When the game is 64 minutes old...

The referee

Till the 63` minute, it was obvious that Mr. Ennjimmi is turning a blind eye to many infringements committed by both teams anywhere on the pitch. He even booked two players, one of each team, for dissent after they had complained for not getting a free kick in their favour. The whistle was silent even in cases of quite blatant fouls. But then came this strange event: the referee, in a perfect position awarded a penalty to Israel for a trifle. The best for all had been, had the whistle been kept silent, or at least if a call should have been made, it had to be against the Israeli player, Almog Cohen, for diving (Head of French refereeing, Marc Batta, was, about fifteen years ago, the initiator of calls for diving in the opponents` penalty area). The penalty was converted in the 64`minute. 2-1 to Israel, paving the safe way to victory. In the 65` minute there was an incident in the Israeli penalty area, when a slight foul was committed by an Israeli defender. The Maltese player didn`t fall down as if he was an axed tree (or an Almog Cohen). No whistle went, and from then on the referee adhered to his initial policy - the less I call, the better.

The assistants

Mr. Ennjimi was assisted by Mr. Cano and Mr. Harchay. Both assistant referees to the "old fashioned" policy of raising the flag when it seems the ball is passed to someone in an offside position, instead of the "new strategy" of letting players waste their energy in vain, as they see the flag coming when the offside player reaches first to the ball. I am in favour of the "old fashioned" style, though it has some problems of its own (actually the ball falls somewhere afar at the end, or is directed to someone who was not offside).