A brilliant referee

Decision making

His foul recognition seems to be about the best in the business. Very rarely does he give a free kick and leave everyone wondering what it was for, and in this match I think he got pretty much every free kick and yellow card spot on. He is not easily conned by diving, and is reluctant to penalise a foul when the player goes down too easily or too theatrically.

Style

For followers of the Premier League, Mark Halsey is the closest referee I can think of to Baldassi in terms of style. He appears incredibly calm and relaxed, showing no signs of being intimidated by the atmosphere or pressure of the World Cup. His signalling and carding is low key and he has a great rapport with the players without tolerating any dissent. If every referee in this tournament were as good as Baldassi there would be no problems.

Concerns

My only minor concern is that Baldassi doesn't appear to have great fitness, and is a little bit distant from the action at times. Although he has obviously passed the rigorous FIFA tests, and any perceived lack of fitness may simply be due to an unorthodox running style. The assistant on the near side got three fairly easy offside calls wrong, but they were the first offside mistakes from the Argentine crew in this WC.

Problem

Despite clearly being the best referee here, I fear that we will not see too much more of Baldassi. It is not usual for FIFA to appoint a referee whose home team is still involved after the round of 16. And, even if Argentina were knocked out, because Elizondo did the last final, politics would probably dictate that he could not do this final. Still, what a superb performance he has put in so far. The outstanding referee of the World Cup.