Man In The Middle

If the first 40 games in the most open-ended World Cup in recent history yielded 105 goals, it also saw a whopping 164 yellow and 10 red cards. A dubious Cup record was set in Germany's 2-0 win over Cameroon—16 yellow cards were handed out by Spanish referee Antonio Lopez Nieto. And Argentina's Claudio Caniggia became the first player since '90 to be sent off without even playing. He was dismissed from the bench for dissent!

To be sure, every World Cup throws up refereeing controversies. Reason: the diversity of officials selected from all over the globe. While the world's best nations qualify for the finals, the selection process for officials is more subjective—picked by a FIFA committee which seeks to balance the places on offer throughout the body's six regional confederations. The result: fluctuating standards and inconsistency. Of course, referees have certain standards to attain in terms of fitness. But while referees from the game's top professional leagues run the matches, so too do those from nations like Lebanon, the Maldives and Jamaica.

As a result, mistakes are often made, as evidenced in two unbelievable individual performances. The first came from South Korean referee Kim Young-Joo during Brazil's 2-1 win over Turkey. Kim, the first Korean to ever officiate at a World Cup, was slammed by Turkish coach Senol Gunes after giving a penalty for a foul that was clearly outside the area and then sending off two of his players. "I'm not in a position to judge the referee," he said, "but it was not a penalty."

Of course, Brazil coach Filipe Scolari defended Kim but, if the truth be told, his performance was appalling. He not only handed the match to Brazil but was conned by former World Player of the Year Rivaldo into sending off Hakan Unsal, an act which earned Rivaldo a US $6,000 fine from FIFA.

Then there was the 16-yellow-cards record in the Cameroon-Germany match, a game that hardly deserved draconian control. What a Spaniard was doing in charge of the game is anyone's guess, given that there remained a possibility that either of the teams involved could have been playing Spain in the next round. With the man in the middle empowered to effectively deny the teams of some of their more influential players for the next phase, the selection was puzzling.