54 NEDYUG García-Aranda

 

Netherlands were the deserved winners over Yugoslavia in an often tight, sometimes tense, second round match between two of the most technically able sides in the competition. Edgar Davids won the game with time elapsing in additional time at the end of the second half. 

Having successfully raised the officiating curtain at World Cup 1998 (BRASCO), José María García-Aranda was in charge of this one, not Nigeria - Denmark, having switched with Urs Meier (NGADEN) at the request of the Nigerian association, unrelated to this game. 

As in the opener, García-Aranda very impressively managed to keep a helicopter-like big picture view throughout, in a highly effective piece of officiating. The Spaniard delivered on the FIFA instructions on holding to give Yugoslavia a penalty, but the more controversial incident occurred a couple of minutes after that. 

Big Decisions

The clip montage below feature three situations:

51' - Penalty to Yugoslavia (holding)
52' - Potential red card to Netherlands no.8 (violent conduct)
79' - foul call (Netherlands 'scored', disallowed)

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The penalty to Yugoslavia is a highly interesting call, as brilliantly surmised by the BBC commentator's reaction. Barry Davies says that the ref decided "it was enough [for him]", implying that it was a relatively exclusive view, before on replay praising García-Aranda, saying it was "about time" that such a holding offence was punished. 

Jaap Stam can hardly complain, his holding was prolonged and easily visible but did he really prevent the attacker from doing anything which he wouldn't have otherwise? You can decide for yourself. The relation to the edict is quite interesting - in so far as I understand it, it concerned tactical fouls rather than in the penalty box. Anyway, his characteristic determination is selling the call was perfect. 


Fifteen seconds after that penalty was struck onto the crossbar, it is fair to say that Dennis Bergkamp's stamp did not go unnoticed by the Yugoslavia players who absolutely beseeched the Oranje player in the corner. They ran for Bergkamp, not for the assistant Laurent Rausis whom the incident happened right in front of. 

Rausis appears to actually miss the incident, being for a crucial split second focused on his flag technique, and not the players in his visual control. Bergkamp should have been sent off in my opinion - he deliberately steps on his opponent and exhorts a large amount of his body weight onto him, excessive force. 

García-Aranda specifically talks to Rausis before deciding for no sanction - if the Swiss assistant perceived the incident himself it would be perhaps plausible to back him, but you can visibly see that he doesn't, there is no reaction at all, so unfortunately this was a clear, game-changing error by Laurent Rausis (clear match error). I can't see the scope for the Spanish ref to take the decision on his own having gotten that information from a teammate. 


Dennis Bergkamp was pulled up by the referee, disallowing a Netherlands goal in the process, for dangerous play - a correct decision, the attacker prevented the defender from heading the ball with his high foot, and the 'score' was correctly ruled off by García-Aranda. 

Managing the Game

José María García-Aranda opted for the same approach which served him very well in the Brazil - Scotland game - friendly but determined manner, cards as a final resort, preventatively on top of all the incidents. This was a top class refereeing performance. 

The game was quite calm before the opening goal (correctly allowed, Dragan Stojković disagreed vociferously, shown the yellow card), but not afterwards:

- dissenting gesture wisely ignored at 39', after the anger (unjustified, Bergkamp's challenge was fair) at the goal

- Edgar Davids' deliberate trip at 39' was a good potential balancing card, but was not coherent with García-Aranda's match plan, which he followed consistently throughout

- he used presence very well at 40', actually as he did at 36', a real strength of this performance


The second half was more tense - García-Aranda missed a clear yellow card at 48' for a reckless challenge, Yugoslavia scored from the resulting freekick in fact, though Mirković did go in the book for being one of transgressing players in the scene where Bergkamp should have been shown the red card. 

Cards were used sparingly in this performance, and the caution at 74' was excellent officiating - no card at 60' was coherent with this lenient approach, but when Goran Đorović committed more-or-less the same offence at 74', the PI caution perfectly fitted with both technical consistency and tactical value. Well played. 

The bar for yellows was set high, this was also evident in the latter stages (eg. 81', 84'), but García-Aranda brilliantly synthesised his disciplinary control between cards and presences, the latter he used fantastically in this performance (eg. 36', 51', 74'). 

A friendly, amiable, game-focused manner, but always sure in his decisions, determined, showing everyone who was in charge - to be honest, in that regard I would say this performance was a masterclass from the Spanish referee. 

Assistant Referees

Besides the 52' scene, Laurent Rausis was quieter than Nicolae Grigorescu - both assistants computed offsides quite well, save for an important mistake by the Romanian at 41' (UEFA minus 0,2). Urs Meier had exactly these two assistants at his side for the United States - Iran match (USAIRN), no coincidence given that Meier himself was actually appointed as referee here before being switched!

Balance

José María García-Aranda delivered a very sophisticated and impressive performance in this match - personally, I would have earmarked the Spaniard for the final after convincing on a really high level in both of his matches. FIFA saw his refereeing in a similarly positive way - he was retained for the final stages. 

Nicolae Grigorescu joined him, but Laurent Rausis didn't - given that eg. Celestino Galván joined Epifanio González in that final list, Rausis not going with Meier is perhaps a decisive clue as to how FIFA evaluated the 52' incident. Sending off Bergkamp would have totally changed this game, and leaves us with an officiating performance which we cannot call totally satisfying. 

José María García-Aranda - 7 Laurent Rausis - 5 Nicolae Grigorescu - 6 Hugh Dallas ESP, SUI, ROU	Netherlands 2-1 Yugoslavia Round of Sixteen 29 June
	Stojković (38') - Dissent Mirković (53') - Dissent Đorović (74') - Persistent Infringement