Every World Cup throws up at least one refereeing horror show and the performance of Valentin Ivanov in last Sunday’s game between Portugal and Holland was technically the worst so far.
A grumpy semifinal between these sides at Euro 2004 suggested Ivanov was just the disciplinarian for the job. Instead, the Russian turned out to be the wrong choice, although his father had no doubt that Fifa had only itself to blame for the debacle.
Valentin Snr, a World Cup inside-forward for the Soviet Union in 1958 and 1962, said: ”Fifa said it expected referees to get tough on players who used foul tactics, dirty play and their elbows. Valentin just tried to follow his orders. What else did they expect?”
Ivanov’s 16 yellow cards — eight of them adding up to four reds — took expulsions at this World Cup to a record 23 with nine matches to go. He also equalled the record of 16 yellows in a single match and set a new mark of four sending-offs.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter was not pleased. ”The referee was not at the same level as the participants, the players. There could have been a yellow card for the referee,” he said.
The 1994 World Cup in the United States was the first at which Fifa laid down targets for referees, identifying the tackle from behind and feigning injury as their unwanted elements.
Fifa referee committee president, Angel Villar, remains unfazed by the criticism. ”Generally speaking I can say that refereeing standards today are higher than ever before.
”Our officials are younger than ever, fitter than ever and work harder on their skills and knowledge than ever. The players can be confident that the officials work as hard on their game as they do on theirs,” Villar said.
Argentina’s Hernan Crespo said this week his team had been denied at least three goals by wrong decisions. ”Referees can make mistakes but at a high level you have to question whether they are the right people,” he said.
Angel Marcos, the Argentinian coach who has been writing about the World Cup for L’Equipe, has some sympathy for the officials. ”Referees are under pressure from Fifa to act early against foul play. But they should bear in mind the nervous tension on the players and the effect on the timing of a challenge of some of the pitches, which have been too hard and too fast.” — Â