17 KORBOL Mottram

 

Korea Republic, Bolivia and the incredulously poor refereeing of the Scotsman Leslie Mottram turned a crucial World Cup football match into an exhibition of thrilling, gut-wrenching chaos. Both nations had a very presentable chance to qualify if they won this match between the two unheralded teams of Group C, but it is fitting in a way that neither could score, which consigned them both to a decisively fatal draw. 

The full story of how the least sonorous game of World Cup 1994 turned into perhaps the most incredible for the refereeing. 

Match

The first twenty minutes were relatively quiet for Mottram. Scotsman's style of running the game is very distinctive - he was the penultimate World Cup referee ever to have a lanyard around his neck and keep the whistle in his mouth as he followed play. The result was a style more traditionally associated with basketball officiating than a football ref - no prevention at all but more interestingly, zero presence on the pitch. Not a weak presence, just no presence at all. Quite fascinating. 

It was this style that sowed the seeds for what would go so wrong here. The trouble begins...

20' - A very clear foul missed which would have resulted in a promising freekick for Bolivia and surely a caution for the offending Korea player (DOGSO?). Did Mottram think it was a dive? That the ball was played? I struggle to understand what he saw here.

21' - Game is starting to get testy. Mottram's reproach to a Bolivia player seemingly coming to converse really with him was essentially to tell him to "f*** off". 

23' - Mottram detects a holding offence by Miguel Rimba for which he is booked. The replays do not offer any supporting evidence for that call. Unbeknownst to him, Luis Cristaldo is also cautioned for dissent.

28' - Large show of dissent by Bolivia players, now getting pretty p*ssed off with the referees, at a freekick decision indicated by the linesman Mikael Everstig. Mottram does nothing.

33' - Correct caution for a reckless tackle; that showing procedure...

38' - Huge orchestrated dissent at Mottram encouraging him to change the "nil" column in the 0-3 sanctions score after a careless foul by a Korea player. Mottram does nothing but ostensibly, takes note.

39' - It was this decision more than any other that was really irksome. So far, you could defend Mottram's performance as that of an ultra-rigorous policeman who wants nothing to with prevention or game-management. This incorrect balancing caution was an affront to everything he had done so far. Poor.

42' - Mottram could only have irritated the Bolivia players more by booking Carlos Borja there, which actually he probably deserved, if you don't assess the clear foul on him - before he totally deliberately handles the ball afterwards - as a clear foul.

Having inexplicably played five minutes of additional time, Leslie Mottram blows for halftime. 

56' - Another ultra-clear foul missed; Bolivia are ready to explode. 

63' - Correct and (accidentally?) tactically valuable card for Shin Hong-gi's holding offence.

70' - Borderline SPA case, Mottram decides a freekick is enough.

83' - What a stupid tackle to make when you know you have been booked... Luis Cristaldo, unaware of his first half caution, commits a reckless tackle and Mottram correctly dismisses him. Scotsman's manner in this procedure leaves a lot to be desired. Bolivia do not protest quietly.

+91' - Mottram is not sold by a dive and doesn't award Bolivia a decisive penalty. Good.

+93' - Tactical foul, yellow card.

+97' - I really wonder if Julio César Baldivieso was impeded here by the defender, without replays it's impossible to tell.

Having played an astounding eight-and-a-half minutes of additional time (three or four were required; maybe he was playing only to reach FIFA's aim of having an hour of playing time for each match?), Leslie Mottram blows for fulltime of this ultimately scoreless game but hardly eventless game. 

Balance

I genuinely couldn't believe what I was watching. Whistle-in-mouth throughout, it is as if a ghost was in charge of this game. Of course on the most basic level that meant Mottram couldn't (didn't) communicate with players, but it is as if he was totally distant from the game he was in charge of. 

His style was very idiosyncratic but it did not necessarily bind him to failure in this game - it was his technical accuracy that did for him, with a foul detection / selection that genuinely bordered on being genuinely totally random. Both teams had reason to be furious but especially Bolivia, who were more restrained than they might have been. 

Only FIFA's very special interpretation of the performance principle would have Mottram down for another game.

The man at his sides though, making their bows in the tournament were good. Luc Matthys besides a missing a clear foul in front of him; Mikael Everstig performed well. 

The most bizarre (modern) World Cup football match ever?

Leslie Mottram - 6,8 Luc Matthys - 8,4 Mikael Everstig - 8,4 Bo Karlsson SCO, BEL, SWE	Korea Republic 0-0 Bolivia Group Stage
Ko Jeong-un (39') - Tripping Shin Hong-gi (63') - SPA (Holding) Park Jung-bae (+93') - SPA (Holding)	Rimba (23') - SPA (Holding)                   Cristaldo (23') - Dissent Baldivieso (33') - Tackle
	Cristaldo (83') - Tackle