23 ARGNGA Karlsson
Without doubt Bo Karlsson had to face the hardest game of World Cup 1994 so far, which was also the most exciting one. Very challenging task for the Swedish referee in this game which was Arturo Angeles' game Argentina - Greece on steroids - an extremely free-flowing game, where Karlsson had to deal with the cynical play of Nigeria whilst all the while managing the frustration of both teams, and this in the middle of a match which was not at all easy to keep up with.
Unfortunately, Karlsson was not up to it in, let's be fair, highly trying circumstances (the same as most of his colleagues?). Analysis of his performance:
=> The biggest problem for Karlsson was his style, so much as his approach to the match. He obviously benefitted a lot from his tall stature, but being too over reliant on it was what tripped him up here. Of course, he could survive by whistling, running to the place of the offence, gesturing the freekick with his arm high in the air (higher than the players could reach), being taller than the players so as not losing control, and then carry on. His manner was actually a carbon-copy of Erik Fredriksson's, though Fredriksson was a better athlete. This game needed a more proactive, preventative referee.
=> Swedish referee made a poor start to the game. Having missed an off-the-ball foul in the first thirty seconds which should have given him a signal as to the player's intentions, Sunday Oliseh committed a borderline red card striking offence (these leading with the elbow strikes were under hot focus at World Cup 2010) which Karlsson essentially didn't see. Then, when the game restarted how he solved a deliberate (maybe still careless) kick on Diego Maradona which showed the players, essentially, that Karlsson wasn't really going to do anything.
=> The way the referee dealt with, or rather just didn't deal with dissent was subpar. It was not enough in this to rely on being tall and distant. This eroded Karlsson's authority on the pitch.
=> Swede had a very poor case of mistaken identity at 13', you can see in the highlights. He just panicked as Argentina had the ball in the net while he was initiating the caution process (goal could never have stood - perfect classroom example for why the new LotG is a good idea!). FIFA correctly, and obligatorily, removed the caution from Oliseh.
=> The other two cautions for Nigeria were more cases for dismissal in my view. Augustine Eguavoen's kick constituted a foul with intent or nowadays, excessive force. Michael Emenalo was very lucky to remain on the pitch committing both a violent conduct kick and stamp on Claudio Caniggia, which was apparently went unseen by the referee. Caniggia's ensuing caution, mandatory at World Cup 1994, can be considered close to the antithesis of tactically valuable. A further foul at +93' on Maradona also used excessive force.
=> Emenalo should really have been cautioned for a second time after a holding foul on Gabriel Batistuta, but after a short reach towards his yellow card-resting pocket, Karlsson decided a freekick only was enough. He later reached even deeper into that pocket without taking out its contents when Oliseh took a freekick before a substitution was completed, but realising he had already been cautioned, Karlsson decided not to eject him. It would have been a travesty really if Oliseh had have been sent off for that, and an offence he didn't commit.
=> Feeding into a wider point about his manner, Karlsson could only access gestures and mimics on a rather poor level. This very robotic impression did not help endear him to the players - this is most evident when he is gesturing that the Argentina 'goal' at 13' would not stand.
=> Do you think Karlsson missed any more sanctions than those already mentioned? I counted two.
It was also a challenging afternoon for both linesmen. Mikael Everstig played an onside for the Nigeria goal widely seen as incorrect at the time, but I think viewers were fooled by a rather odd angle used for the replay - one cannot be sure, but I think Everstig was spot on. He played a nice onside at 13'. Luc Matthys was right rather by accident to allow Argentina's equaliser (tight onside but the Belgian was in no position to properly assess it); he made two important mistakes in the second half.
| Bo Karlsson - 6,9 Mikael Everstig - 8,5 Luc Matthys - 8,1 Leslie Mottram SWE, SWE, BEL | Argentina 2-1 Nigeria Group Stage |
 Caniggia (55') - Simulation (Injury) | Oliseh (13') - Tackle * Eguavoen (21') - Tackle Emenalo (54') - Tackle |
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The interesting thing about the Eguavoen caution at 21' is that HE was the player guilty of the challenge at 13'. So whether or not it was SFP, it should have been a 2CT. Quite interesting that FIFA took away Oliseh's caution and didn't reassign it.
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
DeleteFor a comparable case in GERUSA at WC 2002, FIFA reassigned the caution for "aggressive behaviour" from Neuville to Jeremies (if I'm not mistaken, only AFTER an appeal by DFB, which allowed Neuville to play in the final despite being cautioned in the later SF).
But here they essentially *couldn't* reassign it, as it would have technically 'sent off' Eguavoen, who surely would not have made the foul he did at 21' having already been booked.
I'm sure FIFA weren't especially thankful for the headache that Karlsson gave them.
Mistaken identity, as a result a SYC not given after 21 minutes, total lack of any intention to control the game and punish late and heavy fouls (Nigeria) as well as blatant dissent (Argentina). Bo Karlsson's performance I would rank as being WORSE than Mottram and in fact worse or at least on the same level of the worst WC performance I have ever seen, including BRACOL in 2014.
ReplyDeleteAt least two missed RCs (54' and added time stamp from behind on the calf). His gestures were more impersonating a statue and waving players away than any sort of management "Whistle and go away". I would even argue his choices when to card were bad, the management in 13' embarassing and he should not have been surprised should the mandatory (and absolutely senseless) YC for Caniggia would have resulted in an all out riot.
Shocked that such a performance could happen at a WC.
If you think this is one of the worst performances of all-time, you definitely need to go look at some matches prior to 1994.
Delete1990 and 1994, for me, was sort of the transition era where modern refereeing was not quite there, but technology and media allowed for multiple replays and a lot more ability to see refereeing errors and inconsistency in interpretations and application of Law. Prior to 1990? Yikes. If you want to talk about missed KMIs, there were some truly bizarre and awful performances and the standards were much lower. But yes, 1990 and 1994 had their problems here and there.
By 1998, I honestly think you had overall excellent refereeing (though inconsistently in application still applied--see Denmark v South Africa from that tournament). One of the reasons the outrage over the mistakes in 2002 was so high had to do with the fact that the standards for 1998 had been so good. But it also had to do with truly being in the modern era with 20+ camera angles to catch every single mistake. Oh, and also the political-based selection of ARs. So FIFA fixed that in 2006.
We all have quibbles about what's happened since 2006. And I think most of us lament the new modern refereeing where SFP tackles and VC isn't punished as aggressively. But overall you have a 1998-present era and an everything before 1990 era. This tournament--right as specialized linesmen were introduced and just before the first great re-write of the Laws in the mid 90s, fell between those two eras.