61 GERITA Archundia
Hosts Germany suffered a late heartbreak when Italy struck twice into the last minutes of extra time, destroying the hopes of the hosts of a final appearance. Considering the victorious team hit the woodwork twice early in added time, the victory can be seen as deserved though. And as we all know: Stuttgart ist eh schöner als Berlin.
Benito Archundia of Mexico became the herald of the dawn of new FIFA refereeing in the dystopia of the post-Ivanov world. Instead of cards, referees were (and are) now meant to keep control by only intervening in the most dire of situations and otherwise keep a low profile. Archundia did just that, carding three reckless offences where cards were acceptable or even approved of by the public. Did he miss any more? Most likely. Did somebody care? Not as likely.
Uncontroversial, no major mistakes, rather low number of cards. FIFA surely were very happy with Archundia. None of the penalty appeals were really too much to talk about – remember, the rules are different in World Cup semi-finals. It has to be utterly clear.
Speaking of utterly clear: In 81', Archundia whistled a free kick for Germany after an alledged foul by Cannavaro during an aerial duel with Podolski. The call itself was very soft, yet since Archundia whistled it, he made a crucial mistake. The foul was very clearly inside the penalty area.
Both ARs were absolutely excellent, with AR1 José Ramírez making several very good calls in the first half while AR2 Héctor Vergara shined in the second half with an amazing number of correct calls. Vergara really deserved a final for being the best AR of two consecutive World Cups.
| Benito Archundia - 7,9 (8,4) José Ramírez - 8,4 Héctor Vergara - 8,6 Kamikawa Tōru Hiroshima Yoshikazu MEX, MEX, CAN - JPN | Germany 0-2 Italy Italy win after extra time Semi-final |
 Borowski (40') - Reckless sliding tackle Metzelder (56') - Reckless play | Camoranesi (90') - Reckless sliding tackle |
I am a big fan of Archundia, but his mistake in min. 81 was major: either play on or, once he called a foul, it should have been a penalty kick, since it was clearly inside the penalty area
ReplyDeleteAR Ramirez should have helped him with the location.
Vergara was indeed the best AR not only in 2002 and 2006, but also in 2010, in my opinion.
I don't disagree that José Ramírez could / should have helped Archundia, but I think that is to miss what really happens here.
DeleteArchundia, after having given the freekick (I agree with him, in principle it was a foul) realised the foul inside the penalty area and was too soft to be given as a penalty in a World Cup SF (again agreeable for me). So Archundia ordered a freekick even though I am quite sure that he realised that the foul he penalised was inside the penalty area, but only after he blew his whistle. The only solutions were a dropped ball or a penalty.
What Archundia did is unacceptable in my opinion.
That is a very strong statement! If he knowingly moved the foul outside the penalty area, it is indeed unacceptable, but it is hard to believe that a referee would do that in a World Cup semi-final... although he could take such a risk knowing it was his last game in that competition anyway.
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