifted out. 

Wójcik completed the UEFA squad, and concludes my Road to WC 1998 analysis pieces - hope you enjoyed them. Let the games begin! 

Referees:

Günter Benkö (AUT)

Kim Milton Nielsen (DEN)

Lázsló Vágner (HUN)

Mario van der Ende (NED)

Rune Pedersen (NOR)

Ryszard Wójcik (POL)

Vítor Melo Pereira (POR)

Nikolaj Levnikov (RUS)

Hugh Dallas (SCO)

Urs Meier (SUI)

Assistant Referees:

Marc Van Den Broeck (BEL)

Juryj Dupanaŭ (BLR)

Evžen Amler (CZE)

Edward Foley (IRL)

Emanuel Zammit (MLT) 

Jacek Pocięgiel (POL)

Nicolae Grigorescu (ROU)

Laurent Rausis (SUI)

Mikael Nilsson (SWE)