
| Croatia | - | Spain |
I really liked Stark in that match a few days ago, but this time I had my doubts.
LIKE
Decisive, quick, stern, clearly in charge, no nonsense.
NO LIKE
Stark booked a Croat player for disagreeing with him early in the match. Just to make a point. It wasnât that the player yelled at him or pushed him, he just wanted to know why Stark thought the tackle wasn't a foul. In fact I more than dislike that, I think it's childish and stupid. It's Markus Merk all over again. I know it's a rule, but Stark seems to be the only one who likes this rule and he implies it with a vengeance.
6 yellows for one side, 0 for the other.
No penalty for Croatia.
goal
Yes, on-side, but I think that rule ought to be changed. This is what happened: two guys ran towards the goal, one off-side, the other wasn't. Then the former, the off-side guy, ran a little slower and as soon as he wasn't off-side anymore he got the ball from the latter and scored. Rather unfair, because this way the scorer had the advatage by being off-side at first.
The same (even worse) happend in the Kuipers' match.
A player could station himself next to the goalkeeper permanently during the match only to run back a few steps when a mate turns up to pass to him. A counter attack with suddenly one man more already in the box. Saves a lot of running to and fro, ideal for someone like Germany's Gomez.