53 ITAAUS Medina Cantalejo

Italy stared into the abyss - down to ten men, Australia really were starting to believe that they could eliminate the three-time champions in the Round of Sixteen. Instead, a penalty won in the last play of the match and scored with the final kick saw Italy squeeze through by the skin of their teeth. Touch and go is probably something of an understatement. Sixteen cards no, but without doubt the refereeing of the game was controversial. Excellently correct to eject Materazzi, Luis Medina Cantalejo decided the game with that penalty right at the very, very end. 

Grosso celebrated the award and Australia cried foul, it must have really hurt considering that once the penalty scored, there was nothing they could have done to change the result. That was the dramatic upshot of a tactical and very tight match - Medina left some doubts, but on the whole did a good job. Let's start with the two very crucial incidents of the afternoon. 

Key Match Incidents

50' - Red Card to Italy no.23 (Serious Foul Play)

Medina followed FIFA's edict to the letter - Materazzi flew in with a two-footed lunge, and was rightfully ejected. Ironically - the actual contact of an SFP nature was afflicted one of Materazzi's teammates, perhaps that aptly showed what a crazy tackle this was. Medina was spot on, and the Italy defender walked.

+93' - Penalty to Italy (tripping)

One of the most momentous decisions taken perhaps not only at World Cup 2006, but any World Cup ever. There is no doubt that the three protagonists of this match - Medina, Materazzi and the decision-celebrating Grosso - certainly changed the course of the tournament all in their own way!

Widely judged as incorrect at the time, I would argue that Medina had the right idea and took a supportable decision at least. Remarkably, both of Neill's arms make contact with Grosso's legs - what else can the Italy defender do other than go down? Especially with such a promising chance to score a winning goal, a dive seems to be rather illogical, at least a premeditated one.  

Whether such a foul should decide (and it really did decide, pending a Totti-scored penalty) a World Cup knockout match is maybe a different question, but I can't call this decision wrong.

A theoretical question - what sanction should Neill get, if any, if you decide he fouled Grosso?

Approach

A testing and intense match to be the referee of, even if it was relatively quiet until the end. Medina's tack was to blow fairly strictly for foul infractions, but not impede the players from playing a quick match. He was posed with an interesting question at 9' - reckless tackle, but the players themselves viewed it rather as careless. Quite how much Portugal - Netherlands, only the night before, was on Medina's mind but no card was a sensible choice. On the whole, he held his nerve quite well in the first half, choosing to issue two cautions (missed reckless foul at 41'; do you think he missed any other cards?).

He started to find himself in some trouble though in late stages - he didn't seem the feel the character of the game changed and needed a more proactive referee, most evident in the caution to Gattuso. It would have been very interesting to see how the officials coped with extra time. Medina's manner was good, again, but he did show some small deficiencies in dealing with the players on occasions and a couple of advantages played were a bit weak. It wasn't quite as tight as Italy's match, but Medina passed through in partly trying circumstances, especially at the end. 

The nature of this match meant mostly quiet afternoons for the assistant referees - good offside decision by Victoriano Giráldez Carrasco at 17' to highlight, Pedro Medina Hernández less challenged.

Luis Medina Cantalejo - 8,4 Victoriano Giráldez Carrasco - 8,4 Pedro Medina Hernández - 8,4 Éric Poulat Lionel Dagorne ESP – FRA	Italy 1-0 Australia  Round of Sixteen
Grosso (29.) - SPA (Tripping) Gattuso (89.) - SPA (Tripping) Zambrotta (+91.) - Delaying the Restart	Grella (23.) - Dissent Cahill (49.) - Striking Wilkshire (61.) - Tackle
Materazzi (50.) - Serious Foul Play