Quarter Finals Germany vs. Argentina (Lubos Michel) [R]

[Alberto]

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/06/t/ref/l/38366.jpg

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/ref/38366_MICHEL_Lubos.html

Lubos Michel of Solvakia will be the referee. He speaks English Slovakian and Russian.

A very experienced referee who was in Japan Korea and refereed three matches.

[bestianera]

I was favourably impressed by his performance thus far; if he called another good game and neither Argentina nor Germany qualified for the final, I'd like him to be assigned the job

[Alberto]

Today's crackerjack match! Should be hotly contested by both teams. This is a match where communication with the captains and the players is critical. Michel does not speak Spanish or German. Control should be very tight in the opening 10 minutes to keep play fair and to send a message that hard physical challenges will be called and dealt with accordingly.

Germany tends to play very hard against more skillfull teams. I would be inclined to watch for hard challenges on set pieces from the Germans. If perchance Germany falls behind, the challenges will typically become harder. The referee will need to be mindful of these challenges as well as Argentina's penchant to embellish every hard challenge by simulating serious injury. There could be many cards today. I would watch out for handballs from Argentina, a favorite tactic to disrupt attacks, as well as many tactical fouls from both teams.

The best thing that could happen to this game would be an early goal that would force attacking play from the team behind.

[AesirUesugi]

No early goals as yet, both teams remain careful in tackling. Podolski will have learned his lesson. Good co-ordination between ARs and CR. I really hope it stays this way.

[NHRef]

end of the first half, looks like the players have finally gotten the hint and backed off on coming in from behind and sliding in from the side. Some physical challenges, but nothing unfair. Any trips being called tightly, nice to see him talk with Boldulski towards the middle of hte first half after a take down rather than pull a second yellow.

Hopefully it stays this way.

[Ref Flunkie]

Heck of a game from the guy IMO!!! Yeah there were a few dives that he fell for, but nothing major. I really liked how he called the game.

[Dr. Wankler]

Heck of a game from the guy IMO!!! Yeah there were a few dives that he fell for, but nothing major. I really liked how he called the game.

I agree. I'd love to read his match report to find out what happened in the post-match dust-up.

Hope the rest of the matches go as relatively well as this one did.

[Smoga]

A very well reffed game by Michel. He is the type of an arbiter that most refs should aspire to being: doesn't impose himself on the game but lets players know that he is in charge when he has to. Not flashy, but solid. Maybe the best performance by a ref in this WC, especially given the type of a game this was.

[Ref Flunkie]

I agree. I'd love to read his match report to find out what happened in the post-match dust-up.

Hope the rest of the matches go as relatively well as this one did.


Yeah I didn't catch what that was about either. Looked like the referee team was right in the middle of it though, so they must know what was going on.

[Ref Flunkie]

A very well reffed game by Michel. He is the type of an arbiter that most refs should aspire to being: doesn't impose himself on the game but lets players know that he is in charge when he has to. Not flashy, but solid. Maybe the best performance by a ref in this WC, especially given the type of a game this was.

Yup, in the first few minutes I was thinking "Uh oh, here comes a slug fest", but after the first yellow and some following "chats" with certain players, the game settled down nicley. I did not see the NED:POR match....did that one start in a similar way but not get settle down as nicely as this one did? I wonder if this one would have turned into another NED:POR match if not managed as well in the first few minutes.

[Alberto]

Yup, in the first few minutes I was thinking "Uh oh, here comes a slug fest", but after the first yellow and some following "chats" with certain players, the game settled down nicley. I did not see the NED:POR match....did that one start in a similar way but not get settle down as nicely as this one did? I wonder if this one would have turned into another NED:POR match if not managed as well in the first few minutes.

No that match was destined to blow-up regardless of how the referee handled it.

[needs]

Very nice job getting both teams to settle down from a very chippy first few minutes. My only complaint was his letting Ballack off without a caution for diving after carding Maxi Rodriguez.

[NHRef]

Don't think Ballack deserved the card, there was contact and he was grabbed, I just didn't follow the restart for ARgentina if he didn't caution, unless he called a foul on Ballack.

I liked the dive call in the box, I heard the whistle and thought "oh no, not another bad PK call", even an Argentina supported sitting next to me said "no foul"

[Ref Flunkie]

Very nice job getting both teams to settle down from a very chippy first few minutes. My only complaint was his letting Ballack off without a caution for diving after carding Maxi Rodriguez.

It seems like they are only issuing cautions for dives if they try to get a PK out of it. Everything else is a "shame shame" and move on. Just what I've noticed

[Smoga]

I wonder if the end-of-the-game tussle had something to do with Lehmann coming off his line on both saved PK's. It wasn't by much but I thought he moved up by a couple of feet or so. Does anyone know how the refs are supposed to call this kind of thing in this WC?

[USSF REF]

I wonder if the end-of-the-game tussle had something to do with Lehmann coming off his line on both saved PK's. It wasn't by much but I thought he moved up by a couple of feet or so. Does anyone know how the refs are supposed to call this kind of thing in this WC?

The tehnical answer is yes.
The actual answer is Brianna Scurry

[Ref Flunkie]

I wonder if the end-of-the-game tussle had something to do with Lehmann coming off his line on both saved PK's. It wasn't by much but I thought he moved up by a couple of feet or so. Does anyone know how the refs are supposed to call this kind of thing in this WC?


I did not think he came off enough to have them called for a rekick. I think he moved out a foot or so at the most. If that is what Argentina was complaining about, it is pretty sad.

[MassachusettsRef]

There was a send off after kicks:

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/match/57/mr.html

Although, it's incorrectly noted as 120', rather than 0':

http://www.fifa.com/en/media/index/0,1369,118108,00.html

[MassachusettsRef]

Doesn't appear to have to do with the refereeing or any decisions by Michel:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=372953&cc=5901

[bestianera]

double standard on dives (at least the ones he didn't fall for) :(

Should not call a game of the host again