30 ITAMEX Lamolina

 

Italy and Mexico were really on the edge of elimination, but their draw ultimately took them both through on a tense early afternoon in Washington. If third place denoted removal rather than probable progression, then one of the most intense matches in the group stages would have been on another level. But nations both lived to fight another day.

The appointment of Francisco Lamolina was subject to a great deal of cajoling and consternation to the crucial tie. Italy wanted the Colombian José Torres Cadena not the Argentine and Mexico, having attended Copa América 1993 with him, wanted to reject Lamolina, seeing him as a weak referee. Quite the baptism of fire for the referee then!

It was a very challenging game for Lamolina with a really high number of incidents to assess; sure it was not as combative as say Argentina - Nigeria, but a test en extremis of a different nature. Lamolina survived the game, no thanks really to his style and manner, but one must credit the Argentine with a level of astuteness which saw him tread water all the way to the end (though he did miss a penalty). The story then!

Match

4' - the first significant foul of the game, quite late but still careless. Lamolina, with somewhat amusing juxtaposition, shouts and gestures to the offending player "calm(a)!".

6' - a deliberate careless charge. 

7' - referee moves in quickly after a totally accidental foul. The nature of the foul didn't merit it really, but given it's location (in front of the benches), a good choice I think.

8' - a probably deliberate foul disguised as a careless one, nobody really reacts.

9' - the first real test of Lamolina's authority, deliberate and actually rather reckless foul from behind. Referee reacts angrily, ostensibly partly towards the fouled Italy player, as a solution. A caution here would be counter-productive but without doubt, a moment to take note.

12' - a still careless sliding tackle from behind. 

19' - deliberate charging foul as Mexico counter-attack. Very important tactical moment, Lamolina decides for no card. Given the attacker was running quite wide, good choice?

25' - a pretty wild ball-playing tackle is where Lamolina breaks the seal - given the Mexico player does return to the floor (just) in time, I agree with him that a caution is the correct call.

33' - another card, balancing one, to an Italy player. Whether the referee would have booked him if not for 25' having happened might be another question, but I reckon Mexico did have options wide. So a good call for my money, even if worse infractions went unpunished before.

36' - a bad, very late and reckless off-the-ball foul is missed by referee.

37' - we get one of Lamolina's famous "siga, siga!" gestures! This came to embody his more permissive style of officiating and has entered Argentine parlance as a synonym for a laissez-faire approach more widely, in not only football refereeing. 

37' - a deliberate push that stopped a promising attack. A yellow card should have been issued here.

38' - a missed impeding foul which appears to be marginally outside the penalty area. Missed freekick and a caution.

43' - what seems to be even a borderline violent conduct (yellow card seems more appropriate to me though) goes missed by Lamolina.

+46' - goal disallowed for Mexico. See below.

Halftime

3' - goal! Italy score for 1-0!

10' - late and careless foul, freekick giving Italy a promising crossing position.

12' - Dino Baggio is carelessly tripped inside the Mexico penalty area - Lamolina shouts at him to get up! There are two Mexico players blocking the Argentine referee's potential line of sight, though he seems to have still successfully gained the best insight angle by running wide of them. The ball moves as if simply tapped away by the defender, and in a way it was, just by kicking through D. Baggio's legs. Lamolina probably doubted his perception and thought "the defender played the ball". He didn't, a penalty should have been awarded (crucial mistake).

13' - goal! Mexico equalise for 1-1!

18' - with Argentine linesman Ernesto Taibi having already explicitly moved Luis García Postigo back the required distance, he encroaches clearly beyond the allowed distance. To Lamolina's credit (and Taibi's flag probably sold him anyway), he books García and orders to corner kick retaken. How successful do you think his angry manner is?

19' - missed charging foul as Mexico attack. Luis García Aspe dissents at referee Lamolina.

21' - when the ball next leaves the field of play, Lamolina angrily books García Apse for dissent, pointing to where the offence took place. It is interesting to speculate why he didn't stop the game when it happened and award a freekick to Italy. In any case, two successful cautions as the referee ensured a quiet end to the game for him, surely helped by both nations realisation that they were going to go through with the current drawn score.

Fulltime - Mexico go through in first place, Italy finish in third place. 

Balance

So not a bad afternoon for Francisco Lamolina, I would say he navigated this very challenging match pretty well even. The biggest problem for him was his leadership style - no charisma, little body tension in his gestures and not much natural authority, just angry shouts at players which had at best questionable resonance. I don't think his two group stage performances, though not bad, were the strongest candidature for an important knockout stage match. It would be wrong to say that the missed penalty (at least) didn't affect the final standings - it is doubtful whether Mexico would have come back from two-nothing down in the second half if that penalty was given and scored. 

Not too much in the way of action for both linesmen. Eugene Brazzale played a good onside at 45', though Ernesto Taibi had to take a very crucial call just before halftime. The own goal was correctly ruled out. Taibi correctly evaluated the offside position of Luis Roberto Alves, whose impeding with contact made his offside position active. Argentine linesman however made an important mistake at 36', with an incorrect flag.

Francisco Lamolina - 7,8(2) Ernesto Taibi - 8,3 Eugene Brazzale - 8,4 Hellmut Krug ARG, ARG, AUS	Italy 1-1 Mexico Group Stage
Albertini (33') - SPA (Tripping)	del Olmo (25') - Tackle García Postigo (63') - Not Respecting 9.15m García Aspe (66') - Dissent