27 GERKOR Quiniou

 

Germany escaped this game with victory, clinging onto a three-two win, having scored thrice in the opening half-an-hour. Korea did themselves proud, and offered a premonition to future successes. Joël Quiniou handled his second game of the tournament, and as in the first, did a good job.

French referee did not need to intervene very much in a football-focused match, and the key to success was setting tactically clever signals with his cautions and keeping up with this game. He managed both and realised a strong expected level performance. Some other small pointers:

=> The holding foul at 15' was a very clear yellow card, and a mistake not to open the sanctions there. 

=> I wouldn't have minded a red card being issued for a lunging tackle at 11'! Freekick only was also an understandable choice.

=> With Jürgen Klinsmann having already been cautioned for playing after the whistle, should he have been booked again for a similar offence in the second half? Besides self-preservation, in my view no - his act was much more minor this time.

=> Despite large Korea appeals, I simply cannot see a clear handling offence at 82'. 

Quite a challenging game for Valentin Ivanov who realised a very good performance, but made an important mistake at 69'. Abdulmajid Hassan also made one mistake, controlling the less challenging half. 

Joël Quiniou - 8,4 Valentin Ivanov - 8,3 Abdulmajid Hassan - 8,3 Arturo Angeles FRA, RUS, EGY	Germany 3-2 Korea Republic Group Stage
Brehme (24') - Tackle Klinsmann (28') - Delaying the Restart Effenberg (45') - Tackle	Choi Young-il (89') - SPA (Tripping)