41 BELKOR Rezende

 

Belgium never looked like getting the three-goal victory that they ultimately needed against already-eliminated Korea Republic, but they couldn't get a win of any margin, as they were held to a one-each draw. The end of the road for both. 

Having handled the host's opener (FRARSA), this was Brazilian ref Márcio Rezende de Freitas' second game. Given what was at stake, a relatively easy game in which to be the referee, where Rezende missed a red card but did a solid enough job overall. 

Big Decisions

In the second minute of the second half, South Korea should have been reduced to ten men. 

A clear stamp with excessive force, a red card should have followed. Some pointers:

- this was not the best preventative refereeing, first Rezende should have blown up for an offence before, and having not done so, should have been on red alert as watching I expected 100% that a serious foul would occur, and I'm not a World Cup-level referee

- the showing procedure is really not convincing at all, the referee obviously missed the incident and guessed, unless Kim Milton Nielsen informed him of the offence while we were watching replays

- ostensibly, enough people were willing to accept that this was an accident (it wasn't), including our American commentary duo, so no clear match error 

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Otherwise, Rezende was quite right not to punish an actually accidental stamp at 34' and resist the very desperate Belgium penalty appeal at +94'. 73' should actually have been given as a penalty in my book - the attacker was carelessly charged when he was in the air, even preventing him from heading the ball. 

Managing the Game

Márcio Rezende did enough in this game. I appreciated his reasonable leadership style, despite his sober impression and rigorous match practice, it presented a human face to this referee who the players could (mostly) trust and respect. 

Marc Wilmots kick at 10' is even close to a red card in my eyes, no sanction given, and South Korea were denied two clear freekicks for tugs outside the penalty area (16', 44') and ensuing SPA cautions should have followed. 

In general, the cards given by the referee were part of a clear and consistent plan. I really liked his caution for a mobbing(!), even if more obvious dissents went unchecked. Caution (procedure) at 84' was good and showed the players that this referee wasn't going to have the p*ss taken out of him. 

Assistant Referees

Jorge Luis Arango made a pretty glaring error at 26', which suggested an ability to effectively compute cross-over scenes. Besides that, it is hard to point to clear mistakes by him (19', 23', 26', 52', 61') or, besides 32', Rezende's compatriot Arnaldo Pinto (22', 30', +94'), on what wasn't the strongest afternoon for the ARs. 

Balance

For the second game running, Márcio Rezende wasn't really tested with a challenging match to manage, nor did he present a fully convincing performance. The missed red card at 47' is a pretty significant mistake, to be honest.

I think he was good, serious referee, but even for a hypothetical Brazil early exit before the quarterfinal stage (which didn't happen, so he was mandatorily removed), I'd say that his two matches was a fair return for Rezende from his World Cup 1998. 

Márcio Rezende de Freitas - 6 Arnaldo Pinto - 6 Jorge Luis Arango - 6 Kim Milton Nielsen BRA, BRA, COL	Belgium 1-1 Korea Republic Group Stage 25 June
Borkelmans (65') - Dissent	Kim Tae-young (48') - Aggressive Behaviour Lee Lim-saeng (67') - SPA (Holding) Lee Min-sung (83') - SPA (Holding) Kim Byung-il (84') - Dissent