Match 2: KOR : CZE - OMAR (EGY)

That should be disallowed. Surely?

 

Not OIO?

 

There's a replay showing the goalkeeper sees the header all the way.

 

Absolutely not, I'd almost argue that an offside flag on the field would be clearly wrong. You can see from the angle in the net, and from the angle from the opposite endzone, that the attacker in an offside position never impedes the goalkeeper's view of the ball, as the shot comes from too high and too far to the side. The line of sight is never blocked at all. And there's no obvious action or other offside offense in there. Good goal.

 

Somewhere in Texas, Earl Campbell is smiling.

 

The goal keeper was not appealing for it, which says something. I also think the keeper had a clear sightline since the ball went to his left. The attacker in the offside position did not impact the keeper’s ability to see or attempt to save the ball. Plus the ball was headed with decent pace from a close distance, so a save was unlikely no matter what.

I like that they didn’t chalk it off.

 

I hate when people say "save was unlikely no matter what" because that is absolutely not the standard.

The left versus right thing is the only reason that's not offsides, if that goes top right corner in a way nobody can save, it's being flagged.

 

Thought he was perfectly fine. Better than you’d expect from a middle tier CAF World Cup referee (no major errors alone is probably enough to clear that bar)

 

On a related note, pretty wild there are fewer CAF trios than in 2022, despite there being way more games this year.

 

2022: There were four CAF trios (Gassama, Sikazwe, Gomes, Ghorbal)
2026: There are five CAF trios (Amin, Ghorbal, Jayed, Beida, Atcho)

 

One thing I picked up on in this game - Amin tired in the last 25mins and everything did get just a little chaotic in this period (nothing major however).

It made me think: how big a game it was personally for the Egyptian probably contributed to this, but also the guidelines about the countdowns for restarting play too. As a referee, it is really important that you use the 'off time' in the game to mentally calm down, when the ball is out of play and nothing is happening, otherwise you psychologically wear yourself out before the end of the game. These guidelines have very dramatically reduced that period for referees!

So, I think 'pacing yourself' and deliberately leaving a bit in the tank for the end of the game will be really imortant in this WC, and feels like a space to watch as the competition goes on.

 

I guess Wikipedia misled me, but it shows Beida as having only one AR? And it shows Ndiaye as having two ARs in 2022 (though he didn’t get a whistle)

 

Beida is in a crew with Dos Santos and Noupue.
Artan had no linesman attached to him (unique for 2026 but the same as Tessema in '18).

 

https://streamff.com/v/62df537a

I think the YC is okay/correct - the Korea defender gives the Czech player a small bodycheck after the latter has played the ball, you can see it better from the live sequence than the replay. Korea had no cover on the near side of the pitch and a one-two pass could have put them in big trouble (which is why the defender did what he did). I guess the scream helped sell it for Amin though and the foul by itself was though cynical, clearly, not reckless by itself.



To add: Czech no5 getting away with what he did at +96:07 (I included it in the clip above) without any official seeing it does not paint the match control of the last 25-ish mins in the best light!

 

I'm late on this thread, but curious how often a referee goes from the VAR booth at one World Cup to working on field at the next. Has this happened yet in the few WCs we've had VAR implemented?

 

I was discussing this exact topic with my family while watching the opener, in the specific context of whether the changes to the LOTG are automatically applied to all competitions worldwide. The mental demands on referees only continue to grow.

I wish IFAB had made some of these new anti-time wasting laws guidelines (like the "Only the Captain" had been last year) rather than directly implementing them as new laws. They are excellent additions to the game ... when you have a fourth official to help manage them!

 

The altitude of the stadium is a factor as well, it’s about a mile up, the same as Colorado. It’s not something he will have been very experienced with; a quick peruse through his match history and I only count 4 games (in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa) that are anywhere close to that altitude.