36 GRENGA Mottram

 


Leslie Mottram was a beneficiary of FIFA's very unique interpretation of the performance principle, or rather that of his compatriot David Will who chaired the Referees Committee. The consensus was that Mottram should, quite rightly, have been removed after his performance in the Korea - Bolivia game, but Will's will proved enough. As one newspaper somewhat harshly quipped, "what had Greece and Nigeria done wrong to deserve this (referee)?".

Presumably it was determined that the safest game to appoint Mottram to was this one, but it was far from a dead rubber - if Nigeria lost, and Greece played quite well as it happened, then the African nation would have been eliminated. Two goals in additional time at the end of both halves (anyone who remembers Korea - Bolivia won't be surprised :)) saw to that, and in fact Nigeria scored something of a Pyrrhic victory by winning the group, as results conspired to see them play Italy in the next round. 


The performance can be summed up in the four cards given:

- The first card, for a holding offence, was not wrong, but really did not constitute good officiating. First of all, Mottram could have delayed his whistle and allowed Nigeria to continue their attack and secondly, nobody was interested in a sanction here, the game had been very friendly thus far. The minutes after that card were much more frantic.

- The next card was for dissent. Greece were absolutely furious at a decidedly awful decision - to assess a clearance off the line later caught by the goalkeeper was a deliberate pass to him. Mottram in his typical dictatorial manner ordered Giánnis Kalitzákis over to him, and issued him with a caution. A poorer decision than this 'backpass' one in the group stages, I can't recall!

- Then, the two cards in the second half for Nigeria players. Though these could have been solved better on a whistle tone and mimics level, they were both correct, and were good uses of cards to keep everyone calm (to be fair, card at 67' was an excellent tactical choice). Whereas the first two cards inflamed everyone, these two helped keep everything calm, in an improved second half for the Scottish referee.


No positive developments on Mottram's manner from his first game to report, and his performance even constituted something of a pleasant surprise for me, given you can imagine what I was expecting when waved play on for what was almost definitely an SFP foul in the third minute. It seemed he too appreciated the quality of Nigeria's second goal, running away to celebrate it with the Nigeria players (:D); perhaps there is a more serious point amongst there somewhere, that Mottram's priorities were perhaps a bit wrong; but no matter, in the end his performance here was not a disaster. 


Park Hae-yong quietly impressed again as he had done for the most part in his other games in the group stage as linesman; Paulo Alves made a mistake in the second half, flagging at 53' when the Greece attacker was clearly onside. 
 
Leslie Mottram - 8,1
Park Hae-yong - 8,4
Paulo Alves - 8,3
José Torres

SCO, KOR, BRA
Greece 0-2 Nigeria

Group Stage
Gelbe Karten 
Mitrópoulos (32') - Dissent
Kalitzákis (42') - Dissent
Gelbe Karten 
Oliseh (67') - Striking
Keshi (71') - Tackle


Comments

  1. It is shocking to think that Scotland went from Mottram in 1994 to Dallas in 1998. The depth in quality is absolutely jarring. It makes me wonder how Mottram handled Old Firm derbies... it couldn't have been pretty, though perhaps cutting his teeth on those sort of matches in that (late 80s into 90s) era is what made him like this.

    Regardless, he should not have been a World Cup referee.

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  2. Well, actually it's well known that FIFA, and UEFA have different visions about who are the best referees, while Leslie Mottram was on WC1994, the same jear Jim MC Cluskey also from Scotland, and born 1950, so able for WC1994 was refereeing the UEFA CUP second Match between Internazionale and Casino Salzburg, so maybe he was a better candidate for wc1994,
    this is a video of the UEFA CUP refereed by MC Cluskey
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJYXpFDLmg0

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  3. Unconvincing sums it up best. Just not World Cup level on my opinion, albeit without crucial mistakes. Foul detection and disciplinary rather inconsistent, backpass call was fairly bad. Also, again so much added time?

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