A devil's advocate view on the goal: Look at the tackle. It is from behind, the player appears (not 100% sure) to leave his feet and lunge at the opponent, and the goal scorer may not make contact with the ball first. Visualize this tackle in the middle of the field and I think that we're debating whether its a yellow or a red.
You know, it's hard for me to balance... Neymar is clearly a star player, and gets fouled/hammered like one. At the same time, he goes down SO easily, it just makes things so much harder and makes it that much more of a spectacle (not in a good way). I do think Brych has done very well, FWIW.
Agreed Neymar goes down easily, but the criticism of Brych, to the point of now blaming the score of the game on him is criminal. He's just making things up. If Brych had taken a more laissez-faire approach, and the tackles were flying in, he'd be complaining about that. There's absolutely no nuance or analysis from Balboa. He's just gratuitously making the referee a punching bag. It's one thing when announcers don't know a Law or something. Sometimes there is ignorance. In this case, Balboa is just slandering the referee constantly without knowing what he's talking about. And now he makes up some complete crap about advantage. Ridiculous! He can't go more than a minute without mentioning the referee for no reason whatsoever.
Balboa was a hack as a player and he's a hack as an announcer. He must have a really good agent. The referee has been OK. The caution on #6 when Neymar flopped was a mistake though.
I'm not a fan of how Byrch has handled this match. The send off was draconian and the PK was minimal contact.
I expect this to be Brych's last match here. I agree with Mass that this is a tough spot for a UEFA referee from Germany though. In general, I have to say that I find German referees to be a bit tough to watch. Many are extremely fussy, the management style is often very stuffy, and I find the style of delivering cards to be needlessly confrontational.
Isn't it unlikely that any of the QF referees would have another match? Just based on logistics of the tournament not performance.
Um..was that a dive instead of a foul on the second second yellow? (I just have the one angle, and it doesn't look like there was contact)
It may be his last match here, but I doubt has anything to do with his performance. You can certainly disagree with individual decisions, but given the level of gamesmanship involved, it could not have been any better, and that is due to the players, and not the referee.
I don't think so. Quarter-final referees are often the ones I the running for a final. FIFA doesn't seem as concerned about a referee seeing a team twice anymore either.
Since 1992, a QF referee has done the gold medal match twice (1996 and 2004). In the other three tournaments, it's been someone who only had one match in the group stage and was held for the Final. I think either scenario is possible here, but the teams advancing probably eliminate Geiger, Clattenburg (if GBR go through) and maybe Roldan. I don't think Brych was poor, but I also don't think you'll see him again when there are other good options. I'd think you're looking at Nishimura, O'Leary, Rocchi and Jedidi getting the four final games in some capacity. With Roldan and/or Moen being wildcards to use if Nishimura doesn't end up "fitting" on a game (both Asian teams making it through). But that's just a guess. Who knows, maybe FIFA stands by Irmatov and we see him yet again. There are a lot of possibilities, particularly since we're down to one--and maybe zero--UEFA teams.
Absolutely on the last sentence. It drives me crazy and it is clearly taught as a mechanic. All top UEFA DFB referees have done it. Brych, Stark, Fandel, Merk, etc. Every single one of them. It's really annoying. But I would say that Brych is probably the least fussy German Elite referee I've seen. He usually manages a really good game in the UCL. I like him a lot more than Stark. But this was always going to be a difficult match to control.
I can't completely agree with that assessment. Dealing with gamesmanship is part of the job. I think his handling of the game has a lot to do with a lack of experience in handling matches like this. We can't just blame the players for this. He's in a position to alter behavior. The only tool he seemed to have was plastic and it only had a marginal effect. Given the ease with which he showed cards, I think Brazil's number 8 deserved a second caution and the fact Neymar escaped free was also a failure.
I disagree. The issue wasn't gamesmanship but Byrch's inability to effectively manage the latino players. I believe a huge part of that is he lost credibility with his overzealous red card. Furthermore, he also lost credibility by calling the stimulated fouls. The only thing more painful than watching his performance was listening to the commentators.
Sure, he could have been less confrontational. I know that's how I was first taught to give cards (a la Raul Dominguez), but I've realized that it needlessly antagonizes the situation. I would say it is his job to attempt to alter behavior. Too many times, we assume that the referee has some Svengali-like powers, that if he only really, really tried, he could get the players to stop all that bad behavior. No person can change how another person acts, that person has to want to change (usually because he/she thinks change is in their self-interest, and no I am not a Pshrink!). Yes, referee's have a lot of authority and they have a very high standard to achieve. I think Brych did well, but the fact that we are talking about him that much means he could have done better. However, plenty of people in positions with much more authority can't get people to change their behavior (doctors, lawyers, police), because ultimately, people do what they want. If they don't want to change or listen, they won't. I know this sounds simplistic (it is), but so many times, we (as referees) take a very difficult job, and make it impossible, by believing that we can control the behavior of 22 grown men (I use that term loosely).