31 RUSCMR Al-Sharif
A historic afternoon. The two most chaotic teams of the tournament (riven with internal strife), the most chaotic referee there and both teams needing a result, Russia a big win - in a way it is not surprising that Oleg Salenko scored a World Cup-record five goals in one game and Roger Milla, star of the previous tournament, scored aged forty-two. Both records still stand to this day!
Actually, Russia (despite not really being among the sixteen best teams in the United States) were desperately unlucky not to go through - if not only one of Saudi Arabia's or Bulgaria's wins, they would have gone through. Cameroon with a win would have gotten through too, but they lost six-one.
Jamal Al-Sharif from Syria was the referee, he had made an ambivalent start to the tournament in the sonorous Colombia - Romania game, but his performance here was subpar. Al-Sharif could only make the players more and more anxious with his decisions, some of which were surprising to put it kindly. Though, his fitness should be strongly praised - his sprint for Russia's sixth goal was quite remarkable.
Despite there being no contact, I would support his awarding of the penalty just before halftime. He also missed a DOGSO striking incident in the second half, but I wouldn't blame him (nor Dutch linesman Jan Dolstra) too much for that. However, he simply lacked courage in not issuing a red card for a clear professional foul at the end (crucial mistake), or maybe it was just wise self-preservation.
Al-Sharif didn't lose control, but I am not really convinced that he had much control by the same token. Not a total disaster, but whether this performance put forward a strong resume for a knockout stage game is rather another question.
Good afternoon for both linesmen. Gordon Dunster performed well, Jan Dolstra very well, both playing some nice onsides.
| Jamal Al-Sharif - 7,8 (8,0) Gordon Dunster - 8,4 Jan Dolstra - 8,5 Mario van der Ende SYR, AUS, NED | Russia 6-1 Cameroon Group Stage |
 Karpin (57') - Dissent Chlestov (87') - SPA (Impeding) Nikiforov (+91') - SPA (Tackle) | Kana-Biyik (13') - Dissent Songo’o (45') - Delaying the Restart |
A weird performance by Al-Sharif in a very interesting match. The penalty replay showed no contact (but was that only because the Russian player protected himself and the CMR should be punished for such a reckless tackle?), management was at times poor (card showing procedure took way too long). But damn, that sprint for the 6th Russian goal.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with the final assessment.