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Saturday, July 05, 2014

Brazil vs. Colombia and Señor Carlos Velasco Carballo

Well the South Americans certainly give no quarter when it comes to referees. Señor Carballo is being pilloried in the media here in Brazil this morning and on Twitter as a corrupt and incompetent match official responsible for the fractured vertebra suffered by their hero Neymar.

Of course, he's neither of these things. Let's get one thing straight. Carballo didn't foul anyone last night. He didn't commit 54 fouls, as the players did, and he didn't fly in recklessly to Neymars back as The Colombian Zuniga did. No, that was the players. They set the tone of this crude and cynical behaviour that spoiled the game, meaning Carballo stopped it once every 100 seconds for a foul.
The key question to me is, could Carballo have influenced the game so that it was less cynical and so that there were fewer stoppages. In my view probably not.
Let's analyse the players' behaviour a little. In many ways it was a typically rugged South American duel in which the two key strikers, Naymar and James Rodriguez, came in for some tough treatment. There's nothing new to this. These guys face this every time they play in this part of the world and it's often one of the reasons they run for Europe, where they tend to be better protected.
One of the main instructions at this World Cup to referees has been to let the game flow as much as possible. Carballo tried to do this, but quickly realised the players would not let it happen. the fouls occurring every minute or so were not, on the whole, bad ones. They were tugs, pulls and little trips, mainly in the midfield area and aimed principally at breaking up play, again tactics seen every week in South American leagues.

Cleverly, most of the challenges were so minor that Carballo had trouble identifying them as bad enough for a card. What's more, he will have realised nine or 10 players were on a yellow already and would miss the semi final if booked. That pressure weighs on a referee, who has no desire to be responsible for having such a big influence on the World Cup.
Mind you, I don't know why he bothered when you see players like captain Thiago Silva deliberately impede the referee and get himself booked, thus missing the semi against Germany. Plain stupid. There was no benefit to that foul.
Showing a few early yellows would have been deeply unpopular so Carballo tried to avoid that, although it may have set the tone for the rest of the game. Players broke up play constantly, seemingly aware that the referee had no desire, especially if he wanted to see more action in Brazil, to be responsible for a large number of bookings. And that's how the game got out of control, a mixture of cynical player behaviour and slightly weak refereeing, albeit with the best of motives.
One decision Carballo got spot on was the one that many are ranting about today. Julio Cesar should not have been sent off for his foul  that led to Colombia's penalty and only goal. The striker he brought down was being overtaken by defender David Luiz and would not have got to the ball first. Hence there is no DOGSO, or Denial of a Goal Scoring Opportunity and no red card for Julio Cesar. Look closely at the incident and see how the attacker drags his feet along the ground to ensure he caught the body of Cesar. He didn't need to do that. He could quite simply have jumped over him. But that's not what cynical players do.
So all in all a performance that will probably means Carballo and his team  are on a plane home soon, but not as bad as it is being painted down here in Brazil.

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