39 PORMEX Micheľ

Portugal defeated Mexico 2-1 in the final round of matches in Group D, but both teams advanced as expected into the next round. Considering the context, it was partly surprising that the game was so intense, especially in the first half-an-hour. Having opened his competition in a very satisfying way in the crucial Sweden - Paraguay game, Ľuboš Micheľ continued his World Cup with this sonorous clash. One of the most controversial matches of the group stage - referee from Slovakia did a good job, certainly the crucial decisions in the medial focus were right, but he was not faultless either.

Let's start with the Key Match Incidents:

Key Match Incidents

23' Penalty to Portugal (handling) - given

Excellently spotted by the officials, hard to say how much of a shout AR Roman Slyško had or not (of course assistant referees are very well-placed to detect handling offences like this), but in the end the decision was spot on. The prior push was extremely trifling and never a defensive freekick. Well done.

27' Serious Foul Play by Mexico no.23?

FIFA's instructions can claim the assist for this very heavy foul - having issued a tactically valuable card less than a score of seconds before, it would have been advantageous for Micheľ to delay the taking of the freekick to allow the game to return to calm (referee from still taking note of the sanction). Instead, the FIFA instructions exactly not to do that (visible in a number of matches, I even criticised Carlos Amarilla for it initially in the United States - Czech Republic game) were adhered to by the referee, and the game restarted frantically. Mexico no.23 for this reason saw a green light to cart his studs into his opponent's thigh, for which Micheľ cautioned him. This was not enough - the tackle can only be assessed as a case of Serious Foul Play.

This was not a mistake by Ľuboš Micheľ on a practical level, for FIFA a Red Card would have been too much there. 

CRUCIAL MISTAKE

57' Penalty to Mexico (handling) - given

Defender makes a last-ditch attempt to block a shot that never comes, and with his arm way extended he handles the ball as the attacker tries to run forward with the ball. A penalty expected by the watching world, and a good call for my money too.

60' Second Yellow Card to Mexico no.23

This was not even a well-executed dive by the Mexico player who pre-empted a trip all from the wrong angle. It was almost such a poor simulation it would be easy to not detect it at all! When the name of the game in 2006 was very predictable and consistent officiating regarding such offences, make no mistake, this was a very important call for Micheľ. He got it right and Pérez, as technically he should have done three-quarters-of-an-hour before, walked - good.

To improve: bad luck with the positioning but imagine if Mexico scored...; having been touched as he was by Mexico no.17 he really (really) ought to have admonished him as well as his ejected teammate.

73' Penalty to Mexico (tripping)?

Very interesting case here - more-or-less the exact same incident as what happened at 77' in the Óscar Ruiz-handled Netherlands - Côte d’Ivoire game. Attacker puts his leg between the defensive and the ball, not in such a way to shield the ball, but in so order to be tripped and win a penalty. As Ruiz was, Micheľ  was actually completely fooled and gave a corner - defender did not get close to the ball. 

It would be a very good decision to detect this underhand move and not give a penalty, but the only option then would be to give a goalkick. This would arouse lots of attention, and probably the world's media would then assert that the referee missed a penalty. Ironically, by getting it totally wrong, Micheľ ensured that this incident would not be any more trouble for him. 

Approach

Ľuboš Micheľ generally refereed this slightly odd game very well - it was kind of intense for being intense's sake, rather than being a hard fight to win at all costs. Ľuboš Micheľ's style was a perfect fit for the style of World Cup 2006 and he executed it well again here. His technical accuracy was high but the cards at 22' (fair tackle, attacker was just slightly tripped from behind) and 65' (dive by the 'fouled' player - and this five minutes after the sending off!) were wrong. His management of dissent was not bad, but could be improved (more firmness or a sanction). Game became just a tad anarchic at the end but smart refereeing ensured nothing came to pass from it.

Good onside by Roman Slyško at 64' but that aside (and maybe the first half penalty) he and especially Martin Balko were pretty quiet as assistant referees. 

Slovakian trio enhanced their case to officiate the very top matches of the tournament here. 

Ľuboš Micheľ - 7,9(5) Roman Slyško - 8,4 Martin Balko - 8,4 Essam Abdel-Fatah Mamadou N’Doye SVK – EGY, SEN	Portugal 2-1 Mexico Group Stage
Miguel (26.) - Tripping Maniche (69.) - Lack of Respect (Handling) Boa Morte (88.) - Tackle Nuno Gomes (90.+1') - Charging	Rodríguez (22.) - Tackle Pérez (27.) - Tackle Márquez (65.) - SPA (Tripping) Zinha (87.) - Tackle
	Pérez (61.) - Simulation