Ouch. First clear red card of the tournament missed. And it was a good YC for the first offence - the sort of tactical foul the French got away with with Rizzoli. Definite SBO though.
Have to miss a bit to actually work (oh, the humanity!). Any word if they will delay England/Sweden for TV purposes?
Best comment of the tournament so far: From Derek Rae "It's been a long time since Ukrainians have seen so many pitchforks at the same time in the same place." Still LOL! PH
exactly, too bad we'll never know if he didn't see the severity of the foul or if he just decided against a 2nd caution
No way of knowing, as you said. Could be a judgment that the seriousness, as he saw it, wasn't as bad as it actually was. In some capacity, whether consciously or subconsciously, it was giving the benefit of the doubt to Menes. Does timing (right at half time) and the relative low severity of the earlier caution enter the equation? Not supposed to, but maybe they do. Does Velasco Carballo getting skewered for two "soft" yellows play a role? Either way, Kuipers has now had two of the bigger controversies (and, I'll repeat again, in the grand scheme of things they aren't that big compared to what we sometimes see) and it's difficult to see how he progresses. Unless the Dutch fall this weekend and, logistically, his services are needed somehow. But it's going to be impossible to make an argument on the merits that he is top 6 or top 7 at this tournament.
Definitely should have been sent off....really not sure how that one was missed. Maybe Kuipers focused on the trailing arm that made contact with the opponent's face, and missed the severity of the lower body portion of the challenge.
Really was not impressed with his first game, lots of calls that didn't square with what was seen on camera (not talking the offside call, more along the lines of giving away free kicks to the wrong team or calling fouls when none occured IMO). I've seen him call Eredivise games and have gotten a similar impression. Interesting that he is the best NL have to offer.
I can't disagree. But I'll bet most neutrals are completely fine with the decision. About the harshest criticism I can imagine is "oh, he was lucky to not get a second". So, when it comes to that elusive "put on an event" quality, I'd say the tourney is happy with it.
I see that and walk away thinking "ref didn't want to effect the outcome of the game" which he did anyway by a decision not to caution.
Most neutrals usually don't like send offs. But, in this case, I bet most neutrals would have enjoyed 11 Ukrainians against 10 French for the second half. Could have been much more entertaining.