Easy job for Coffi Codjia

Fifa politics

It's Fifa's policy to use referees from all over the world. This time Coffi Codjia from Benin is granted the opportunity. He disallowed 2 clear-cut penalties (one for each side), hey but what can you say. The pace of the game was too much for him. The tactics were totally different from what he is used to. There was one thing he did well though: he saw Nawaf Al Temyat diving over Carlos Marchena's tackle thinking he had earned the Saudis a penalty until he was shown a yellow card for a Schwalbe instead.

No fun

It was not much of a game all in all. Spain enjoyed a wealth of possession and only a late Saudi surge caused Spain some discomfort. Overall it was a surprise that Juanito's header was the only goal at stoppage time. In the closing stages, Saudi Arabia had a golden chance to level following a purposeful run from Mohamed Noor, but his set-up was not matched by the finish of Saad Al Harthi, who steered his shot well over the bar. The Saudi offensive started too late and time ran out for them as they crashed out of the tournament.

Smile

Anyway Coffi has a great smile. Fifa should grant him more international matches. He has the ability to become a lot better still.