14 ROUSUI Jouini

After Romania upset tournament dark horses Colombia in their opening game, it was Switzerland who surprised them with a four-one victory, having been level at half-time. Tunisian Neji Jouini was in charge of his second World Cup game after Brazil - Costa Rica in 1990. I liked his style of officiating win which he showed to be a real leader on the pitch. Some pointers about his performance.

=> Without doubt, the referee was correct to eject Ion Vlădoiu for a ridiculous assault at 74'. Miodrag Belodedici committed another bad foul at the start of the second half - a caution seems about right here, even if a quarter-of-a-century later my solution might be different.

=> Jouini, correctly positioned, was unfortunate to be standing in a place where he couldn't see the clear handling before Switzerland scored their second half. Tunisian referee simply had a zero angle - bad luck.

=> One might call the caution at 41' harsh, but if Jouini adjudged the trip as deliberate, then he had his grounds to issue a yellow card. Opening caution at 33' was good, considering there was a ball-playing tackle after the blatant holding.

=> Clear foul not given at 25' supports my theory - that if in doubt, referees would not whistle fouls from behind so as to not be accused of missing a 'red card'.

=> As I said, I rather liked Jouini's serious manner on the pitch. With his decisions as well, he really took charge of this game.

Abdulmajid Hassan offered a very promising execution of his linesman duties; Mohammad Fanaei made a quite unacceptable mistake to disallow a Switzerland goal in the first half (look at his position!). The sort of crucial mistake which really should end your tournament. Future appointments would belie what happened here, certainly. 

Neji Jouini - 8,4 Abdulmajid Hassan - 8,4 Mohammad Fanaei - 7,8(2) Joël Quiniou TUN, EGY, IRN	Romania 1-4 Switzerland Group Stage
Mihali (33') - SPA (Holding) Lupescu (41') - Tripping Belodedici (48') - Tackle
Vlădoiu (74') - Serious Foul Play