05 COLROU Al-Sharif

 

Jamal Al-Sharif arrived in the United States as the most experienced World Cup referee in 1994 (together with Joël Quiniou), having attended both the 1986 and 1990 competitions. He opened his third world championship with an interesting match-up between the much-fancied Colombia (Pelé tipped them to win the tournament) and Romania. Syrian referee avoided controversy, but he made two crucial mistakes besides not the most satisfying handling overall. 

Al-Sharif faced some Key Match Incidents that are interesting on an educational / interpretational level, which are worthy of detailed analysis. 

Key Match Incidents

8' - Red Card (DOGSO) to Romania no.14? No sanction

To the untrained eye, there is great difference between the red card given by Mikkelsen on opening day, but both were cases of DOGSO - here, the Colombia attacker was through on goal, defenders unable to intervene, and the touch was hardly too heavy. There is really no reaction from Colombia players agitating for a dismissal - it is interesting to speculate if they had, maybe Al-Sharif would have taken a different decision.

CRUCIAL MISTAKE

39' - Red Card (Serious Foul Play) to Colombia no.6? No sanction

A very dangerous tackle, Colombia player flies into his opponent with significant force and a high hitting point. An ejection is the optimal outcome here. However, given the replays are not totally conclusive concerning the hitting point, one should back Al-Sharif. At least a caution should have been given though.

63' - Red Card (Serious Foul Play) to Colombia no.14? No sanction

Flying, losing control of his body and an extremely dangerous contact made (very serious injury can be sustained by hurting the knee like that). Al-Sharif totally missed this situation - as did I in the live sequence! - but no room for ambiguity here, Colombia no.14 had to be ejected.

CRUCIAL MISTAKE

67' - Penalty to Colombia? Play on

Quite well-seen by Al-Sharif in my view. While giving a penalty would not be wrong, the Syrian referee had the exact same impression as me: that the attacker was trying really hard to win a penalty. Play on was the optimal choice for my taste. 

Approach

Al-Sharif chose quite a strict line regarding SPA offences, which helped foster an exciting attacking match (just as FIFA imagined it!), especially the booking at 53' was a really good call in my opinion. Syrian's tireless style was quite impressive, even if sometimes he positioned himself a bit too close to the ball. He made some mistakes here and there, and didn't leave a totally convincing impression. Handling on an 8,3 level.

Douglas James was quite busy on the line and had a strong expected level performance, Yousif Al-Ghattan was a bit quieter. 

Jamal Al-Sharif - 7,3 Yousif Al-Ghattan - 8,4 Douglas James - 8,4 Alberto Tejada SYR, BHR, TRI	Colombia 1-3 Romania Group Stage
Herrera (36') - SPA (Holding) Valderrama (53') - SPA (Tripping) Álvarez (65') - SPA (Holding)	Răducioiu (39') - Aggressive Behaviour