Big Mistake or Great Judgement?

But first

But first the rest of the match. The two teams played fair, were there to play a match, not games. There were hardly any fouls and those that happened were mostly minor ones. Luis Medina Cantalejo felt at home in the match, quick, as fair as the players, relaxed and almost invisible, because never needing the attention. Lets face it: he did everything just right.

was it?

Rooney started his foul outside the box. His opponent went on anyway, so Rooney fouled a little harder, thinking he started it outside so if the referee whistles, it would be for a free kick. One could argue it was not a penalty, for the obvious reasons. One could also argue that it was a trick (starting a foul outside the box) that needs to be punished. One could argue that Medina Cantalejo knew exactly what Rooney's plan was, had seen it before many times and wanted to end this trick by awarding a penalty. Maybe, perhaps, who knows..

Luis

Having seen Luis a couple of times and having read earlier reports on Worldreferee.com, I'm inclined to say it was (again) just a big mistake. But having seen him in this match, I have my doubts about that. Maybe he was right.