Man oh man

frantic

Poll wasn't there. He wasn't in control. He was out of it. He was loosing it. Poll was very insecure. He felt he had to explain his every decisions to the players. Never a good sign. Poll looked frantic and was missing the action. The pace of the game was too much for him it seemed.

three yellows

Poll made some bad calls. He missed a deliberate Croatian handball in the area. He saw one that was only so so. He allowed an offside goal for Australia. And to top it all he had booked Simunic three times before he finally decided to send him off. After his second yellow Simunic went on to play for a bizarre other three minutes. Unbelievable that Poll wasn't told. Not by his linesmen, not by the fourth official, not by anybody. This was an end-of-career kind of game. We will not be seeing him again.

patting heads

The match was great though. Fun to watch. Lots of pace. It could have gone quite nasty were it not for the players themselves - especially the Australians - who kept making up, shaking hands and patting heads.