Hard work for Nishimura

Hard match

For a referee matches like this are a nightmare. Lots of meaty challenges and plenty of mistimed tackles to go along with players who are fidgety and argue with every decision and with each other. Nishimura did his best to keep the game moving, and didn't penalise every challenge even though some that he chose not to whistle were obvious free kicks. And he also tried to keep the cards in his pockets, a trait which I normally approve of, but in so doing missed a couple of obvious bookings which could have taken some tension from the match.

Red card situations

Felipe Melo was shown a straight red card for a ridiculous stamp on Robben after giving away a free kick. This was an obvious decision for Nishimura who was spot on with his punishment of violent conduct. However, Michel Bastos who correctly went into the book for persistent infringement during the first half should have been dismissed early in the second half for a second bookable offence for a late challenge, again on Robben.

Fussy

Nishimura's policy of trying to let the game flow by playing advantages and ignoring lesser challenges was negated to a degree by his pedantic insistence that free kicks and throw ins be taken from precise positions. Fair enough a team taking a throw in 10 yards further up the field is something to clamp down on, but being insistent about the odd yard seemed a bit fussy.

Cards

While all the yellows he gave were correct, and he was very consistent with the cards, he could and probably should have shown more. To Alves & Robinho for dissent, to Van Bommel for persistent infringement and Maicon for a clumsy challenge in the first half. While I do think cards should be shown only when absolutely necessary, the game seemed to suggest that these cards were needed.

Calm head?

Many have suggested Nishimura kept a calm head. I think he was a bit flustered at times, as though he thought he was a bit out of his depth even though he certainly is good enough for and thoroughly deserved this match. The example I will cite is that after he dismissed Melo he put his red card back into the pocket on his shorts, where he keeps his yellow card, rather than the pocket on his shirt where the red normally resides. The next time he came to book a player, Ooijer, he ended up pulling out red at first. As with all referees, he clearly has used this system of card in particular pockets for a long time. Would a ref who was completely calm and focused put the red card in his yellow card pocket?

Overall

A good performance in a hard match, but not great. He should certainly be proud of his achievements in this World Cup, but he has had better matches than this.