Boss on the field

What did he do?

At a WC, it is virtually impossible to watch all the matches. The ones I did see (e.g. IRN versus MAR or FRA versus AUS) had a very slow pace, players entangled in physical duels in midfield and the referees had to stop play very often. A lot of pushing, talking and delaying happened and especially in the Friday game, it was very difficult for the ref to cope with that without looking overwhelmed. Szymon Marciniak had an interesting solution to this: He whistled not for every contact as refs usually do at this occasion, but picked out the big things. He was patient but firm - and surprisingly it worked. Even with Argentina.

Ignoring VAR advice?

He refuted strongly one penalty appeal for Argentina (77'') without falling back on VAR technology. When media reports are true, he actively ignored the advice given to him by the VAR which he also repeated in the following Germany versus Sweden clash when Boateng fouled Berg. Pierluigi Collina would not comment on obvious mistakes made in the group phase but looked cross when he talked about some refs trying to be "boss" ignoring available help by the VAR. The other penalty given to ARG was spot on, and I was surprised that Argentina found no solution to the compact nordic wall around the box and looked really vulnerable behind.

Marciniak

Marciniak has grown from Euro 2016 in terms of body language, personality and also in man management - at least in this game. I would rewrite my judgement of the penalty call - if he ignores VAR help the whole scenario gets a different meaning. "Gazetto dello sport" wrote today that Marciniak and Brych will go home because they made essential judgement calls without using the help of VAR. As FIFA will only tell after the second round, we will know in a few days if it is true. The odds are more than likely.

Editing problem

I cannot change the general assessment part now. So my initial judgement remains there showing that sometimes things look differently in hindsight.