Italy vs. Spain [R]

[Alberto]

I didn't yet watch the second half as I had to go out, by Fandel was terrible. He has no cojones whatsoever. Did he miss the memo from a few years back on players grabbing opponents jerseys? In the first half he missed a number of fouls was inconsistent in his decisions and missed two clear penalties against Spain.

[GlennAA11]

You know Andy Gray was picking on him the entire match. Normally it would upset me somewhat that the announcers would focus so much on the referee. But this time I had to agree with almost everything he had to say. Between the Italians trying to kill the game and Fandel helping them kill it, it wasn't a lot of fun to watch. He seems to over-react to every little thing. And his whole imperious presentation really draws negative attention to him. It didn't appear that the players had a whole lot of respect for him.

[MassachusettsRef]

I have never been impressed with the referee development by the DFB. Sure, Merk rose to the top but a lot of people had complaints about him, even.

The group that has sought to replace him has been downright poor, by UEFA standards, in my opinion. I have absolutely no comprehension as to why Fandel is seen as world-class. His foul recognition is inconsistent compared to his colleagues (notice I'm not complaining that he's inconsistent in his matches--it's just that, as Alberto alludes to, he seems to be way off-base with the way UEFA and FIFA are instructing their referees). He also appears reluctant to make big decisions (Andy Gray was rightly getting on him for not making calls--dive or penalty--when Spaniards were going down; then he goes and books Villa for diving). And, aesthetically, he just seems angry and over-demonstrative at odd times.

The top German referees, Fandel, Meyer, Kircher and Stark have never really impressed, yet get (and have gotten) European assignments over guys like Poll, Webb, Clattenburg, etc. (I'm lodging the complaint that I know Englishref would be making).

UEFA, for some reason, feels compelled to have a German referee in their top circle of 6-8 officials. Right now, that man is Fandel. I fear that soon it will be Stark.

Another referee that I've heard is the "next" thing in Germany is Felix Brych. He's 33 and just made the panel. I've only seen snippets of him in Bundesliga matches but I get the feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of him soon.

[campton]

I've also never been impressed with fandel

[Iforgotwhat8wasfor]

I saw it from the 30' mark, so I didn't see the "penalties" that Gray was whining about, although I did see a replay of something down the side of the box and agree with Tommy Smyth that you really couldn't call it. I did see the cleats to the toe, and I can easily see that not being considered careless. It was just bad timing. But the card to Villa was stupid, the card for dissent on the goal kick/corner kick call was completely unnecessary, and the stoppages for "injuries" were downright embarrassing.

OTOH Andy Gray is an utter d-bag. So he doesn't think the ref has a "brief" to tell the Spaniards to kick the ball out? Well, they can ignore him if they want to. But he's the ref and he's got a whistle. You're just a d-bag with a microphone...

[code1390]

His body language is quite strange at times. Like when Torres committed the first foul. Fandel was basically screaming at him. I get controlling the match, but you look and act like a dope.

[campton]

I do think it is Andy Gray who said it in Fandel's first match "It seems the referee is more heated than the players"

[NHRef]

I found some of decisions "odd" and inconsistent, especially towards the end of regular time. Seemed to be getting tighter, when I thought he should be letting them flow and go.

His injury stoppages where VERY weird.

the toe step that they were saying needed to be called, well at full speed when it happened my first thought was "no foul, he dove". Only in slow motion did I see the toe step on. From where he was it would have looked like minimal contact, not worth of a foul.

His caution for the dive on Villa was a bit overboard, but the caution on the GK/CK decision was sellable, the guy slammed the ball into the turf.

[Claymore]

It wasn't just Fandel; his AR's seemed to be just as sensitive. There were a number of plays in the AR's quadrant where the AR raised the flag for some pretty tame stuff.

I think maybe this crew was a little intimidated by the match and ended up over-compensating.

[TheRefIsBlind]

I always get nervous commenting on ref behavior, but I was perplexed by his foul recognition and like others, embarrassed by his stoppage for ``injuries.'' Especially egregious was the one in the second half with Spain attacking with numbers and the ``injured'' Italian player 70 yards behind the ball in absolutely no danger. I've added a mention in my pregame with captains that they know the sporting thing to do but stoppages aren't required and I won't intervene unless the player is in acute danger. More often than not that solves the problem.
But ... the best commentary re Fandel came from my son. After watching him very early i nthe game demonstrably chew out a player my son said, ``Jeez, that looks just like Mr. Bean.'' It did. And at that point I knew we were in for a rugged game.

[Kebbie Gazauzkas]

I agree, especially about the injury stoppages. Still, I think that he tried to be consistent, but some of the bookings were perhaps unnecessary.
He also seems to have a very distinctive manner of pulling out the card when cautioning a player - very rash and nervous, almost as if he is about to eject the footballer.

[ManiacalClown]

I absolutely loathe the way that Fandel shows cards. It makes me want to kick him in the nuts every time.

[superdave]

I always get nervous commenting on ref behavior, but I was perplexed by his foul recognition and like others, embarrassed by his stoppage for ``injuries.'' Especially egregious was the one in the second half with Spain attacking with numbers and the ``injured'' Italian player 70 yards behind the ball in absolutely no danger.
When a promising attack is killed like that, professional players will be sorely tempted to get injured all the damn time.

It reminded me of US-Ghana, when about a half dozed times that the US won the ball from Ghana and started downfield, some Ghanaian was injured. And then quickly recovered. :rolleyes:

[code1390]

A few times he pretty much ordered the player to play the ball out when there was an injury. I've never seen a ref do that before.

[Wreave]

When a promising attack is killed like that, professional players will be sorely tempted to get injured all the damn time.

It reminded me of US-Ghana, when about a half dozed times that the US won the ball from Ghana and started downfield, some Ghanaian was injured. And then quickly recovered. :rolleyes:

It wasn't just US-Ghana. Seemed in many of the WC matches, an injury was the best way to stop a fast break.

That's why I think it's best for the ref to do injury stoppage, instead of the players kicking it out. Of course, that would require the ref to not stop play for injury in the example that started this discussion...

[MetroFever]

A few times he pretty much ordered the player to play the ball out when there was an injury. I've never seen a ref do that before.

I can't believe that it took 14 posts for someone to bring this up in regards to a thread about Fandel.

Most refs are aware of "tendencies" certain teams have and the Italian players staying down after a non-foul call is nothing new. Rather than telling them to kick it away, he should be telling them to get up and knock it off.

Spain had a great counter-attack coming in the second overtime but they kicked it out when someone was down. I thought they were WAY too classy yesterday.

[colins1993]

I have seen Herr Fandel do a fair amount of excellent games in the past but yesterday was not one of them.

I don't think it's fair to label him a poor ref now nor do I think we've seen the last of him. In this tournament yes, we have seen the last of him but he'll be assigned to some major Euro WC qualifiers me thinks.

[geego]

That action by Di Natale was specially insulting because he got injured at the touchline near the bench and instead of rolling out for treatment he crawled into the field of play to force the play to stop. :mad: I wonder if the AR or the 4th should have told the CR and the players to keep playing.

[CanadaFTW]

Getting just on Italy for the staying down is a bit harsh. Italy played the ball out on the play that started this thread (the close to PK for a step on the foot) that Fandel ruled was a dive. All top level teams do this, picking on the Italians alone is wrong. The Spaniard was clutching his knee on that play as well despite contact only to the top of his foot.

To me, any injury to the leg that doesn't involve a bone sticking out can wait for your team to get possession, period. The other team should be allowed and encouraged to continue play. It's not even like defending with 10 men is that much of a penalty either.

Finally, anyone remember the famous Portugal - Holland match from the last world cup? What a great display of fair play that was, and when Holland finally stopped playing the ball out all hell almost broke loose.

[CanadaFTW]

That action by Di Natale was specially insulting because he got injured at the touchline near the bench and instead of rolling out for treatment he crawled into the field of play to force the play to stop. :mad: I wonder if the AR or the 4th should have told the CR and the players to keep playing.

Correct me if this is wrong but wouldn't intentionally rolling out of play to receive treatment be a yellow card?