Czech Republic u21 0 - 1 Serbia u21
Euro 2007 u21 group stage · 2007-06-14 Referee: Robert Malek

Wow...

in control

Not the players, the referee was the star, the guy to watch. The players weren't very good. But we saw how Robert Malek let them go ahead for a while, then started to whistle for every little foul - he had to just to keep the match from turning into a war, it was that bad. It was a foul-a-minute kind of match. Later on in the second half he loosened his reign a little when he could. The Pole was in absolute control. A show case for a referee workshop: watch how he deals with a rapidly worsening situation.

every little thing

He saw every foul, judged every dive for what it was and had no arguments with the players. Maybe he let them play for a little too long in the first half, maybe one booking was a bit too severe, maybe.

the Serbs

The Serbs scored in the extra time, because they believed in it. The Czechs were just waiting for it to end, that's never a good thing to do.

← Back to Robert Malek