I think it all depends on Wales. If they advance, then I see Kassai getting the nod. If not, it's surely Clattenburg.
Yea this seem to make the most sense tbh. Surprised though that they didn't save Rizzoli for the final.
I guess Collina didn't want Rizzoli to have the title of best referee ever. Lol. Didn't want him to have the honor of being only referee to ever have done the Euro, World Cup, UEFA and Champions League Final. Only logical explanation. Haha.
Or he wants Clattenburg to have the final because he was the best referee? It's not like Rizzoli was head and shoulders above everyone at this tournament. He had some shaky moments in the second half of the Portugal-Austria match. Clattenburg really is the only referee without any noted mistakes or issues (maybe with Eriksson, who only had two matches). If this goes to Clattenburg, it was completely on merit. Also, France-Germany in France could actually be a much tougher match than, say, Germany-Wales. We sometimes forget that aspect of assigning and only think about the honor. Maybe Collina trusts Rizzoli so much that he gave him the toughest match of the tournament.
I take it you didn't see my "lol" and "haha" in my previous post to know that I was kind of being facicious? In all seriousness, Clattenburg is probably the best in form referee and deserves to get it. I'm just not okay with him being on the game if Wales is in the Final. I think the decision has been made already and he will be on the game regardless of the result between Portugal and Wales. Call me old fashioned, traditionalist or paranoid, but an English referee should not be refereeing a Welsh team. It just looks bad. Clattenburg will, obviously, be unbiased and there will not be any issues, but it just looks bad. These guys could probably referee their own national team without any problems, but they don't because of the problems it could cause. Some won't like it, but if you're Welsh you're pretty much English. I would be more okay with Clattenburg refereeing Scotland or Ireland as you there are actual legitimate cultural and ethnic differences between those countries and England. Wales and England are pretty much the same. It also sends a bad message to other referees in similar situations. If Clattenburg can get Wales, Kuipers must be saying why couldn't I referee Belgium Wales? Could we see now a Russian referee on Shakhtar Donetsk match? Or Dynamo Kiev match? Mazic on a Croatian match? Czech referee on a Slovakian match or Vice Versa? I don't think we would, so why does Clattenburg get to be the exception. Granted, all those scenarios above are much more geopolitically volatile, unstable and awkward, but the point still stands.
Well there is facetious and then "kind of" facetious. The former is fine here. I think the later lends credence to some belief that Collina is insecure about his place in history and I think that's nonsense. As to the point about Clattenburg, I'd note two things. First, your last paragraph matters and shouldn't be an afterthought. Second, he's not yet confirmed on the final so while some might rightly share your feelings, we have to see yet if it's worth really discussing. Hey, who knows, maybe a Germany-Wales Final could be given to Rizzoli--just like Clattenburg got back to back games in the UCL at this stage! That would really be the "unexpected."
It wasn't back-to-back games since Clattenburg got a semi first leg. Even in light of Collina's tendency to break rules, I'm confident enough to rule out a Rizzoli final.
There is no way that Rizzoli is getting on the Final. It's one thing to assign a referee a CL semi-final and a Final as those happen every year. Also Clattenburg got two out of the last five CL matches. If Rizzoli got the Final, he would get two of the three final Euro matches. A Euro and World Cup happen once every four years. As much as I would like Rizzoli to be on the Final, it would be really unfair to all the referees if he got a semi and a final. Many of these referees won't be at the next Euros. Most of the referees will be in contention for next seasons CL. I just can't see anyone, but Clattenburg on the game. It would be just bizarre if Clattenburg was kept around for the entire tournament and only ends up doing one knockout match. Makes zero sense. Unless there is some egregious error on Wales Portugal game that just makes Clattenburg's position completely untenable, he's on the game. If not Clattenburg, then Kassai or Mazic next in line. I'll say Clattenburg on the Final with Mazic as the 4th.
This has got to be the most ignorant and ridiculous statement I have seen in a long time. It is wrong on so many levels, not least of which is the fact that Wales has their own language. I would love to see you go into a pub in Cardiff, Swansea, Aberystwyth, Llandudno or indeed anywhere else in Wales and say this and see what happens. I would hope you have good medical and dental coverage! Politically England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all part of the same entity, the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland is separate and has been for almost 100 years. All are part of the British Isles, a geography term. This could be a legitimate reason why a referee from any of these should not referee a match between one of them and a different country. But technically, they are all separate Associations under FIFA and UEFA. Not only have you many times displayed your weak knowledge of international refereeing, now you have to add your even weaker knowledge of international differences. PH
The same guy saying I have weak knowledge of international differences is the same guy that thinks Slovenia is not a small soccer country because they were part of the former Yugoslavia. Just laughable. Stick to making conspiracy theories that were valid and true in the 70s and 80s.
Sorry mate but that's BS. I could well understand an argument for a referee from either of the home nations not being allowed to ref a mach involving one of the home nations (unless it was between two home nations as Atkinson did) but singling out England-Wales as being special is just wrong. Are we sure he couldn't? Also it is quite different to keep some sort of regional block when it's about assigning 1 out of 8 matches of the same level to do it on a final. I'd have no issue with the green option and I'm not sure many would. The three in red though won't happen but that's for different (and potentially violent) reasons. Russia and Ukraine NT/teams are kept apart as much as possible so of course the same goes for their referees.
At least I would not say that a Slovene is the same as a Croat or a Serb, which is equivalent to what you said about England and Wales. Unless of course you now tell me that they are the same as well. And no matter what I think about soccer in Slovenia, you definitely have weak international knowledge, and have proved it. The two are not connected. Valid conspiracy theories? . PH
With all respect, I think it would be hard for me to disagree with a statement more. Not impossible, but hard.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...enburg-to-referee-final-if-wales-lose-to-por/ According to this, it's Clattenburg if Portugal beat Wales, and Kassai otherwise.
If true, ridiculous assigning by Collina. So the best referee in the tournament might only do one knockout game? I don't understand how he can take that chance? If you were gonna put him on the game regardless of the Welsh result, then fine, but if he can't referee Wales then it makes no sense for Rizzoli to not be on the Final. I'm biased towards Rizzoli as I think he's great, but, being objective as I can, it makes no sense why he isn't on the Final and Clattenburg not on Germany vs. France. Your best referee might only end up doing Switzerland vs. Poland?
My understanding of how assigning for these tournaments works it that you cannot work your country's matches (in this event England and Wales seems to be considered the same), or the match of a team they will potentially play in the next round. If this rationale is true, then it would make sense why Clattenburg couldn't work either semi, and if Wales wins, it would then follow that he could not work the final as he is ruled out for Welsh matches already.
I honestly have to say I think all of the referee's we have are really good. Atkinson is a little below the rest but still not bad at all. The referees for UEFA are pretty darn good. The only one I criticized was Howard Webb but he has retired, so forget about him. It's the referee's from The America's, Africa, and Asia who always have controversy. If you look back at the previous world cups, most of the huge controversies were from referees outside of UEFA. Also here is something as well: Euro 2016 has had very little controversies if not any, while Copa America was full of controversy, and so was the gold cup last year. Peru's handball against Brazil is one example. Last Gold Cup many games seemed rigged to favor Mexico. Just be proud that we UEFA have the best referees. I honestly wish during the world cups, the UEFA referees would do it all. Some of these referees outside UEFA shouldn't be FIFA quality at all and not even getting anywhere near World Cups.
Out of curiosity (and this is meant as a discussion, not an argument), how will the others improve? These referees train for years to get to the level they are at, and how else can them improve their skills in international matches unless they work them? And, how do you get referees in these other associations to continue on if they knew their highest achievement would be their national league, and could never attain a FIFA badge. It would be great if all matches got the best possible crews available, but then there is no incentive to upgrade, and no opportunity for newer and younger referees (at all ages) to work those challenging matches, that they might not call perfectly, but will provide great feedback and insight on how to call their next game even better.
Really? Harsh. I would think he's up there, and he had a really good tournament. Unlucky to be sent home.
I am becoming more and more convinced that the European game is easier to referee (and makes its refs look really good) because their players are more professional and "get it" to an extent I don't see from other confederations. Not disparaging Euro refs at all, but I believe they have the luxury of refereeing a more mature game of football as compared to 2nd and 3rd class soccer countries where it's more of a Wild-West-everyone-for-yourself mentality. Does anyone else feel this way or am I off base here?
I was thinking about this the other day and would have to agree. Yes there are flare ups in these games and challenging points to manage, but overall I think the players respect each other much more and really care about playing the game. Compared to Copa America, where we had as many red cards in the final as the Euros all tournament so far, those players play very physical as part of their culture, and also try to deceive the refs more. Unfortunately, this makes these games very difficult to manage and can make CONCACAF officials look like they can't handle the "big matches." For a true comparison, I would love to see an instance of the EUROs and Copa America where the associations trade officials to see if our officials perform well over there and vice versa (which might lead to the conclusion that those games in Europe are easier to manage), or if they end up with the same kind of results.
I think that's a really subjective idea of "more mature" and the players "respect each other" more. To me, I think there are just very different football cultures, neither necessarily preferable or better, but different. And on top of that, I think it depends on the game. Look at the Germany-Argentina WC 2014 Final. It was a snoozefest for 112 minutes. Both teams came out conservative. But then look at the Argentina-Chile Copa 2016 Final - that game was red hot from the get-go. Or the Spain-Netherlands 2010 WC Final - I would hardly call that mature. To me, the bigger difference is the development systems and the internal politics that determine how far a referee goes.