20 SWEPAR Micheľ

The Slovakian refereeing team led by Ľuboš Micheľ started their tournament with a high stakes clash between Sweden and Paraguay. After disappointing showings on the first matchday, both teams had to win to keep their qualification hopes alive. What followed were 90 minutes of intense football that wasn’t high class, but quite a challenge for the refereeing team.

There were two main tasks for Micheľ to ensure as the game kicked off: Establish his authority on the pitch and choose a disciplinary line. Those who are familiar with the Slovakian will know that it was not a lenient one. In all fairness, the players kind of forced his hand with a feisty start. A tackle that was both SPA and reckless in the third minute was a perfect opportunity to draw the line and Micheľ did so without hesitation. Another YC, this time for Sweden in 14' for a reckless and needless tackle right in front of the benches balanced the scales and gave the players a clear message what the Slovakian would (not) tolerate. Until half-time, there were no larger fouls.

Part of his strength is that Micheľ is a natural decision taker: Assessing a scene, whistling and producing the card is one fluent and fast process which makes a good impression and conveys that the referee is sure about what he is doing. This paired with his clear and consequent disciplinary line gave him firm control of the match.

Micheľ added six more bookings in a second half that was quite choppy, most of them for reckless offences. All these cautions were correct, but bookings weren’t the only way the Slovakian kept control. Just as important was identifying two (potential) player clashes and solving them with warnings and talking-tos to both parties involved (38’, 56’). The latter ended with a friendly shake hands – the ideal outcome.

That is not to say Micheľ was flawless. His dissent management mostly consisted of putting his finger across his lips. While dissent was no issue in this match, such a gesture always has the potential to inflame already difficult scenes. In 51’, he should have stopped the quick restart, as he was caught still taking note of the previous booking.

Micheľ’s foul detection – previously excellent – suffered in the last twenty minutes, perhaps as sign that the Slovakian was getting tired – not physically but mentally. Still, he kept full control in the frantic final minutes and ensured the game ended without any incidents.

Ľuboš Micheľ overall gave a strong performance in match that could have easily turned against a referee by using his strengths wisely and using them to enhance his image in the player’s eyes.

His ARs had several difficult decisions to take. AR1 Roman Slyško had a close, but wrong offside decision in 21’, which cancelled an excellent GSO for Sweden. He was correct to flag in 44’. AR2 Martin Balko had a good offside decision in 15’ but made quite a big mistake by incorrectly raising his flag in 58’, again Sweden being the team suffering from it. One minute later, his onside decision looked like a really good call and led to another Swedish GSO.

Ľuboš Micheľ - 8,5 Roman Slyško - 8,1 Martin Balko - 8,2 Jerome Damon Enock Molefe SVK - RSA	Sweden 1-0 Paraguay Group Stage
Linderoth (14') - Reckless sliding tackle Lučić (48') - Reckless sliding tackle Allbäck (60') - Reckless play	Caniza (3') - SPA (Tackle) Acuña (51') - Reckless sliding tackle Núñez (54') - Delaying the Restart Paredes (73') - Reckless sliding tackle Barreto (85') - SPA (Holding)