Whistle man

Courtney

Mark is not English type of referee, he does not allow hard play in any moment so in this match he saw 53 fouls, plus offside, cards, substitution corners, he whistled every minute at least once. Sometimes irritating but in this match it worked.
Although some players have a childish manner, Courtney kept the peace.
He awarded a penalty for Croatia and sent off one Croatian player for two yellows. Second card was correct, but the first was not: the player didn't play the ball on purpos.
Only negative notice for Courtney in this match is his whistling. For every decision he has same whistle, it doesn't matter if it is a penalty, a card or a foul, his pfif is the same, what makes him lees convincing.

match

Even Croatain star Rakitic missed a penalty, with a great assist he managed to score. Though Sloakia played better in the second half, Croatia scored from one counter-attack and won three important points in the battle for first place.