Was this the ticket to Brazil???

All is well until the 24th minute

It took almost 8 minutes to call the first foul. The 11th minute a good no call against Cuba and he had a good view. Geiger did a good job reading the game, moved well and always close to the action yet not in the way of the players. The calls were consistent, so it was a bit of a surprise when he gave the penalty for handling the ball in the penalty area. While the player's hand was not in a good position he appeared to try to move out of the way of the ball. Did the hand make contact with the ball, or was did the shot hit his upper arm was not clear. Geiger seemed to be in good position to make the call, but I think he made the wrong call. I think the one he did not call in the 67th minute was a better choice for a penalty and the one in the 24th minute was just a few minutes after the Cuban goal.

The Moment of Truth...

A lot of "in your face" time after the penalty call but Geiger kept the stone face, ignored the waving fingers and stood his ground. The Cuban players still "hot" from the penalty came back a bit aggressive and Geiger issued a timely and accurate YC in the 25th minute. "Drew the line in the sand" to make sure that players understood what is not going to be tolerated. A couple of minutes later it seemed like a Cuban defender came in hard with a header to level the Panamanian attacker, but instead it was the player from Panama that backed into the Cuban player. Geiger got it right and the game went on.

Was Panama getting a break from Geiger?

At times it seemed that key fouls were going against the Cuban team. The handling penalty in the 24th minute, missed a hand to the face in the 32nd minute. The latter was subtle and Panama's #8 does run with the hand moving in a strange way. Was it accidental? Mark was in good position to make the call and must have thought that the contact was minor and let play go on. When looking at total fouls they were pretty even, in fact, Panama had more call going against them. Geiger warned Panama's #20 with about 6 minutes to go in the 1st half and then followed up with a YC in the 55th minute. However, in the 62nd minute a no call against Panama in the penalty area. I think that Mark could have easily "sold" a RC for Panama #23 challenge of Cuba's #9. While it was shoulder to shoulder and within playing distance of the ball the defender made sure that the attacking player was not going to get a shot off on goal. If the defender made some attempt to play the ball with the same contact then I have no problem with the call. As it was I would have asked Mark to explain what he saw; as an assessor.

Did Mark do enough to make it to WC 2014?

Not based on this game. I think I can get past his "no style" and while I think he does a good job being in position to make the call, in this game he has just missed called enough that I would have to see him in a very competitive, aggressive game to make the final decision. At this time there are better CONCACAF officials that can handle WC 2014.