Yuichi Nishimura matches

Nishimura's performance showed what FIFA requires from the referees in this tournament: "better to whistle for a non-existing foul, than to ignore one". Obviously, this is a very debatable philosophy. All in all, in a game that wasn't very complicated, he did a good job. His whistle was only overshadowed by those strange trumpets the South Africans sound during the games...

Red
The referee looked relaxed, and during the 1st part of the game he took good control over the actions and just booked twice (both French). There were no big controversies, except for the red showed to Lodeiro, but in my opinion the card was well shown. In fact, it could have been a direct red because that one was a very hard action. What caught my attention was that Nishimura whistled very often - sometimes because of silly things. If it is the case that FIFA's orders are being followed by the referees with an excessive emphasis, then because of the frequent interruptions, games could turn very boring.

Good job
But in the most important actions, Nishimura did it OK. He was wrong in one or two not very important things... At the end of the game, he conceded a controversial free-kick to the French. It didn't seem to be a foul, but... the Uruguayan player tried to get the ball in a dangerous way.

Game
Surely, we expected much more from this game. It was not a very good match, there were few goal situations but no beautiful playing. Both teams will have to improve.