Referee designations for matches 33-40

See here for the complete list, courtesy of FIFA.com.

For anyone curious about the USA v. ALG match before looking at the link, here is a hint:

... and the country this referee hails from is particularly known for its waffles.

A full analysis soon, but at a glance FIFA clearly wants to put the final results from the group C matches beyond all doubt. See the brief, but highlighted story here, courtesy of FIFA.com.

USA's Round 2. Who's Making the Calls?

FIFA announced the referees for USA's 2nd match the other day. 
Here they are:



Referee
COULIBALY Koman (MLI)

Assistant Referee 1
ACHIK Redouane (MAR)

Assistant Referee 2
CANDIDO Inacio (ANG)

Fourth Official
MOHD SALLEH Subkhiddin (MAS)

Reserve Assistant Referee
GEK PHENG Jeffrey (SIN)


So we have a Malian referee, assistants from Morocco and Angola, the 4th official from Malaysia, and a Singaporean Reserve Assistant Referee.


Here is a very real question ... What language are they going to speak to each other with?


Here is a follow up to ponder ... Does it matter? Forget fancy headsets, what about eye contact?


COULIBALY'S "official" stats from FIFA are here, and a brief dossier from Wikipedia is here. He is the most experienced of all Malian referees (source).


So, let's look at that experience.


He has apparently worked the USA v. Tajikstan match in the 2007 U-17 World Cup (source), Colombia vs Turkey quarterfinal,and the Colombia v. Spain 3rd place match.


On 31-JAN-2010 he was the referee for the African Cup of Nations where Egypt beat Ghana 1 - 0. See the match report here.


Arguably this is not a complete picture, and there seem to be a bunch of holes that would need to be filled for a complete analysis. It does suffice to say however that the sparseness of the record is a point of note. A referee with a paper trail is far more of a known and may put some folks at ease to see what they are in for, good or bad.


One does not have to be experienced at a particular level to do well in all cases at that level necessarily, and I look forward to a good performance from COULIBALY.


I am sure both teams are as well.

Even POTUS was watching ENG v USA ...

... or is this a great Photoshop?


Take a look at the reflection on the conference room table ...


I know I was smiling with the draw. Maybe POTUS was too.

Photo Credit: Studio 90

Simon Says ...

... get something back.


So what do I mean by that?


I mean if you give a caution to a player, you better get something back for it.


Simon did ... lets see how.


Take a look at the official match report, you can get it here. There are a couple of things that stand out. First, there were what I would call an "average" number of fouls for the matches played so far. We will see in the month ahead if that stays true to form. Second, we saw with (6) cautions what is an "above average" number of cautions thus far ... in fact this now places FRA, ENG, and USA in a tie for 1st for cautions. Were so many needed? Lets review what they were. 


In the 26', MILNER was booked for Persistent Infringement. Did anyone catch the referee holding up two fingers when he was booked? He was letting everyone know this was his second foul, and as it turned out, his last of the match.


By the way, did anyone catch who he fouled? It was CHERUNDOLO. Hang on a sec, that's important.


In the 39', CHERUNDOLO was cautioned. Sound familiar? He committed that one foul and that was it.


So, Simon says stop with a caution to (2) players, and neither commits another foul in the match. I would say he got something for those.


In the 47', DEMERIT knocked down a ball with his hand and got exactly what he deserved, a caution. That as cautions go, was an easy one. But note, if Simon does not give that one, his World Cup experience I predict would have ended early.


In the 60', CARRAGHER landed a nasty over the ball tackle on FINDLEY. While the caution was warranted, I was wondering if Simon was thinking red given the challenge. Remember who was fouled here too.


In the 61', GERRARD goes over the ball onto the knee of DEMPSEY (the goal scorer).


By the way, after these cautions, neither player committed another foul the entire match (keep in mind they still had 30' to go plus stoppage time). Not bad ... certainly got something there.


Even Harkesy when calling the match on ABC was saying after the GERRARD foul, that it changes the mindset of the defender after a caution ... the part he did not say was if the caution was the right decision, and was delivered with effect.


Finally, in the 74', FINDLEY (the recipient in the 60') finds GERRARD with a tough tackle, and yes, that too was his last foul called of the match, but I am sure wanted it to count on a guy that just really tackled one of his own.

So in looking over the cautions that Simon gave, he got something back for each and every one of them. He either got (a) that player to stop, (b) set an example for OTHER players to stop, (c) did not allow retaliation to go unpunished so there would not be more, and (d) protected the integrity of the game from silly stuff.

So, the next time you are ready to raise a caution in the air for all to see, stop and think ...

What are you going to get out of it that will help your game that day?

If the answer is nothing, don't even take it out of your pocket, it would be meaningless.

Do you know this man?

Match: ENG v. USA

If you don't, you should. His name is Carlos Simon, hails from Brazil and will be the referee for the ENG v. USA match.

Here is the whole story about the match:

Match Date: 12-JUN-2010
Match #: 5
Venue City: RUSTENBURG (RSA)
Group: C



Referee: SIMON Carlos (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: HAUSMANN Altemir (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: BRAATZ Roberto (BRA)
Fourth Official: MAILLET Eddy (SEY)
Reserve Assistant Referee: MENKOUANDE Evarist (CMR)

His "official" stats can be found here from FIFA.

What else do we know?
Well, this is Mr. Simon's 3rd FIFA World Cup, which by any standard is pretty amazing. He apparently is currently a journalist (some report formally), and a former trade union worker.

He has come under recent fire in Brazil for a local match between Vasco and Botafogo where, as record has it, both coaches went to the Brazilian authorities regarding his performance with the denial of an injury time penalty to one team. Also, from the last World Cup, he was sharply criticized regarding a end off of Teddy Lucic from Sweden in their second round match against Germany.

While no referee is without controversy, this man is considered one of the most seasoned Brazil has to offer, and will be a treat to watch him as he begins what is certain to be his last FIFA World Cup.