Title...

A short history

At the beginning of 2013, I watched the African Nations Cup Final (Nigeria 1, Burkina faso 0). About a year and a half later I watched the Netherlands 3, Australia 2 encounter in the second round of the group stage at WC2014. The official in both matches was Mr. Haimoudi, but it was obviously a diferent persona: aman of two cities - affable, smiling and easy-going in Johannesburg, grumpy, tense and tight-lipped in Porto Alegre. At 1-1, he awarded Australia a penalty-kick (53') for handling inside the Dutch penalty-area. It was a most bizarre decision, as the defender did everything he could, but cutting off his arm, to avoid the ball hitting the hand - he tried to hide the arm behind his back, but to no avail. As the replay demonstrated, Haimoudi was in a perfect position, having a clear sight of this eventm but fluked dismally. It was a much worse blunder than Nishimura's. At the time, my colleague DvD wrote: "Haimoudi deserves to be sent away from this WC", but the Refereeing Committee thought otherwise, proving they had different criteria for different referees. So Haimoudi progressed through the tournament. After officiating at the least important of akmost all group stage games (costa Rica 0, England 0), which was for people like DvD and me a gentle way to say "good-bye" to him, he was rewarded (what for?) with handling the round of 16 encounter between Belgium and the USA (2-1 after extra-time). dutchref93 summed his performance up: "A mediocre performance by a struggling Haimoudi". If Haimoudi was average or less, then his compatriot ar., Mr. Etchiali, dragged their team's performance deeper down. He was probably taking a nap, as there were five cases of offside went unnoticed (41', 48', 57', 76', 90'). Unlike the Colombian ar Clavijo who had benn sent packing after his blunders the Mexico 1, Cameroon 0 encounter, Mr. Etchiali "survived" and Joined Mr. Haimoudi for another disastrous "duo".

Brasilia, July 12, 2014

Mr. Haimoudi and his Algerian ar, settled quickly for another "bad day at the office". In the second minute of the game, Thiago Silva grabbed and pulled Robben from behind while the Dutch player dribbled quickly through towards the Brazilian goal. The infringement took place a couple of metres outside the Brazilian goal-area, but through speed the two players ended-up inside the area. Haimoudi, having not the worst of sights indicated a penalty-kick and showed the yellow card to Silva. Not only was there no romm for apenalty-kick, Silva should have been sent off as his unlawful conduct prevented a goal-scoring opportunity. But for not spotting the actual place where the foul was commited, the ar should be blamed. The incident happened on the right-hand side of the Dutch attack. The Algerian ran quickly alongside the two rivals, he had a clear view at the moment the infringement was made, and could see very well the goal-area (18 yards) line. Unfortunately he gave no valuable assistance to the ref. Then, in the 17th minute, another Dutch player was a fraction offside (his leg was definitely closer to Brazil's goal-line than any part of any of the Brazilians players but their goalie) when the ball was sent to him. No flag raised - admittedly a tough call as the offside player was the closest to the ar - and this player went on to cross the ball into the Brazilian "box", leading to the second Netherlands goal. Later in the game, there some strange refereeings decisions, as on the one hand Robben, and on the other Oscar were the main victims of these dubious calls - Robben was pushed, held and kicked all around, not getting appropriate response and defence from the ref (worst case, 51'). Oscar should have been awarded a Penalty-kick in his favour after he had been tripped by Blind in the Dutch "box" (68'), but instead was booked as if he had dived. There were other inconsistencies aplenty as well as the referee getting too many a time in the way of the ball and the players who want to play it.