22 NEDCIV Ruiz

After refereeing three matches, including a quarter-final, in 2002, Colombian Óscar Ruiz could have had justified hopes to repeat this feed. But Netherlands vs. Côte d’Ivoire was to be his only game in Germany. The result of the previous group match made the clash even more important: Victory for the Dutch meant advancing to the Round of 16, the loss for the African debutants meant elimination.

In the end, it was a hard-fought victory for “Oranje” and all in all they could count themselves lucky to preserve a slim 2-1 advantage against a strong Ivorian team. In itself, the 90+ minutes in Stuttgart could best be described with the word chaotic. Good combinations were followed by haphazard mistakes by all of those on the pitch – Ruiz unfortunately included.

A summary does not really do this game justice, it was one of these clashes where highlights can only give a limited impression. Ruiz’s approach to solve the first few fouls with brief warnings and communicating with the players worked, he seemed quite relaxed and calm for much of the first half.

 

Eleven minutes in, the Colombian had to make the first big decision. Eboué (CIV #21) went down in the penalty area under pressure from van Bronckhorst (NED #5), with the Dutch defender firmly tugging his opponent’s shirt. Ruiz waved “play on” – a decision that I would not call a crucial mistake, but a penalty would have been the better call. The holding offence was quite prolonged and clear.

 

After opening the cards for a clear SPA case, Ruiz proceeded to book Robben (NED #11) after the Dutch winger had gone down in the box while pressured by two defenders. Replays suggest that there might have been a bit of contact, but since it was more a collision than a foul, Ruiz was quite correct not to whistle in his favour. The YC was harsh though.

 

The Colombian’s foul detection became too unpredictable throughout, changing from rather strict to a more lenient line, which made the players more and more anxious. Bookings for star players always stand out and the one for Drogba – his second of the tournament – for allegedly catching van der Sar after the goalkeeper had already secured the ball was wrong (41’).

 

As the already wild match proceeded to get more and more frenzied in the second half, so did Ruiz’s decision making deteriorate. Here we find the two crucial mistakes made by the Colombian: In 55’, van Bommel (NED #14) committed a horrible stamp on the ankle of Boka (CIV #3), but Ruiz did not even whistle this clear case of SFP. Ten minutes later, Drogba should have been sent off for reckless use of arms, but again Ruiz missed it (65’).

 

Perhaps the best impression of the nature of the match was a scene in 74’: van Bronckhorst was lying injured outside the pitch after a challenge Ruiz had not whistled (supportable call) and the Dutch players were demanding that their opponent stop the game. As van Bronckhorst was not on the pitch, there was no need to do so which Ruiz clearly communicated, but it didn’t help the growing anxiety on the field.

 

Ruiz tried to get a grip on things by whistling more, especially for smaller things like taking free kicks when the ball wasn’t lying still or other corrections. It did not have the intended effect. When he correctly booked Boulahrouz (NED #3) deep into added time for delaying the restart, the entire process took nearly a minute with the players anxiously waiting for the last Ivorian attempt to score from a free kick.

 

Amidst it all, Ruiz had to assess several penalty appeals (69’, 77’, 78’). In 69', the Colombian again denied the Ivorians a penalty after a holding offence - a penalty kick would have been supportable as well. In 77’ Eboué and van Bronckhorst were involved again, this time the tackle by the Dutch defender hit the leg of his opponent. It seems Ruiz did not notice that and instead thought the tackle got the ball. It most likely did in the end and while the Colombian's assessment was wrong, no penalty was the better call. Did he miss a RC for Violent Conduct in 83'? The replays offer little help.

 

Óscar Ruiz faced a very challenging match, but his inconsistencies in several areas and a couple poor decisions meant that his performance was not on a World Cup level. Among several small mistakes were (at least) two crucial mistakes.

 

AR1 José Navia faced a quite challenging match with numerous offside decisions to take. Most of them were rather clear and every call of his that was replayed was correct. The onside decision that allowed the Netherlands to score their second goal was brilliant. His colleague AR2 Fernando Tamayo was much less challenged but was also correct in his calls.

Óscar Ruiz - 7,3 José Navia - 8,5 Fernando Tamayo - 8,4 Marco Antonio Rodríguez José Luis Camargo COL, COL, ECU - MEX	Netherlands 2-1 Côte d'Ivoire Group Stage
Robben (34') - Simulation Mathijsen (35') - Reckless play van Bommel (58') - Persistent Infringement Boulahrouz (90+4') - Delaying the Restart	Zokora (24') - SPA (Holding) Drogba (41') - Reckless play Boka (66') - SPA (Holding)