The end of Pieter Vink as an international referee...

Fussy

Vink was very fussy in this match. He pulled out 8 yellow cards (some of them I couldn't understand) and called more than thirty fouls. A lot of them were either very soft or no fouls at all. Players became aware that Vink whistled quickly, so they went down very easy. Very mediocre foul detection. Vink even saw a foul when YB scored, but it wasn't really a foul in my opinion. A similar situation in the first half, he didn't call a penalty for YB after a Getafe player pushed a YB player in the box, so he was inconsistent too. One or two times Vink was hit by the ball, he seemed rather slow to me. He missed an elbow of an YB player, he subsequently missed that the player who was pushed, started to bleed (he should have sent him off the pitch until he wouldn't bleed anymore). In the second half he didn't saw a clear handball of a YB player which lead to a goal scoring opportunity. He missed a clear corner and one of his assistant didn't notice an even clearer offside. Mistakes over mistakes... Enough of this!! Remember: This match was more like a friendly. I won't imagine what would have happened if this would have been a really important game. He certainly would have lost control. Player were irritated and you could see them talking to Vink at the end of the game. I saw at least one very good advantage, when Vink booked the player after the action was over. Well done!

Style

I wonder why UEFA nominated this referee for a big tournament like EURO 2008. Ok, he seems very self-assured and strong, but he lacks personality in my opinion. He rarely talks to players (only to warn them), he seldom smiles, his whistle sounds like a off-tuned vuvuzela (he likes to whistle extensively and demonstratively) and his running style and gesture are very officious. All what I have just written is an adequate summary of what other users have commented over the years.

UEFA

Remember: UEFA selected Vink in the winter 2007/2008 for EURO 2008. At this time he had only refereed 4 (!) CL group stage matches. It seems Vink was too quickly promoted and when he didn't deliver sufficient performances, he was dropped... UEFA should think about this policy. And why had Kevin Blom, another Dutch Elite category referee, to be the 4th official in this match? I don't know... But enough football for this year: Let's go to buy christmas gifts for our dears...