27 NEDKOR Wójcik
Ryszard Wójcik from Poland, who came in as a reserve when Anders Frisk got injured, got his chance at a major tournament. Wójcik had a solid game, and can look back on his World Cup with merited satisfaction.
Big Decisions
Anything Wójcik did in this game was far from the headlines, but I think he should have given the Netherlands a penalty at 34' - Choi Sung-yong semi-automatically pushed the ball away with his hand inside his own penalty area.
The Polish ref dealt with the dissent of star player Dennis Bergkamp very well, and gave the impression he was on top of the situation. It was surely quite tricky to see, and not a clear match error chiefly for that reason (+ score, nature of the handling too), but a mistake according to the LotG in my eyes.
Otherwise, there were credible penalty appeals at 48', 69' which were turned away by the Polish ref.
The Polish ref dealt with the dissent of star player Dennis Bergkamp very well, and gave the impression he was on top of the situation. It was surely quite tricky to see, and not a clear match error chiefly for that reason (+ score, nature of the handling too), but a mistake according to the LotG in my eyes.
Otherwise, there were credible penalty appeals at 48', 69' which were turned away by the Polish ref.
Managing the Game
Wójcik followed FIFA's orders in giving a caution for slow play in the first half, and the yellow right at the end was mandatory, but in general I wasn't overly convinced with the Polish referee's approach to disciplinary.
The biggest mistake was an unpunished reckless challenge at 88' - either a very weak advantage or a poorly missed incident. Otherwise, he was rather lenient on potential SPA offences (2', 19', 76', 90'), too much so in some cases.
Referee Wójcik followed play solidly, had a convincing foul detection, and aroused respect from the players despite a slightly distant leadership style. One can't draw too many conclusions from such an easy match; sound performance.
The biggest mistake was an unpunished reckless challenge at 88' - either a very weak advantage or a poorly missed incident. Otherwise, he was rather lenient on potential SPA offences (2', 19', 76', 90'), too much so in some cases.
Referee Wójcik followed play solidly, had a convincing foul detection, and aroused respect from the players despite a slightly distant leadership style. One can't draw too many conclusions from such an easy match; sound performance.
Assistant Referees
The most noteworthy call made by Jacek Pocięgiel and Juryj Dupanaŭ was a correct offside call by the Pole at 36' on a quiet night for the two ARs. Dupanaŭ played a nice onside at 75'.
Balance
This game didn't really give Ryszard Wójcik much chance to shine as a referee elevated to the World Cup 1998. He did a solid job, cognisant of some small deficiencies under the technical microscope. I'm glad he got a deserved chance at a major tournament, but I'd say it was fair that this was his only assignment in the middle.
| Ryszard Wójcik - 6 Jacek Pocięgiel - 7 Juryj Dupanaŭ - 7 Vítor Melo Pereira POL, POL, BLR | Netherlands 5-0 Korea Republic Group Stage 20 June |
 Choi Yong-soo (27') - Delaying the Restart Ko Jong-soo (+92') - Challenge |
At the time, I thought he deserved a second match, but there is only so many games in a tournament.
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