9 USACZE Amarilla

Copa América 2004's Final referee entered World Cup 2006 a step behind some of his CONMEBOL compatriots in FIFA's standing. Carlos Amarilla's trio from Paraguay took charge of the United States - Czech Republic game to open their competition. Actually, the game was not really challenging for Amarilla; half the cards issued were coherent with FIFA's guidelines to strictly punish any attempts to delay the restart. Amarilla left some doubts too with his performance.

There is not very much to say about Amarilla's performance on a technical level. I liked his manner on the pitch, but the referee from Paraguay left me with some doubts: in the first half he sometimes took too long to decide the direction of simple throw-ins which made the players more anxious; in one situation he would rather run away from dissenting players rather than confront them; and at 81', he allowed a quick restart whilst still having his yellow card in his left hand [edit: this was one of FIFA's instructions, so no criticism for Amarilla there]...

The three cautions not issued for Delaying the Restart were clearly correct (was 60' a case of SFP nowadays?). One can have their own view as to how tactically valuable it was to book in the three DtR cases, but it was well in-line with FIFA's wishes.

Challenging halves for Amelio Andino and Bernal Manuel when they were controlling the half that the Czech Republic were attacking. They both performed well - especially an onside played by Manuel at 65' was very good. The only doubt was a flag raised by the same assistant referee to deny the Czech Republic a 1-on-1 shot - it seems too tight to call from the angle we got.

Carlos Amarilla - 8,3 Amelio Andino - 8,4 Bernal Manuel - 8,4 Carlos Chandía Rodrigo González PAR – CHI	United States 0-3 Czech Republic Group Stage
Onyewu (5.) - Tackle Reyna (60.) - Tackle	Rozehnal (16.) - SPA (Tripping) Lokvenc (59.) - Delaying the Restart Rosický (81.) - Delaying the Restart Grygera (88.) - Delaying the Restart