24 ESPPAR McLeod

Paraguay held Spain to a scoreless draw which put them in pole position to finish in second place behind Nigeria - if they beat the group winners, José Luis Chilavert and co. would assure themselves a knockout stage place. 

Ian McLeod from South Africa was a slightly unlikely man in the middle of this Hispanic duel, but did a good job. As Spain pushed and Paraguay held firm, tension was rising as the game progressed, but the South African ref held his nerve and could call time on a strong officiating performance. 

Big Decisions

In general, this performance had one big problem - 72'. McLeod obviously didn't really assess the tackle properly, played advantage, and rather chaotically allowed the goalkick to be taken (was it just me who thought that looked a corner, too?) when Roberto Acuña was in much discomfort on the ground. 

The referee was fortunate that Spain sportingly allowed him to gain treatment. The high-force, studs tackle should nowadays result in a (clear) red card, but the waters were a bit muddier in 1998, given it was an attempt to block a shot etc.; at least in this one scene, the referee failed to be honest. 

McLeod was quite right not to send off  Celso Ayala at 31' - this was really a tackle from the side (ie. not from behind), and the contact was only reckless at best. Correct yellow card decision. 

Penalty appeal at 90' was very tricky! Attacker tried to initiate the contact, so McLeod was correct to give the go on in this scene. 

Managing the Game

Presenting a very English way of refereeing, Ian McLeod succeeded somewhat against the odds in a tense Spain - Paraguay game. 

At the start, McLeod wanted to take no risks - moving in quickly after freekick calls (1', 4') and issuing a good verbal warning after a small contretemps (10'). The game settled down after that. 

The caution at 9' was part of that strategy - it is not ideal that the tackle at 13' is actually (a lot more) reckless, I would even argue a 2021-SFP, but on both occasions, McLeod took the decision that was more-or-less expected in 1998. 

I thought McLeod's management in the early freekick scene where Spain alleged that Paraguay moved the ball was excellent - the South African took total control of the situation, and showed that he wasn't going to stand for any nonsense. Great refereeing!

A feature of this match was José Luis Chilavert running the yellow card-gauntlet at every goalkick, taking just a few seconds too many. The referee did catch Francisco Arce out at a corner for delaying tactics, yellow for him (77'), but the main culprit got away with it. 

After what John Toro Rendón did the day before (RSADEN), McLeod was in very tricky position, especially as Chilavert would have been close to a second yellow card for the rest of the match, but a caution to the eccentric Paraguay goalkeeper would not have gone amiss. 

Referee McLeod played close attention to the advantage clause throughout the match, some of them were perhaps unwise (eg. 15'), but in general they worked out well for both the referee and the match as a whole. His approach to punishing contacts was more-strict-than-average, but consistent. 

The conclusion to the game was very tense. The plucky South African held his ground, preventing conflict after the Kiko Narváez booking (87'), but the denouement of the evening was the freekick right at the very end (+94'). 

McLeod stayed calm, ensured it was taken from the correct location, enforced the 9.15m metres diligently on the Paraguay players and when the ball was cleared after the shot blocked, could blow his whistle as the winner of the drawn game. 

Assistant Referees

There was suppose to be an all-South African trio officiating this game, but Achmat Salie was replaced by Jamaican Owen Powell, who was originally assigned to the Japan - Croatia match at Ramesh Ramdhan's side. 

McLeod clearly trusted his compatriot Soldatos, who stayed on the game unlike Salie, looking out to him a few times. Indeed, Soldatos seemed to recommend the Arce yellow card, the second time he took a little too long at his corner flag. 

One could curse Borin Yeltsin's rapid free-marketisation of the formative Russian economy when a cola advert denied us a replay of a quite important offside call made by Powell (65'); other videos I found showed the decision to be wrong. 

Soldatos himself had a doubtful flag at 69', but was correct to indicate an offside at 80' - the South African assistant generally had a good evening. 

Balance

I am surprised that Ian McLeod was not included amongst the original list of World Cup 1998 referees - he was a very competent official, who showed in this game that his selection was a totally merited one. 

McLeod certainly deserved a (second) group game, and if he had the origin of the refereeing style he presented (English), then I am sure that would have been the case. A shame, for this referee was a man FIFA could, and should, have put their trust in again. 

Ian McLeod - 7 Aristidis Chris Soldatos - 7 Owen Powell - 6 Esfandiar Baharmast RSA, RSA, JAM	Spain 0-0 Paraguay Group Stage 19 June
Sergi (9') - Tackle Kiko (87') - Tackle	Ayala (31') - Tackle Arce (77') - Delaying the Restart

Ian McLeod tragically died aged sixty-three in 2017. Even a cursory look online will bring you to some very heartfelt tributes; McLeod was a good man. Rest in Peace.