France v Spain - Ref Watch

2 weeks ago, I was expecting a match report concerning a referee, to be full of ranting about controversial decisions and general ineptitude.  As it turned out, the quality of referring has been one of the pleasant surprises of Euro 2012.  In fact, the biggest referring error occurred in the first half of the first match.  Since then, the only real moment of controversy was the "goal that never was" in the England v Ukraine game.  Although on that occasion, the problem was with the linesmen and 5th official, not the referee.


The situation has been helped by the players.  There has been a relative lack of diving and not a single dangerous challenge worthy of a red card. Yes, there have been a few fouls that have gone unnoticed and dodgy decisions, but aside from employing Borgs to officiate games that will always be the case.  Overall, the standard of referring has been a massive positive during Euro 2012.


So, when it came to writing about Nicola Rizzoli's performance in the Spain-France match I was at a bit of a loss of talking points.  There was a bit of a talking point in the first half when Cesc Fabregas was "wrestled" to the floor in the penalty area, but as has been the case throughout the competition, Rizzoli preferred to let the game carry on where ever possible. Febregas had been touched, but it was minimal, and whilst it's plausible it caused him to lose balance, it was by no means clear cut. Result - no penalty.
I much prefer this method of officiating to the whistle happy displays we've seen in previous tournaments.  The ref shouldn't be the star of the show, and like a good centre half, the less you see of him the better he is doing.

In fact, Rizzoli was largely anonymous throughout, he booked 3 players but they were all obvious decisions.  He also awarded only the 3rd penalty of the whole competition, when Anthony Reveillere fouled Pedro in the last minute.  It could be argued that Pedro was looking for it and already on his way down when contact was made. But, simply put, the defender made a clumsy challenge, didn't get the ball and made contact with the attacker.  It was hard to argue the French corner, in fact there was barely a murmur of protest.  Although, given the French performance, I don't think they would have bothered arguing had it been a complete cock up from Rizzoli.

We're now 3 quarters finals down and it's fair to say that the 3 most impressive teams have made it to the last 4.  I've not been overly taken by Spain's performances thus far, but even on an off day they have enough quality to see them through.  It's going to take something special from Portugal to prevail on Wednesday.  Ronaldo needs to be magnificent and the supporting cast need to back him up.  Can they do it? Maybe, but my money will firmly be with the Spaniards.
As for Germany, let's just say that they won't be losing too much sleep over the outcome of the England v Italy match.  They will be supremely confident of beating either side, and after the way they demolished Greece, it's hard to argue against them.

Next up, I'll be looking at the Twitter reaction to the England Italy match in Kiev.  Expect plenty of procrastinating and sarcasm!