47 KSAESP Codjia

While on paper the game between Saudi Arabia and Spain was important (with a win the Arab nation could progress and the Iberians needed a draw to ensure they finished top) in the event Spain coasted to victory in a pretty boring match which had the feel of one which had little riding on it. A good piece of appointing therefore to assign this match to be the mandatory second appointment for Coffi Codjia.

Let's be honest - this was a pure token appointment to satisfy CAF. Both Codjia in Ecuador - Costa Rica and the other referee from Africa, Essam Abdel-Fatah in Australia - Japan failed in their games (I would have liked to see Abdel-Fatah again, actually). Neither of them should have been appointed again - Codjia's actually defective performance in his game was uncontroversial though, and his trio got the nod here.

Let's be fair - Codjia did a good job in this match. His performance left me with some doubts and was certainly not a recommendation for higher tasks, but overall his performance should have been well-received. He had to face some crucial incidents which is where we start our analysis.

Key Match Incidents

32' - Penalty to Spain (impeding)?

Tricky situation - is a penalty the better call? Maybe, but we can support play on here I think (trifling contact, attacking could have avoided the contact, the charge was superfluous as there was already a defender with a better position to reach the ball? - all potential arguments to support play on).


79' - Second Yellow Card to Spain no.4?

Having been cautioned less than five minutes earlier this was quite a stupid foul by the Spain defender. Of course you can send him off assessing this foul as reckless, but considering the lack-of-force in this ball-aimed tackle Codjia did very well to hold his nerve and not issue an unnecessary sending off.


81' - Serious Foul Play by Spain no.2?

I highly doubt this situation was problematic for FIFA, but I cannot find any arguments against assessing this contact as a case of SFP. Except for one maybe - bad luck! If Codjia issued a caution here or even recognised the the foul one might be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, but in the event I can't seen any option but to assign him a (irrelevant on a practical level) crucial mistake.

The foul was on Codjia's blind side but with some confidence in his perception (-> intuition) he would have taken heed of the signals and blown for a foul and perhaps even issued a yellow card. Fourth official Mohamed Guezzaz should have supported him better and reported the foul in the comms kit.

CRUCIAL MISTAKE


84' - Violent Conduct by Spain no.21?

You can make quite a strong case that Spain no.21 should have walked for how he reacted to being fouled - it was only by accident, not his intention, that his kick intended for his opponent's face missed. Ultimately a caution is the best solution all things considered.


86' - Penalty to Spain (holding)?

I strongly (strongly) prefer that a penalty would be given for this quite idiotic holding by the Saudi Arabia defender! In the event play on is supportable (especially in a World Cup game).

Approach

Codjia refereed the rest of the game well. I really liked his selection to open the cards at 27' - though Saudi Arabia no.9 probably should have been booked for a reckless kick at 15', getting him at 27' was a really wise choice for a tackle that would widely be assessed as careless. That gave Codjia a solid base in order to issue cards from that point on. Besides a quite inexplicably not given card at 61' (and 84' should have resulted in a yellow card before Villa kicked out) his disciplinary control was good. His fitness, excellent, was a huge asset to him.

Important mistake by AR Aboudou Aderodiou at 55' was partly redeemed by a very-well seen offside a minute later. Célestin Ntagungira played a nice onside at 33'.

Coffi Codjia - 7,9(3) Célestin Ntagungira - 8,4 Aboudou Aderodjou - 8,2 Mohamed Guezzaz Brahim Djezzar BEN, RWA, BEN – MAR, ALG	Saudi Arabia 0-1 Spain Group Stage
Al-Jaber (27.) - Tackle Al-Temyat (77.) - Simulation	Albelda (30.) - SPA (Tripping) Reyes (35.) - Tackle (SPA) Marchena (75.) - Charging